The Unexpexted Zappa Orgy of 1Q25 Part I

 

I stood there, powerless to help. When they announced, “Cinnamon pumpkin scone,” the lady standing beside me was corn to their sickle. I thought, “Thank God they didn’t add chocolate!”
Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

To me, absurdity is the only reality.

— Frank Zappa

As an homage to Zappa’s own wordplay, which was at times orthographyplay, I’m letting the misspelling “unexpexted” in the headline stand. I suppose, actually, that my adventure this month ought not to have come as such a surprise to me. To begin with, I was just the sort of Zappa enthusiast that I must have all six volumes of You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore. Nor was it very long after its 1996 release that I snapped up the three-CD release of Läther. Then, I exulted in the Project/Object releases MOFO (Making Of Freak Out!) Lumpy Money and Meat Light. I shan’t numerate the various concert releases &c. which made their way into my library. Nevertheless, one corner of my subconscious made war with much the greater part, seeking to assure me (contrary to my historical affection for the album) that no, you do not need The Hot Rats Sessions. S0mehow, for some reason, I held onto that thought. But then, I purchased on an impulse the 50th anniversary edition of Apostrophe (’). No, I hadn’t seen any of the buzz by the YouTube commentariat, so I cannot lay any blame at their feet. Hidden cozmik forces prompted me to search for it, and before you could say Jimmy Carl Black, I had clicked to purchase it. This 5-CD plus Blu-ray audio box set has knocked me out. One takes it as read that the album itself sounds superb (it does.) The almost-12-minute unedited title track I found absorbing. A little surprisingly, since the cut on the album as released is a hair bit shy of six minutes. Zappa’s invention on the guitar never flags (let alone fail) so my guess is that he felt the full track would overbalance the flow of the album. Obviously that is mere speculation on my part. There are two smashing concerts in their entirety—in Colorado Springs and Dayton, Ohio (21 March 1974 and 20 November ’74, respectively. The Colorado Springs concert includes fascinating “preview” outings of a couple of numbers which would appear on One Size Fits All: “Is There Anything Good Inside of You?” i.e. “Andy,” and “Florentine Pogen.” Also, a bonus outlier of “Inca Roads” similarly previewed in Salt Lake City, Utah. And I loved the Colorado Springs version of “Dupree’s Paradise” and  “RDNZL.” Heck, I always like the latter. I love Zappa’s solo in the Dayton “Pygmy Twylyte,” as well as the deliciously incongruous intrusion of the Mozart C Major Piano Sonata, K. 545. The Apostrophe (’) 50th anniversary box is a thorough joy, which discovery has definitively demonstrated that Resistance Was Futile. Oh, I had forgotten: one of my first compact disc purchases (’89? ’90?) was the Rykodisc reissue of Over-Nite Sensation together with Apostrophe (’). I recall finding it interesting that the two albums were each so short that the two would fit on a single compact disc. And lo! one of the things I learn from reading Simon Prentis’ liner notes is that “audio quality deteriorated rapidly over the last five of the twenty minutes traditionally squeezed onto one side of an LP.” Zappa therefore scaled the albums such that the highest quality of sound should prevail. Entirely like him.