Zappa Radio at zappa.com

After a few months of “coming soon”, here it is finally: the Zappa Radio. A fine mix of FZs music, constantly playing online. Unfortunately the playlist shows only what you have listened 5 minutes ago.

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30 Responses to Zappa Radio at zappa.com

  1. Duncan says:

    I think you need to refresh the page to update the playlist info – I know that problem!

    The .pls thingy plays nicely and updates info in iTunes – even if it is only a 64kbs stream. Could they not shorten the title of the stream:

    Zappa Radio – Frank Zappa: ‘Music Is The Best’ – That’s right folks, you heard Right. Don’t touch that dial! Zapparama & Randomonium too. Puts the Hrz on your nose. KILL UGLY RADIO!!!!!

    – seems a little over the top – Zappa Radio surely tells us all we need to know.

  2. Robert says:

    Holy shit! They play some real gems there! Right now i’m listening to a Synclavier version of Watermelon In Easter Hay

  3. urbangraffito says:

    All is forgiven (Ah, that sweet, sweet, sound of Zappa Radio — thought I’d never hear it again).

  4. jane23 says:

    the frost is definitely off the pumpkins.

  5. bernard says:

    Is there a nedd for a radio station, playing constantly FZ music?

    As I- contrary to recieved wisdom- do not happen to be insane:three comparisons.

    1. FZ basically played US / Italian music. Just listen for instance to legato being replaced by staccato, the Italian style. By the way half of what the great Vivaldi composed also happened to be mere crap. The other half..

    2. J.S. Bach. Similarity= never ending stream of great compositions against a backdrop of miserable living conditions.

    3. R. Wagner. As ” the frost is definitely off the pumpkins”. Wagner was the first composer ever ( and still is ) to have a ” fan club”. Narrow minded followers, including – still nowadays- his grand – grand children competing for the ultimate price in the concours of his legacy. They add noting new to it. Wagner, as FZ might prove to be the mirror image of each other in many ways. Ok, FZ was much better.

  6. Sterbus says:

    Yes, there are some gems there, someone heard a different take of Zomby woof also…

  7. bernard says:

    Message is : refuse to be a FZ Wagner- like.

  8. Harmless Ted says:

    ?

  9. danny says:

    Bernard: “Is there a nedd for a radio station, playing constantly FZ music?”

    Answer: Yes.

  10. luc says:

    Oh no, this can’t be true. 24/7… i can get nothing done anymore around the house without the Sennheiser headset. The neighbors say; don’t you know anything else than Zappa? And i answer them; Zappa IS everything!!
    Million thanx to zappa.com

  11. scott says:

    Synclavier version of Watermelon In Easter Hay???????
    Holy fucking FUCK!!!

    WhErE? wHeRE??

  12. jane23 says:

    Synclavier version of Watermelon In Easter Hay???????
    I think he must have meant “Outside Now Again” from the perfect stranger album.

  13. scott says:

    Awwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  14. Hank Peters says:

    Complaining about an imperative such as this would be treason, but I kinda wish I wouldn’t end up hearing the same songs more than once per day. I’ve already heard Groupie Bang Bang and Love of my Life twice, with Goblin Girl clocking in at (I think) three times. Although I guess it was bound to happen, so who gives a fuck anyway?

  15. jane23 says:

    i have never heard “groupie bang bang” so i listen some more
    but i have heard cheap thrills each time i have tuned in
    (i prefer the weird compressed drum sound on the original ruben and the jets to the overdubbed bass and drums on the remixed version.)

  16. urbangraffito says:

    bernard Says:
    November 4th, 2007 at 6:54 pm

    Message is : refuse to be a FZ Wagner- like.

    You obviously have little or no idea of what the Zappa fan base is really all about. Otherwise, you’d realize how downright stupid it sounds to compare the musical creations of FZ to that of such classical war-horses as Wagner, Bach and Vivaldi (or their cognoscenti). It’s a completely schizophrenic discussion. Barry was right.

  17. jane23 says:

    HA, just tuned in to Zappa Radio and BINGO!!!
    CHEAP THRILLS for the third time today!!!

    KILL ZAPPA RADIO

    (just kidding)

  18. Hank Peters (again) says:

    Are the songs from Ruben and the Jets the remixed versions, or are they from the original vinyl? I only ask this because I do not own that album.

  19. jane23 says:

    Ruben and the Jets:
    Uncle Frank removed the original bass and drums from Ruben and replaced Jimmy Carl Black’s and Roy Estrada’s bass and drum parts with Chad Wackerman and Patrick O’Hearn, (i think), playing parts with an entirely different feel. He also removed one vocal line where someone who sounds like it could be jimi hendrix says: “could i come out of the closet now”.
    The version you hear on Zappa Radio is the later overdubbed version and not the original recording.

  20. Hank Peters says:

    Alright, “Groupie Bang Bang” for the 4th time today!
    Seriously, did they only upload select songs or got lazy and didn’t set any restrictions on how many times a song is played? Hopfuly it’ll be “fixed” in a week. I love these songs, but not so much when they are mixed in with other songs I’ve heard multiple times.

  21. jane23 says:

    i am pissed
    i have never heard “Groupie Bang Bang”
    yet everytime i tune i hear cheap thrills
    ah, such is life.

  22. sterbus says:

    I quote the answers about Ruben, but I add that indeed “Stuff up the cracks” is the original mix still!

  23. jane23 says:

    i don’t think stuff up the cracks is the original version
    from what i remember the wah wah solo at the end comes in at a different place. i could be wrog.

  24. urbangraffito says:

    I admit I’m something of a purist when it comes to the albums of the original Mothers of Invention. I just dig those original mixes. I’ll never know why FZ changed them (although that was his right as their creator). I’m just fortunate to have both versions to listen to when the spirit hits me. It’d be great if Zappa Radio did this, too. The 45 Version of “Dog Breath,” for instance, is quite different from the version on Uncle Meat.

  25. jane23 says:

    the original mixes, yes!!!
    i heard frank changed them as a result of lwsuits by former mothers
    so he removed their parts
    but who knows the real story.
    On the CD version of Hungry Freaks, Daddy there seems to be something wrong with the first snare hit which i think is missing on the CD, something is wrong anyway.
    I have all the original vinyl LPs from when I bought them in the 60s
    so i will be ok

  26. urbangraffito says:

    Thank goodness for the original vinyl LPs!

  27. mtiberio says:

    Can’t get the radio to work from my desktop, but it does work from my Treo 750 PDA/Phone !!!!!

  28. Arthur Barrow plays bass on the “rueben” overdubs, not O’Hearn.

  29. jane23 says:

    barrow; o’hearn
    it still sounds foreign to me.
    slapped on, after the fact
    but so what
    anything at all for any reason at all right?
    i prefer the original

  30. Balint says:

    Here’s an article about why he added new bass and drums recordings. By FZ, by eyewitnesses, etc. More: “He did actually remix Lumpy Gravy, and added new bass and drums to it, but that version was never released.” (!!!)

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