Apostrophe' is my test album on my system any time i make changes
Revisiting Old Albums
My old friend willed me his 60s, 70s, 80s albums. They are in very good condition. Some have the "Last" coating.
I nor he were big Zappa fans. Just listened to his radio play songs in a rare moment.
So FZ's Apostrophie ( see what I did there, lol) is in the collection. For old time sake I gave it a spin. Now I have a very respectable Mid Fi system. Brings out the best or worst of recordings. This was 1st time I heard this lp on a good system and I was like wow, this is a good recording. I got a whole new appreciation for Zappa. Great rock guitar riffs fused with crazy jazz along with twisted and or funny lyrics.
This was a gem in the collection though. Alot of the recordings from that era are just ok at best. Seems to be hit or miss. No particular band or label that stand out. A few other goodies are ZZ Tops El Loco, Billy Joel The Stranger, Phil Collins Face Value.
Sadly the whole Zepplin collection not so good, Asia Asia, Eric Clapton Layla, Utopia Utopia are terrible recordings. Maybe there are some MoFi versions out there that give these great songs new life.
- ...
- 23 posts total
@grinnell For sure, there is alot of range on that album. Ive always been intrigued on the Montana song how deep and clear his voice is. Never heard a vocal like that on any recording before. Far from Zappa, I did an A,B,C compare lastnight to test my new tube DAC. Used Stan Getz/Asturd Gilerto's Girl from Iapanema. I have the MoFi 200 gram 44rpm vinyl, standard cd and Qobuz stream. I was pleasently surprised how extremely close all 3 sound now.
|
Frank had very specific ideas about listening to his albums. I concur. From the album: Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch "This album has been engineered to sound correct on JBL 4311 speakers or an equivalent. Best results will be achieved if you set your midrange and tweeter controls to the flat position with the loudness control off. Before adding any treble or bass to the sound of the album, it would be advisable to check it out this way first. - F.Z." |
Zappa was very difficult to work with as brilliant people tend to be. I like the musical side a lot better than his satirical side. I don’t think his musical brilliance was of interest to him so he didn’t pursue it moreso sadly. He had an amazing band. He had a few albums which I recall with continuous guitar solos and stuff and I think he did lots of orchestral stuff but it’s been a while. There are wonderful YouTube videos of his performances with the satire and interruptions that are of good sound quality. Very small settings.
|
- 23 posts total