Zappa.com’s what’s new section really needs permalinks, because I can’t link to any entries directly. Which is why I’m copying them here:
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ZPZ DVD Previews, Posted 03 July 2007
Ladies and Gentlemen, for your audio & visual gratification the upcoming Zappa Plays Zappa DVD proudly presents these delights:
Andy
Florentine Pogen
Peaches En Regalia
Oh No
Sofa
Black Napkins
Inca Roads
Montana
Punky’s Whips
Pound For A Brown
All in stunning hi definition with exceptional stereo and multi-channel fidelity. Special care has been taken to visually escort you through the elaborate arrangements of each piece. Exactly 19 other “wildly popular†Frank Zappa compositions are included as well. “We don’t mess around!â€
View previews for “Call Any Vegetable†and “Zomby Woof†here.
DZ
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Funny true story.
I finally got the tickret for ZPZ in Antwerp. In an enveloppe of the Royal Society for Zoology. Yes, indeed, the venue of the concert happens to be part of the Zoo.
Heh, I had the same reaction: “Look Sharl, our tickets have arrived from the Zoo!” (cue ZPZoo punchline)
I’m sorry, I can‘t stand Sheila Gonzales’ vocals on Call Any Vegetable and other occasions that have been captured on video so far. This is not up to FZs standards. The rest sounds rather harmless, too.
I enjoyed last years show I attended anyway and will surely go this year.
Hey, it’s the 21st century, what else can you do?
M.
Yup KMDA enveloppe (the song?) also
Were are you guys located?
My seats are; Corbeille F Row 1 seats 34/36/38
And for the Tilburg concert its a “any seat you can take” place. Gotta be early over there.
I couldn’t get Zomby Woof to play, but I really enjoyed Call Any Vegetable! I’m looking forward to see what this DVD has to offer.
Have to agree with Michael Pabst. Call Any Vegetable is not up to FZs standards. While I found the cover passable — it really took a nose dive at the beginning of what passed for a guitar solo (I really expected more from Dweezil here). Perhaps it was just the way this preview was edited (at least I hope so), because that solo was such an essential part of the original IMO. I hope this is true when I pay for the complete DVD.
Let’s use an expression by Vince Colaiuta to describe a good performance (when he was talking about FZ in an interview in the 80s): it has to have some GARLIC in it.
At least this recording of ZpZ is lacking some garlic (and other spices too).
M.
Luc: Parterre C, Row 1 :)
interesting: while all the older videos (spots, whatever) work well on the ZPZ page, I can’t see (only hear [!]) Call Any Vegetables, and Zomby Woof doesn’t work at all. As well as all the other videos on zappa.com, like the one from Roxy. What can the problem be?
Some reverse engineering of what the ZPZ page does wrongly (and playing around with different spellings of ZPZ or zpz or whatever in the URLs that they use) finally reveals this direct link to the Zomby Woof quicktime movie:
http://zappa.com/zpz/videos/ZPZ_zombywoof.mov
Plays just fine for me!
Maybe I’m crazy. Again this sounds nothing but wrong to me. No freedom, no garlic, no DIRT, no energy. The band is playing in safety mode. Painting by numbers. Steve Vai: superfluous noodling. Napoleon and Sheila in this combination doesn’t sound good.
However, I didn’t have this negative impression at the show I attended last year. Though I was disturbed by the lack of dynamics. Everything was equally loud.
I hope for the better this year, but don’t have the best expectations for the DVD after hearing and seeing those previews and the trailer.
Sorry,
M.
Being an old fart of the first order, I am not the slightest bit interested in the ZPZ DVD. Why bother?
I happen to be an old fart myself (not sure about the first order part though) but i’m quite interested in the ZPZ DVD and will grab one when i’m attending the ZPZ show in Stuttgart on October 3rd :-)
Robert: thanks for the info!!!
I’ve warned you about my craziness. I will buy it for sure! ;-)
M.
I thought Call Any Vegetable was SPOT ON!
I’ll be seeing ZPZ in a few weeks and I am REALLY looking forward
to it. I am also sure to buy the DVD.
Watching ZPZ at the Madison Square Garden, and seeing Scheila Gonzales play a sax/keyboard solo was a real treat.
ALSO, reading posts from people who don’t like Zappa music
is a treat, too.
Scheila is a goddess. Look, it’s not Frank- it’s his music. And it’s well performed by young and hungry musicians who have come to love his music. I think ZFT were pretty generous giving us that much to sample. Dweez’ solos have his own stamp on them, and i enjoy hearing what happens during them, almost as much as I enjoy hearing Frank’s. Almost! But always worth hearing. Maybe Call Any Vegetable would have been even better had Flo & Eddie sang it!
“Scheila is a goddess.”
I have always thought so.
Xorg says “why bother” about buying the ZPZ DVD. Also being an old fart of the first order (okay, second order), the answer is simple: if you want quality releases from the ZFT you are going to have to pay for it and support the only game in town. Why do you think ZPZ is touring? For the sheer fun of it? It’s the same way that Frank paid the bills, and it’s the same way that Dweezil has learned to pay them. If we are ever going to get that Roxy DVD in the future, we’ll have to support Dweezil and the ZFT now and into the future by buying their stuff and going to their show. Sure, it’s not FZ, but ZPZ is the rightful heir to FZ even with their shortcomings. And hey, if this old fart can come around to liking ZPZ, anyone can.
A bit late (I only have time to hear this stuff in the weekends):
Vegetable was weird: to have all the improvised vocal buffoonary memorised just sounds wrong. The rest was a solid rendition.
Zomby Woof rocked. I believe this was the first Vai solo that actually felt to me like a progression, not just the boring “play all notes all the time, you figure out what the right one at that moment was” that is his trade mark.
YES!!YES!!YES!! The new ZPZ DVD has ‘Oh No’ and ‘Florentine Pogen’ on it, aswell as ‘Andy’ ‘Punky’s Whips’ and others. These are some of my favourite Zappa songs!
Can’t wait to see it!
P.S. Scheila is a babe!