Beginning today and continuing every two weeks until the first week of November, I bring you the following six part KUR Mix: The Son of Tweezer Glint.
The Son of Tweezer Glint is made up of proto versions of FZ and MOI songs, notable versions, alternate versions, extended versions, original versions, unique live versions, cover versions, acetates, demos, and 45’s.
The first installment of the series, “Son of Tweezer Glint – Part 1-A“, will be up for the next two weeks for your listening pleasure.
Click here to listen to the mixtape.
Very nice! Thank you for the work again!
My favourites so far: the extended 200 Years Old and Mo’s Vacation.
A disappointment again: Bogner Regis (I had heard this before of course).
Th.
Urban, what does it mean: “acetate”? A vinyl that was never released? Wonderful rendition of “Sharleena”. Thanks!!
[quote comment=”6806″]Urban, what does it mean: “acetate”? A vinyl that was never released? Wonderful rendition of “Sharleena”. Thanks!![/quote]
An Acetate is a test pressing done prior to a release (in the pre-digital era) so that the artist can give their work (sometimes early versions) a listen. Given the number of acetate pressings of Frank Zappa material, one can only conclude that listening to these early pressings was part of Zappa’s early creative process.
very awesome expansion upon the T.Glint theme. first track is a great choice. thanks!
Thanks!
About acetates – from the interview “I’m Different“:
FZ: “(The acceleration limiters) function very drastically. They start at 4k [4,000 cycles per second], and at that point when an “S” appears, they dump the whole top end. So. when it’s triggered, it takes the whole top off the tape, and not just the “S.” So it’s very critical to tweak those things. The guy who cuts the lacquers [the earliest disc in the mastering process] for us is very careful about leaving it on when it’s time to get rid of the S’s, and turning it off right afterwards. It makes for a lot of manual work, and in order to do it, he works from a sheet of paper with timing numbers. So he’ll, say, at one minute and 28 seconds turn on the high-frequency limiter to “4,” look at the timer, and turn it on at the right time. He doesn’t listen to the music, he does it by the numbers. Just turns it on and off. The easy way to do it is to turn on the high-frequency limiter and leave it on. There won’t be any S’s on the record, but there won’t be any top end on it either. We fuss with that type of stuff. We have 30 or 40 refs for the new album [The Man from Utopia] and most people don’t do that; they do one, and that’s it.”
BTW I think Meola also played on “Ride Like The Wind”.
Great “Son of Tweezer Glint – Part 1-A”, urbangraffito! Sometimes I wonder, what FZ did NOT release and for what reason, i.e. “200 years old” extended for example. And WOW Al Di Meola. And … And … And … Thank you for your effort, urbangraffito!
And there is always a BUT: Just available for 2 weeks. And then the whole compilation vanishes into oblivion. What can I do about it?
I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
[quote comment=”6840″]Sometimes I wonder, what FZ did NOT release and for what reason, i.e. “200 years old” extended for example. [/quote]
FZ was also very good at the art of leaving things out. “200 YO” is a good example where the shortened version is more on the spot than the long (full?) version. The song is more on the spot as a song. IMO.
Th.
[quote comment=”6840″]Just available for 2 weeks. And then the whole compilation vanishes into oblivion. What can I do about it?[/quote]
Have you considered converting to .mp3???
Ok, I try… I never heard the ’71 Mothers version of “I want to hold your hand…” by the Beatles 🙂
[quote comment=”6842″][quote comment=”6840″]Just available for 2 weeks. And then the whole compilation vanishes into oblivion. What can I do about it?[/quote]
Have you considered converting to .mp3???[/quote]
I have not the slightest clue, how to do that from a muxtape! Every hint and advice is much appreciated, Bob! 😉
Mark Pinske also talked in his Mix interview about the extensive mastering process that FZ used.
It makes you admire FZ all the more to realize that, in addition to his musical knowledge, he was capable of directing the entire music production process from beginning to end. I suspect most artists in the LP era had no clue about the mastering process, other than that they got some test pressings back eventually.
Even though LPs sound better than digital media, the hassle of mastering LPs makes me appreciate how easy I have it as a musician in the 21st Century.
[quote comment=”6871″]Mark Pinske also talked in his Mix interview about the extensive mastering process that FZ used.
It makes you admire FZ all the more to realize that, in addition to his musical knowledge, he was capable of directing the entire music production process from beginning to end. I suspect most artists in the LP era had no clue about the mastering process, other than that they got some test pressings back eventually.
Even though LPs sound better than digital media, the hassle of mastering LPs makes me appreciate how easy I have it as a musician in the 21st Century.[/quote]
I think it’s pretty obvious as early as the Studio Z recordings that FZ knew that knowledge is power, especially knowledge of the then (1960-onward) changing recording industry, which is why he placed himself firmly within the process beginning to finish.