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I just got this a few days ago and I cannot stop listening to it. There ain't a damn minute of the music that I don't love. It is great to finally hear the bass/drum pairing of Dave Parlato and Jim Gordon. I knew I liked Parlato from the Sleep Dirt album. I love every track, including the extra up-tempo Variant Processional March. The versions of The Grand Wazoo and Big Swifty are right up there among the best versions available...I'd even say this is my favorite Grand Wazoo. The original Big Swifty on Waka Jawaka is still my favorite, but this one cooks! And to me the show-stopper is Approximate. I love to hear the anarchy of it, and then the solos are so mutated, riding over that really cool-ass, almost sinister rhythm that has a bit of Filthy Habits feel at times. And then there's Greggery Peccary, a piece I have always loved but easily tired of. I adore it as an instrumental, especially with the variations thrown in here.

For me, this is as good as it gets. I should be getting Imaginary Diseases soon...man am I primed for more...

Wazoo is a wonderful thing. It's become one of my desert island FZ albums.

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Let's hear it again for the London Philharmonic Orchestra!

Him no speakum fork tongue. Wazoo heap big goodie...

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If only the head weren't rendered half-tempo

Yeah - I was rockin Wazoo yesterday. Very awesome. Imaginary Diseases RIPS! Been to Kansas City in A Minor is incredible with Johnny Blind Lemon Gimp Foot Zappa on guitar. FZ was a blues man to reckon with! Looking forward to hearing your opinion on that one. Congrats.

It's top 3 posthumous, for me.

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You gotta give the people something good to read, on a Sunday

Still waiting on Imaginary Diseases, which has been delayed. I ordered Wazoo and I.D. through Barnes & Noble for a grand total of 38 bucks with free shipping and a small discount from my wife's employer...not too bad, compared to Amazon anyway.

Wazoo took close to two weeks to get here, and Imaginary Diseases is still waiting to be shipped. Patience...

I will admit that the uneven volume levels are a bit of a nuisance with Wazoo, and some of the music is not as "tight" as in the official versions, but I still give it extremely high marks for what it is. This is my favorite Zappa era, followed by the original Mothers insanity of the late 60's.

You will enjoy ID.

The order has been further delayed. Expected ship date is now Dec 23 on an order submitted Nov 10. I'm going to wait it out...

From my Zappa scrapbook:
My ticketstub as used in the WAZOO booklet as:

fig. A: Mongered Ticket

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WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO ALL THE FUN IN THE WORLD?

Trendy chewed off the right-hand side??

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Stay with me flagrantly and we'll have ecstasy for all eternity.

I received Imaginary Diseases today. Listening now. Farther O'Blivion is immense. What a drum solo by Gordon!

I agree with you about Wazoo - pity they couldn't include even an ultra=lo-fi Low Budget Medley as a bonus.
But in my opinion ID is the single biggest disappointment of the official FZ catalogue: severely unrepresentative of the band's unique traits, its arrangements and soloists, and weighed down with Frank's very worst guitarwork.

I listened to this cd yesterday. O'Blivion and Rollo are great, but the rest pales in comparison to the Wazoo cd.

The packaging leaves a lot to be desired as well.

Get yourself one of those packages of the white paper, plastic front CD envelopes, that way you won't have to worry about the disc falling out. I cut the fold off of one of them and use it as an inner sleeve, I did the same with OZ because it didn't have inner sleeves either.

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"Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule for what we are to read and what we must believe?" T.J.

That's what I did, too... But hey, Star Thrower (and cyst-array) - you should give ID a second chance - the drumming is great, and for guitar work, just listen to the oriental stylings of DC Boogie. In fact, ID excites all the way through. I just have to laugh and move when I hear it. Wazoo is sort of more cerebral, especially the instrumental Greggery Peccary. Theoretically, disc 2 of Wazoo should be great, but I enjoy disc 1 a lot more. And Imaginary Diseases even more than that.

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We make a special art in an environment hostile to dreamers. Frank Zappa, 1971

That's what I did, too... But hey, Star Thrower (and cyst-array) - you should give ID a second chance - the drumming is great, and for guitar work, just listen to the oriental stylings of DC Boogie. In fact, ID excites all the way through. I just have to laugh and move when I hear it. Wazoo is sort of more cerebral, especially the instrumental Greggery Peccary. Theoretically, disc 2 of Wazoo should be great, but I enjoy disc 1 a lot more. And Imaginary Diseases even more than that.[/quote]

I guess it depends on whether your in the mood for a jam or some composition? Regardless, I'm glad to have both of these concerts.
I'll buy all of the instrumental ensemble and guitar oriented releases they can dig up and restore.

Wazoo is great, but I prefer Imaginary Diseases.

Following up now after some time, I have to agree. I wish ID was longer. After experiencing the initial WOW factor of Wazoo, I now find the sound quality irritating. Still love it, but I don't seek out listening to it very often.