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 Two weeks after disco demolition (the official beginning of the end of disco). The guest host of Midnight Special (on after Sat. nite live) was Mac Davis.On this particular night, Mr. Hip country himself all decked out in jeans and cowboy boots was proclaiming that a new wave of dance music was sweeping the ocean (right after the mud shark) and that music was disco! So on national TV, Mac Davis was going to shed his country ways and go DISCO! And as he started disrobing his country garb and draping his studly bod with polyester he started singing FRANK ZAPPA'S DANCIN FOOL!!!! For those of you looking to buy this cd, Dancin Fool (along with Zoot Alures - Disco Boy) is an extremely antidisco song. I can only imagine the joy FZ had cashing THAT royalty check! This album is superbly recorded, fine examples of polyrhythm/polymeter compositions, and comes close to replicating the energy that the touring band had.
1. Satirical and clever lyrics. Zappa deals with sexual ambiguity, cursing, ridiculing the disco era and dating with a Jewish girl to whom not very complimentary epithets are attached. So you might think he's nasty, homophobic, misogynistic, antisemitic and anti-disco. It might be, it might not. But heŭs open enough not to be politically correct, and I think it is a virtue. 2. Silly lyrics. He also sings about baby snakes and "not smoking in pajamas" because "you might start a fire'n burn yer place". Well, sometimes he relies on music, not on lyrics; the latter ones are often a medium to music, so they tend to be quite silly at times. But I find them funny. 3. Musical complexity. In "Rubber Shirt" Zappa took the bass part of a 4/4 track, and superimposed it on a slow 11/4 drum track. He did the same in the "Yo' Mama" guitar solo. That's worth noticing and listening to. 4. Musical simple, rocking straightforwardness. Which is what, in my opinion, makes the album so good. You never get lost, bored or misled. You can keep your feet stomping much of the listening time. "Baby Snakes" is a highlight of this approach, I think: short, uncomplicated, and that's it. 5. Guitar musicianship. There's more than a couple of tracks with Frank doing the virtuoso part. Great. 6. Lack of "unmitigated audacity", i.e. experimental and weird sonic adventures. This is one of the Zappa landmarks that you will miss in this one. Even so, if there's no cacophony or there aren't dislocated sound collages, it will make "Sheik Yerbouti" more acceptable for first-time listeners. You can go then for "Hot Rats" (1969) or the early Mothers stuff if you're curious about it. Conclusion: this album is the best to begin to listen to Zappa and to know most of his traits. If it gets you bored, you won't be a Zappa fan at all.
tracks 2-4 blaze, beginning with "I'm a moron..." |
muscially adept and mixed with a fury, this album showcases individual songs over an entire concept album. the recording techniques on this album blossom on joe's garage. Nonetheless exists excellent technical schizmatics. i did notice the tendencey on this album more than most(although Zappa does it on others) that the songs will end on a lyrical repeating non-sequiter in regards to the album as a whole.
