Frank Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, songwriter, composer, and record and film producer. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical composers such as Edgard Varèse, Igor Stravinsky, and Anton Webern, along with 1950's rhythm and blues music. Zappa was a self-taught composer and performer, and his diverse musical influences led him to create music that was often difficult to categorize. His 1966 debut album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. His later albums shared this eclectic and experimental approach, irrespective of whether the fundamental format was rock, jazz or classical. His lyrics — often humorously — reflected his iconoclastic view of established social and political processes, structures and movements. (More from Wikipedia)
Leon Redbone generally performed while sitting scrunched up on a stool, wearing a Panama hat with a black band, along with dark glasses; and there was always a mysterious air about him, leading to rumors that he was an alternate identity of Frank Zappa (his mustache and bit of beard looked a lot like Zappa's would if it were trimmed back) or comedian Andy Kaufman. We went to a concert of his once but eventually lost interest and left at halftime; the same thing happened another time when we saw folksinger Burl Ives.
Speaking of Frank Zappa, he is a musical genius who will be discussed at greater length some other time. But one of Zappa's most successful ventures from the standpoint of record sales is the song "Valley Girl" that he put together with his daughter Moon Zappa. Behind a rock beat with Dad singing a chorus that said in part "Okay, fine, fer sure, fer sure / She's a Valley Girl, and there is no cure", Moon delivered a whiny, stream-of-consciousness monologue in "valleyspeak" featuring teenage slang of the time. Several phrases from the song entered into popular culture, like "grody to the max" and "gag me with a spoon".
(March 2013)
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The Pebbles, Volume 4 CD has only about half of the songs that are on the Pebbles, Volume 4 LP; even the title song "Summer Means Fun" by Bruce & Terry was omitted, so there is a different subtitle, "Surf 'n' Tunes". In addition to the head-scratcher "School is a Gas" by the Wheel Men, the CD also includes the original "School is a Drag" by the Super Stocks. Other highlights include "Move out Little Mustang" by the Rally Packs, a screaming cover of "Shortnin' Bread" by the Readymen, "Wine, Wine, Wine" by the Bleach Boys (another hot inland surf band, this time from Sioux Falls, SD), and "The Big Surfer" by Brian Lord. Lord is a San Bernardino DJ who is backed here by Frank Zappa, Ray Collins, Paul Buff and Dave Aemi; the big surfer is evidently President John Kennedy, and the song sounds like it could have been an outtake from the hit comedy album The First Family.
(December 2014)
