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.
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.
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@mashif - It was probably also engineered to sound correct in his recording studio! It possibly amused him to think of people following his instructions and running around trying to buy JBL 4311 speakers or an equivalent to listen to the album on, and adjusting the controls when he had no idea what their listening environment or other gear was or hearing was like. |
