Can I eat a decorative gourd? I want to be beautiful inside.Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)
Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.— Elbert Hubbard
This is a revisitation. Back when there was a Newbury Comics near Boston’s Old State House, at what I want to say was called the Washington Mall (basically a few storefronts on a brick-paved walkway between Washington Street and City Hall) I do declare there were times when I logged some impulse purchases there. One of these was Zappa’s Civilization Phaze III. I must have listened to it once, neither hated nor adored it, made a non-urgent mental note that I would revisit it sometime ... and years passed. The thought that occurs to me today, before once again slipping the CDs into the tray, is that back when Lumpy Gravy and We’re Only In It For the Money were originally released, printed on the album covers were the legends, “Is this phase two of We’re Only In It For the Money” and “Is this phase one of Lumpy Gravy,” respectively. “Is that one source of Phaze III?” I didn’t even see the rhetorical question coming, Officer. As I listen to this on repeat-ish this year, it’s rather growing on me: the characteristically freewheeling invention in the Synclavier music (both the composition qua composition and the use of timbre) the resuscitation of the “Piano People,” and new “Piano People” in the 90’s. The additional material of the original “Piano People” (redeemed from tape which sat in the archives lo! these long years does not always rise above mildly interesting (a very little of “Louis the Turkeys ” explosive and non-dulcet laughter goes a loooong way.) and I may at times find myself wondering if I care about the musings of the latter-day “Piano People,” but that is ultimately a minor quibble for me, and I find the “recapitulation” of some of the old “Piano People” dialogue which had appeared on Lumpy Gravy somewhat amusing. The 18-minute “N-Lite” concluding the first disc is kind of a “Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar” event. It is a rewarding listen, albeit requiring (what is becoming a rarer faculty in our “aggressively online” era) focused attention. Would “N-Lite” fall easier upon the ear (he queried both rhetorically and wildly speculatively) if it were realized by human musicians? Perhaps, but in the first place there are timbres here produced by the Synclavier which “genuine instruments” might only simulate. And in the second, the Synclavier was something of a dream come true for Zappa, who struggled over the years to get orchestras to play his considerably demanding and complicated scores with musical justice and accuracy. And so, when Zappa had found and learnt how to utilize this tool, he could compose “large ensemble” music without regard for what was strictly humanly possible. This is, we should say, one of the joys of this release.
Overall, and this verges on stating the obvious, since Lumpy Gravy runs for one-quarter the duration of Civ. Ph. III, the latter is not so “casually consumable” as the older ballet. I do not consider the raw fact of that comparison itself any flaw of the later release. And, harp-like timbres in “Pigs With Wings?” Who says Zappa was incapable of delicate wit?
It is emblematic of the care Zappa lavished on this release that he provides not only a scenario but a complete transcript of the album. Personally, I don’t take the scenario quite seriously, but I applaud and respect Zappa’s giving the auditor that option (in the spirit of “optional entertainment.”) Can I let the 90’s “Piano People” into the tent? (I mean, into the piano) Yeah, sure I can.
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