Zappa Does Humor Belong in Music?, #36 favorite FZ album

[@russw3736]

In 1991 the BBC put the film on TV and I was intrigued because I'd never heard anything like it before but wasn't sure if I really liked it or not. A mate from college watched the same transmission and went out and bought Joe's Garage and then insisted I listened to it. So from then I was hooked.

[@billkeon880]

The film is quite entertaining and good songs. I agree about the drums. Why oh why? The cartoonish idea is kind of a slick predictability which happens when you play the same material over and over and perfect your humorous interjections. I like it myself, but bought the DVD and introduced that way.

[@plopcoen6222]

For me this album was the high point release in a seven year bleak stretch in the 80s. After You Are What You Is and before Guitar there was a string of FZ releases that I was distinctly underwhelmed by at the time (I feel differently about some of them now 30+ years later) and so I was hugely pleased when DHBIM came out... what a relief! ...and then starting with Guitar in 1988, FZ's releases entered a real purple patch during the 5 years leading up to his passing.

[@theopinionatedhippie470]

I have to be in the right mood for this one. The solos are strong. I’m just not a fan of Frank’s “Kill the momentum and start over” vamp philosophy from this era, which is why I prefer Guitar and Trance-Fusion solos from 84....no momentum killing. I am hoping the ZFT does an 84 box set that, like Mother’s 70 and Road Venue #3, can save a tour.

[@paulayers1111]

Wire is an EXCELLENT band. Mind Hive was awesome

[@kirlyjones]

Its so weird, I get all of the criticisms about the 84 band and I agree with most of them, but for some reason I keep coming back to DHBIM and YCDTOSA 3 disk 1 (especially the latter one). For example, Drowning witch on Ship Arriving is my all time favorite FZ track and I KNOW it to be sooooo much better than the YCDTOSA 3 version, but that one has such a weird edge to it, that just fills me with glee and I dont know why. Great video btw

[@theopinionatedhippie470]

I also like the vocal part of the YCDTOSA Drowning Witch better than the SATLTSADW version. I LOVE Ike ‘s game show announcer portion. And also....a new car!

[@deanjonasson6776]

I like DHBIM very much. The songs are interesting, Frank's solos are strong and he sounds like he's having fun. Zavod's keyboard solo on "... Cleveland" is a wonder to behold... really moving into Chick Corea territory. As for Wakerman's solo, well, it ain't "Moby Dick" so we can be grateful. Actually, when the syth-chime-thingies come in the second time, it makes me laugh. "Whipping Post" builds to a great conclusion and the guitar battle between Dweezil and Dad, though not epic, is fine. Overall, the humour (oops, 'humor') works well, especially in the first half ("Tinsel-Town", "Trouble", "Penguin" and "Green Hotel"). As LeChiffre noted, this album definitely answers its own question.

[@kirlyjones]

@@deanjonasson6776 I agree with everything except for the guitar solos. I think the only really good guitar solos we get on this tour is like half of the Clevelands, Sharleena and the fast paced Hot Plates (not the slow vamp on DHBIM). I love Zavods playing most of the time, which sounds great when mixed properly as heard on Cleveland and Baltimore on DHBIM, but also a lot of the time it just sounds like a childrens toy. Add to that electronic drum kits and you got a lot of bootlegs just sounding kinda empty and cold. I really wanna hear more Clevelands, Hot Plates, etc from this tour in good quality, so lets hope there will be some releases from the ladder half of the tour, which would also add some great unreleased 84 material like Goblin Girl, Daddy Daddy Daddy and maybe even Baby take your teeth out

[@deanjonasson6776]

@@kirlyjones Good points. Personally, I'm not a bugged about the sound as I don't have an extensive Zappa live library to compare it to. To me, those cheesy digital horn stabs and synthetic drums are more a time capsule than anything 'authentic' (keeping in mind that anything Frank released was going to have some degree of fiddling). The 'Mickey Mouse' sound and goofy songs are in keeping with the overall theme; they work just fine here... might be tiring on a multi-disk set, f'sure. There's nothing epic about these performances ("Cleveland" excepted) but it flows well and does feature some great singing. Zappa's definitely a contrarian but that makes his output endlessly fascinating. Thanks for the discussion: I'm learning a lot!

[@kirlyjones]

@@deanjonasson6776 I too have nothing against the synth horn stabs as I love them very much on the 77-82 tours. I don't know exactly what it is but Tommy Mars'' synths sound just so much more meaner and therefore more exiting to me than Alan Zavods. But at the end of the day, the 84 band is probably the FZ band I listen to the most and its probably just because you just hear how much fun they were having which just fills me with joy, because its just a nice little thing to hear the cynic and avantgarde Composer that was FZ come out of his shell and goof around a little :)

[@lechiffre5078]

“That got me just about as evil as an eskimo boy can be So I bent down, and I reached down, and I scooped down and I gathered up a generous mitten-full of the deadly (yellow snow)” To answer the question. Of course it does.😉

[@baerenonkel]

you don't think Allan's subpar playing and thin sound on much of the tour give it a certain personality?

[@Dweezil1996]

I would argue that this was the Ike Willis/ Ray White era. They were a great vocal team. Huge support from Bobby Martin too, who is a very underrated talent. I do get the sterile 80s complaint though. Definitely hate the Chad Wackerman electric drum sound. Hate it, hate it, hate it. Such a shame because he's a truly an amazing player. Anything he ever put electric drum dubs on is a ruined recording though. What a weird decision! Like I don't mind when the electric drums are treated like another auxiliary instrument on top of acoustic drums (like Peaches in the outro), but that's about all I can palette.

[@alancumming6407]

It was Zappa who wanted him to play those electronic drums. I hate the sound of them and I'm not keen on this particular band.