Frank Zappa: London Symphony Orchestra Vol. 1 (Barking Pumpkin)
This was a dupe copy sent to WRCT that I claimed on its original release
I've just read Moon Unit Zappa's memoir, Earth to Moon. I'm not a fast reader, but I checked it out on Sunday and finished it on Wednesday, to give you an idea of how fast a read it is.
The book is presented as a series of vignettes from Moon's life, either essential events (the birth of each of her younger siblings, the death of her father, the harrowing and long hospitalization of her daughter) or "slices of life" from her overall life's story (her mother Gail taking her to a psychic/reader as a young child and being told she was a "star child"). If what you're looking for is a narrative of the Zappa household timeline, you get pieces of it but not a through-line. Each chapter paints a picture of her mindset at the time, which in part was based on her parents giving her a beautifully bound journal every Christmas.
Takeaways? 1. Gail and Frank probably should have never had children. I know that's cruel to say, and without them we wouldn't have Moon or Dweezil (or Ahmet or Diva, for whom I have less respect). In The Real Frank Zappa Book, there's a picture of Frank reading the constitution to his assembled children. He liked to project the image of being the family man, head of the household. Truth is, he spent very little time with any of them. That, I guess, was Gail's job. Frank was a largely absent father who would routinely house groupies in the family home, and Gail was a frustrated but devoted housewife. Moon, outside of the book, described her mother as her "first bully." That comes through. Yet through it all, she describes her father as her favorite person in the world.
2. There's a lot of talk these days of "nepo babies", the children of famous people launched into careers based on the family name and connections. To read Moon's account of things, her early acting career was based more on being the voice on "Valley Girl." The song wouldn't have launched as it did without her dad's name attached, but it was her val voice that carried it. This might have caused some tensions down the line with Gail and possibly even Frank, their biggest money earner being a novelty song. The earnings bought Moon a house, which she later agreed to sign over to Gail to assist with the family debt. It got messy.
3. There's a lot of unloading on Moon's part, especially later in the book. She's earned the right to do so. Outside of Zappa fandom, the book might not be of much interest. Even within, I know there's some blowback about writing essentially a self-therapy book. Through it all, she's a survivor of an extraordinarily unhealthy family situation. Respect. Part of me wishes I could be Moon's friend.
4. Gail is quoted multiple times in the narrative: "Earth to Moon, the world does not revolve around you." Sometimes, any child needs to be told this. Yet, maybe sometimes a child deserves to know that the world does indeed revolve around them.
The record.
There's passing reference to this session in Moon's book, how cool it was that he could hire a symphony orchestra just so he could hear his orchestral music played.
The truth is probably more complicated. Yes, some of Frank's through-composed music is at times impossibly difficult to play. But wouldn't putting the Zappa name on an orchestral program bring people out? The opening work on this LP, "Sad Jane", sounds like a thoroughly playable post-Debussy tone poem. I haven't gone to see the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in many years, mostly because they largely don't play music that interests me. If I knew Frank's name was on the program, even for an under-five minute piece, I might want to come out for that.
Listening to LP, I have a thought in the back of my mind constantly: "If this wasn't Frank Zappa, would you enjoy it?"
By and large, I think the answer is yes. I enjoy that he puts some much needed humor and even absurdity into the "new music" world: "Mo N' Herb's Vacation" for example, which is also a ridiculously difficult-sounding clarinet concerto more-or-less.
I don't like the production on this LP, and I blame Frank in this case. I know enough about this session to know he placed PZM mics on the floor all around the orchestra. Bad idea. Let the orchestra be the orchestra, and close-mic the soloists when necessary. Maybe part of the sound I don't like it relatively early digital recording, transferred to analog LP medium. There are times on his so-called rock albums, the later ones, where I definitely don't like the sound even if it was state of the art at the time. But then, I can't say I'm completely enthusiastic about any albums of his after One Size Fits All from 1975, not even ten years after Freak Out! and with many albums ahead of him.
I previously listened to Frank's The Yellow Shark, a CD of performances by Ensemble Modern. Tom Waits described it as his favorite Zappa album. It's thorny in general.
I believe Frank liked to project an image of being the divinely-inspired (though atheist) genius. I've learned that his music has serious theoretical underpinnings, even if those theories were never written down. I would have enjoyed reading his music theory ideas, though I guess it was never in his nature to create a book about such things.
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