Frank Zappa - Chalk Pie (1981)

Grabado en vivo en varios lugares de la gira de 1981 junto con algunas canciones adicionales, algunos dicen que éste habrìa sido uno de los mejores álbumes de Frank, si hubiera sido lanzado. Un álbum inèdito que nos trae el Mago Alberto, con las apariciones de Al di Meola y Steve Vai entre otros, y seguramente una gratìsima sorpresa para muchos. Otro disco de Zappa en el blog cabezòn, pero esta vez es un disco muy especial...

Artista: Frank Zappa

Álbum: Chalk Pie
Año: 1981
Género: Avant Garde / Experimental
Duración: 69:11
Nacionalidad: EEUU

Lista de Temas:
01. Drowning Witch
02. Envelopes
03. Teenage Prostitute
04. The Dangerous Kitchen
05. Chalk Pie
06. We're Turning Again
07. Alien Orifice
08. The Jazz Discharge Party Hats
09. Toronto
10. What's New In Baltimore
11. Moggio
12. Takes 1 To Know 1
13. Clownz On Velvet
14. Frogs With Dirty Little Lips

Alineación:
- Frank Zappa / lider guitar
Ed Mann / percussion
Tommy Mars / keyboards
Bobby Martin / keyboards
Scott Thunes / bass
Steve Vai / stunt guitar
Chad Wackerman / drums
Ray White / rhythm guitar
Al di Meola / guitar,in track 12

Hay discos que son especiales, por H o por B, y éste es uno de esos casos raros, por lo que no voy a emitir opiniòn alguna y voy a dejar que el Mago Alberto presente este registro:

Escribir sobre Zappa a estas alturas y con el corazón totalmente cautivado, sería casi una ridiculez. Hay muchísimas grabaciones del Franky revoloteando por muchísimos blogs. y es raro encontrar cosas que ya no se hayan publicado y las otras que ya son archiconocidas, pero siempre hay una que rompe el molde y te deja tecleando, y esta es una.
Una serie de tomas en vivo que fueron retocadas en estudio, y algunas cosas que son totalmente inéditas, hay quienes coinciden en que este material bien podría haberse editado como cualquier otra producción de Zappa pero siempre estuvo en las penumbras, "Clownz on Velvet" es la perla del disco porque se trata de una grabación realizada en el Ritz en 1981 y cuenta con la participación de Al di Meola en la guitarra líder, una verdadera rareza, la calidad de las grabaciones son de excelencia, y aquellos fans de Zappa que no conocían este material se van a llevar una sorpresa.
Cabezones/as esto es de alta cepa, Frank Zappa en altísima expresión. Esto no se recomienda, para los seguidores del blog esto es obligatorio. Por supuesto hay muchísima gente a la que no le gusta Zappa, pero no podemos hacernos cargo de ese tipo de carencias.

Mago Alberto

An unreleased Frank Zappa album, leaked to collectors by a member of his early-80's touring band, the 4 sided Chalk Pie was not greeted enthusiastically by the folks at the label. The previous year, 1981, Frank had released 2 double albums and 1 triple! They asked for a single album instead - and Frank delivered Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch. Almost all of the material that makes up Chalk Pie ended up being released on various Zappa albums throughout the 1980's, but there are a few things which you will find only here. Personally I find it a much better album than Drowning Witch, as it contains some of Zappa's more enjoyable difficult compositions of the time (as opposed to the 'silly songs' that make up Side 1 of that album). Note: the sound quality is pretty good, as long as you are aware that you are listening to a CD rip of a tape of a vinyl copy of the album - so it does have a little bit of murkiness at times, especially during Side 3.
Side 1 is the same as Side 2 of Drowning Witch, but with a different mix. I've always enjoyed the song itself, featuring as it does a certain amount of silliness, some very difficult music played astonishingly well and 2 FZ guitar solos. The other two songs I've always found to be amongst the most challenging in FZ's catalog. Envelopes just sounds plain unpleasant to my ears, as is Lisa Popeil's operatic singing on Teenage Prostitute - a song that I always feel uneasy listening to. I'm just not sure if the subject matter is a little too extreme.
Side 2 begins with a different edit/mix of The Dangerous Kitchen (later appeared on The Man From Utopia), which I have to say always makes me laugh and I believe Steve Vai's guitar is mixed a little louder here, which is definitely a good thing. This is followed by an FZ guitar solo, Chalk Pie (a different mix of which eventually appeared on Guitar), which is also superb and features Frank's new love of the Floyd-Rose tremelo system on his Strat (which is a sound you'd better get used to if you want to listen to his solos from this period). We're Turning Again is another humorous song, this time about the state of the pop world in the 1960's and 1980's. The version here is from a different live performance of the song from the 1981 tour than that featured on FZ meets the Mothers of Prevention. Alien Orifice, one of those classic little difficult compositions of Zappa's 80's output, features a different mix during the first part and a totally different performance and therefore guitar solo for the end than the FZ meets the MOP album.
Side 3 opens with The Jazz Discharge Party Hats, again in a slightly different mix (with more Vai) than the Man From Utopia version. This is followed by an untitled guitar solo from the 1980 Fall tour, which is brief but features Frank at his most manic. What's New In Baltimore, another classic composition, has a very different mix than the MOP version, and the guitar solo here is a few minutes longer. The wonderfully complicated Moggio appears in a slightly different mix/edit to the Utopia version.
Side 4 opens with another unreleased and untitled guitar solo, which is a close relative of the title track of Them or Us, full of Zappa's mangle it-strangle it approach. Clownz on Velvet is an unreleased performance from the Ritz in New York City, November 1981 that features a frighteningly fast guitar solo by guest Al di Meola and does much better justice to the piece than the somewhat curtailed and obscured version that cropped up on Thing-Fish. And the albums ends with a different performance of Frogs With Dirty Little Lips (than that on Them or Us), which is nice and daft and provides a little relief after all of the guitar soloing of the last few tracks.
Although the unreleased versions contained herein are not necessarily better than the released versions, they still stand on their own merits. For example, What's New In Baltimore is definitely better on FZ meets the MOP. By that time (1985) Frank had taken out his razor blade and edited out the least essential parts of the guitar solo, so all you get there is 100% to the point. But if this had been released in its stead, no one would have been complaining.
This may not be for newcomers to FZ's music, but I'd say this is essential for fans. I only hope that a version with top-notch sound is released one day.

cosmosunconnection

Ya lo dije, esta vez no opino. Ya saben, ustedes decidiràn si les gusta o no. Lo ùnico que les digo es que es otra de las exclusivas del blog cabezón...