I subscribe to Google Web Alerts for the term “Frank Zappa”. And so earlier today, this alert turned up:
Erhm…
Alanis Morissette type irony aside: while the ZFT continues to prohibit us from displaying so much as thumb-nailed album artwork on the discog section, there’s rampant, illegal distribution of official FZ-releases on the net.
Make a sentence, ZFT: “straight”, “priorities”, “your”, “get”… ?
Wonderful rendition of “Blessed Relief” by Lex Kemper, Barry.
Re: ZFT. They ceased making sense to me a very long time ago. They appear to be motivated largely by emotion rather than by reasoned logic, sometimes.
Tribute bands, festivals and weblogs are not the antithesis of FZ’s legacy; rather they are the caryatids that hold it up.
Indeed, it’s unfortunate that the ZFT should attack with such rancor those who share a love for the composers music, while the real scoundrels – the bootleggers, and those who download FZ’s entire official catalogue – are left untouched.
hey
why not download FZ albums illegally. They only use the money to sue others which “misuse his name”.
f@#k ’em, the ZFT, they will not get one penny from me
Nice version of Blessed Relief, i guess, even though the ‘feel’ of the tune is completely wrong! This guy plays it like it’s a sweet little ditty with a slight “square-ish” shuffle feel, while FZ’s original had more minimalist, relaxed ‘soul’. But then again, this guy is playing a classical guitar, and it’s hard to replicate Zappa’s unique style of phrasing on one of those. (Literally, since FZ didn’t play a classical nylon-string acoustic.)
My advice to this trained, learned musician would be to put less emphasis on the chord changes and more on knowing where’s Zappa’s ‘one’ was, and understanding the gaps between the notes are just as important as the chord pattern, rather than playing it in such “straight” sounding fashion–if he wants to be ‘faithful’ to FZ’s original recording, that is. If not, it’s very pleasant, with skillful chord progressions, which were augmented with non-guitar instruments on the original record, allowing for FZ’s ‘direct’ & ‘biting’ guitaring focus.
oh yeah, and p.s. to the subject of this original post:
Boycott the ZFT!