What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. XIV)

ALANP posted:

Gents ,like Phil I am not very aware of all the Zappa stuff as I was put off the material being forced to listen to it during art lessons at college.Can anybody recommend one of the instrumental albums that showcases his guitar playing.

Regards Alan 

Hot Rats is one of his most accessible albums with some good guitar playing on several tracks and features the truly wonderful Captain Beefheart  on one track. A personal favourite album of mine is "We're only in it for the money". 

There is a UK based band, The Muffin Men, who play Zappa music and are well worth catching live. They usually have a Zappa alumnus with them - for a long time it was Jimmy Carl Black (the Indian of the group) and lately it's Denny Whalley. Talking to JCB after a gig he was adamant they are more than a tribute band and rated them very highly.

No sunshine here (apart from behind the clouds), so more Miles. This time Get Up With It.

Pev posted:

ALANP posted:

Gents ,like Phil I am not very aware of all the Zappa stuff as I was put off the material being forced to listen to it during art lessons at college.Can anybody recommend one of the instrumental albums that showcases his guitar playing.

Regards Alan 

Hot Rats is one of his most accessible albums with some good guitar playing on several tracks and features the truly wonderful Captain Beefheart  on one track. A personal favourite album of mine is "We're only in it for the money". 

There is a UK based band, The Muffin Men, who play Zappa music and are well worth catching live. They usually have a Zappa alumnus with them - for a long time it was Jimmy Carl Black (the Indian of the group) and lately it's Denny Whalley. Talking to JCB after a gig he was adamant they are more than a tribute band and rated them very highly.

 

Cheers Pev, thanks for that

Ry Cooder  - Bop Till You Drop

Pev posted:

ALANP posted:

Gents ,like Phil I am not very aware of all the Zappa stuff as I was put off the material being forced to listen to it during art lessons at college.Can anybody recommend one of the instrumental albums that showcases his guitar playing.

Regards Alan 

Hot Rats is one of his most accessible albums with some good guitar playing on several tracks and features the truly wonderful Captain Beefheart  on one track. A personal favourite album of mine is "We're only in it for the money". 

There is a UK based band, The Muffin Men, who play Zappa music and are well worth catching live. They usually have a Zappa alumnus with them - for a long time it was Jimmy Carl Black (the Indian of the group) and lately it's Denny Whalley. Talking to JCB after a gig he was adamant they are more than a tribute band and rated them very highly.

 

Another vote for the Muffin Men as a live act, I saw them a couple of times at festivals and they were great. I’d echo Hot Rats as probably the best intro to Zappa’s guitar playing, or try The Grand Wazoo who is a nice jazz fusion work (if you like that then he’s storming on Wazoo which is a live recording). Tidal has Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar which is three albums of guitar solos, I suspect best sampled online until you become a fan.

ALANP posted:

Eoink posted:

Filipe posted:

Clive B posted:

I'm going to keep it a Miles Davis day all day today. Now for some live Bitches Brew.

Clive, The sun is shining! Get out there in the fresh air!

Phil

The sun is shining? In West Yorkshire I have about 2 inches of snow. 

Luckily its just wet in North Yorks  

Well, wrap up warm and dry! I needed neither when the sun shone on me peeking its head through the clouds. When the cold wind blew without the sun shining I retreated from weeding into the glasshouse! With a bit of work there’s a song there! A new verse to the sun has got his hat on!

Eoink posted:

Pev posted:

ALANP posted:

Gents ,like Phil I am not very aware of all the Zappa stuff as I was put off the material being forced to listen to it during art lessons at college.Can anybody recommend one of the instrumental albums that showcases his guitar playing.

Regards Alan 

Hot Rats is one of his most accessible albums with some good guitar playing on several tracks and features the truly wonderful Captain Beefheart  on one track. A personal favourite album of mine is "We're only in it for the money". 

There is a UK based band, The Muffin Men, who play Zappa music and are well worth catching live. They usually have a Zappa alumnus with them - for a long time it was Jimmy Carl Black (the Indian of the group) and lately it's Denny Whalley. Talking to JCB after a gig he was adamant they are more than a tribute band and rated them very highly.

 

Another vote for the Muffin Men as a live act, I saw them a couple of times at festivals and they were great. I’d echo Hot Rats as probably the best intro to Zappa’s guitar playing, or try The Grand Wazoo who is a nice jazz fusion work (if you like that then he’s storming on Wazoo which is a live recording). Tidal has Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar which is three albums of guitar solos, I suspect best sampled online until you become a fan.

Appreciate that Eoin ,I had an inkling about the Shut Up n Play album,thanks

Pierre Monteux LSO - Bethoven Symphony No. 2 and the Fidelio/King Stephen Overtures, original UK vinyl

Picked up 2nd hand a few years ago, it’s a fantastic performance of the 2nd, the LSO really showing the drive of the rhythm while bringing out the essential joy of the work, the two overtures are also great to listen to, again musical and powerful. Perfect sound quality from the 1966 slab of vinyl.

Michael Hedges > Aerial Boundaries

Phil,  listen to these good people above. Zappa was a very prolific and controversial musician but never boring. Some member have already mentioned the must-haves albums in particular Hot Rats. I would also recommend Zoot Allures, Were only In It For The Money and Over-nite Sensation for starters. Stay well clear of Uncle Meat until you’ve got accustomed to his bizarre sense of humour. You’re in for a treat but unlike Marmite  it will take some getting used to it. Have fun.

Andrew lloyd Webber

Gold - CD Rip

Edward

Alexis Korner ‘Bootleg Him’...20 ‘golden greats’  incl Messrs Plant, Bruce, Baker, Rodgers, Watts...

G

Kevin-W posted:

A bit of classic 70s soul - on mid-80s vinyl. "For God's Sake Give More Power to the People" and "Have You Seen Her?" are worth the price of admission on their own...

I'd utterly forgotten about The Chi-Lites, Kevin, and your mentioning "Have you seen her?"  has brought the memories flooding back.  Just had to order a compilation (and crikey, don't some of those old CDs command a handsome price on Amazon?). 

M

Paul McCartney  - Flowers in the Dirt , from the Archive Collection with the second disc of McCartney / McManus original demos

Beaux Arts Trio, Mozart Piano Trios K254 & K496 and Clarinet Trio K498, WAV CD rip

The piano trios are serene works of beauty, Mozart blending the strings and piano perfectly, largely serene joyous works, with enough drama to keep them exciting. Superbly played, the fluidity of Pressler’s piano is a wonder. A totally different group plays the clarinet trio, which is glorious, the complexity of the work and the interplay between the instruments makes it one of my favourite Mozart pieces. This performance by Kovacevich, Brymer and Ireland is outstanding, all three play their souls out while interacting superby, it’s about as perfect a performance as I ever hope to hear.

1989 ....

Zappa...

Needs a thread a zillion posts long because he was all over the place stylistically. But for me:

For straight(ish) rock, then I'd start with something like Hot Rats, One Size Fits All, Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe, Zoot Allures, Sheik Yerbouti.

For early psych(ish) then We're Only In It For The Money, Freak Out, Uncle Meat

For jazzy(ish) then Best Band You Never Heard, Make A Jazz Noise Here, Waka Jawaka

For "humour" avoid anything with Flo & Eddie.

And once more with feeling, for pure, glorious fret-w@nkery:

Oh, and book-wise:

The Real Frank Zappa - Frank Zappa

Not strictly an autobiography, but a terrific read - you get to see from the inside what made him tick (at least in his own eyes). Lots of scurrulous stories (such as the origin of Stevie's Spanking), his relationship with Captain Beefheart, how hard he was on band members (everyone had to be able to change in the middle of a song, at a sign from Frank, into something unrehearsed such as suddenly playing whatever it was as a tango), his hatred of drugs (except smoking of course) and his contempt for hippies (boo!).

Playing on Vinyl - Great Blues From Lucky Evans on the Borderline label from 1986

The Three Tenors

Carreras Domingo Pavarotti In Concert (2010 Remaster) - CD Rip

Edward

Stuart McCallum - Distilled

(2011)

Just back in and desperately in need of something musically chilled, this was the first thing I saw in the library, a lucky choice. 

Phil

As others above have previously said above and I agree with entirely and would perhaps add Apostrophe to that list of Zappa albums to try. 

Simply Red  - Blue , a well recorded affair with  slightly more of a reggae influence .Not the original band by now but not too bad

Playing on Compact Disc on Legacy Records from 1962

  Them - Them.

  Where it all started for Van The Man ............................ a gem from the early '60's blues explosion, and with tracks like "Gloria",

  "Here Comes The Night" and, of course, "Baby Please Don't Go" it takes me right back to schooldays.