Now that Frank Zappa`s latest products have hit the stores,
fundamentalists and concerned parents are sure to shudder: Now they`ll REALLY be able to hear the words--and there are even lyric sheets. Audio enthusiasts, on the other hand, will drool with delight.
The reason: Ten works from the Zappa library are now available on compact disc.
After more than a year of licensing squabbles and meticulous digital transferring, Zappa classics ``Lumpy Gravy,`` ``Apostrophe,`` ``The Grand Wazoo,`` ``Overnight Sensation`` and ``We`re Only in it for the Money`` have been released on the Rykodisc label, one of a growing number of CD-only outfits.
These digitally remastered (and in some cases partially re-recorded)
discs are joined by Zappa`s recent all-digital works--``Them or Us,`` the London Symphony Orchestra recordings, and the digital tape-editing exercise
``Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention.`` Two titles previously available by mail only, the Original Cast recording of ``Thing-Fish`` and the instrumental compilation ``Shut Up `n Play Yer Guitar,`` are receiving widespread distribution for the first time.
With this first batch of reissues, Zappa becomes one of the first pop artists to utilize fully the flexibility of the digital medium. The early works have been remastered; in the case of ``We`re Only in it,`` fresh digitally recorded bass and drum tracks were added before it was re-mixed. The early works have been repackaged, since CDs can hold more than an hour of music; ``Lumpy Gravy`` and ``We`re Only in It`` share one disc, as do
``Apostrophe`` and ``Overnight Sensation.``
Previously unreleased selections have been added at Zappa`s discretion. The 23-minute ``Bogus Pomp`` proves to be a major part of the London Symphony Orchestra sessions, while two tracks from ``Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention`` continue the political bent of ``Porn Wars,`` Zappa`s tape-editing treatment of last year`s congressional hearings on rock lyrics.
This skillful manipulation of digital technology comes as no surprise to longtime Zappa followers. In 1981, his recording studio, the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, was among the first to install digital recording equipment. Even before that, Zappa`s productions were known for their sharp aural focus, a close-to-the-action sound that captured not only the basic instruments, but nuance, movement and depth. Unlike many pop recordings of the `70s, Zappa`s records breathed.
The attention to detail paid off, as the four early Zappa works put out by Rykodisc display. They are clearly transfers from analog recordings but, considering some are almost 20 years old, the sound quality is remarkable.
When Zappa sings the tag line of ``Dinah-Moe-Hum,`` from 1973`s
``Overnight Sensation,`` his voice is a mixture of gravel and motion, a mirror of the music`s rough and road-worthy texture. Though it doesn`t have the impact of the digitally recorded string section on the ``London Symphony`` disc, the strings that accompany the 1967 instrumental composition ``Lumpy Gravy`` snap under Zappa`s baton. The entire studio ensemble, subdued on the vinyl version, assumes orchestra-pit prominence on the disc.
Talking about the newly recorded drums on ``We`re Only In it`` in the October issue of Musician magazine, Zappa said: ``One of the things that you gain there is your digital dynamic range. You put digital drums on it and suddenly you gain a whole new perspective. . . . Then it was all remixed with digital echo and all the things that you use nowadays.``
These ``things``--digital processing equipment--have brought the recent all-digital recordings to a breathtaking level of accuracy. Zappa understands the impact each instrument will have in digital reproduction. He makes simple marimba parts sound startling and uses the guitar for blazing, stun-gun style attacks. His vocals no longer just pop with close-mike intimacy, they sizzle and crackle and whisper as well. This is perhaps best evidenced on the 1984
``Them or Us,`` where layers of edge-of-feedback guitar make up the background for the thick vocal chorus of ``Sharleena,`` and the Synclavier synthesizer is used to reinforce the twisted lead lines of ``Truck Driver Divorce.``
Zappa`s experimental works, hailed by critics but largely ignored by the public, should receive new consideration in the digital format. The three-record, two-disc set of instrumental compositions, ``Shut Up `n Play Yer Guitar,`` finds Zappa using live guitar solos as the basis for composition in the studio. On ``Why Johnny Can`t Read`` and ``Five-Five-Five,`` among others, Zappa composed fusion-like settings, employing violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, keyboardist Tommy Mars, guitarist Steve Vai and an entire ensemble to flesh out the ever-angular ``scored`` guitar lines.