Zappa.com

Which do you recommend?

Personally, I really liked....The Real Frank Zappa Book....
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Frank-Zapp ... 177&sr=1-2

...and The Electric Don Quixote by Neil Slaven.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electric-Don-Qu ... 127&sr=1-1

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"Listen to that noise! It's like Barry White eating wasps."

I'm almost halfway through this and it's REALLY good.

Well you're outta luck Jake, cause the second half really blows....

Naw, just joshin' ya.

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

Well, I've read a bunch of 'em
The Real Frank Zappa Book - in his own words, so it's good

Mother is the Story of Frank Zappa - OK pre-'75

Viva Zappa - great pix and not much else

No Commercial Potential - first one I read, so I got a lot out of it.

I have a Ben Watson paperback which is a glossary of his output, looks OK

I may have a few more, likely not of much consequence.

I have not heard good things about the Barry Miles bio

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If we're dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An' maybe even a little bit ugly on the side)

I've gotten a lot of mileage out of this one. It has a chapter on each of his albums, so it's a great guide to his music. It's got a lot of conceptual continuity theorizing (he also wrote the infamous "Dialectics of Poodle Play", which I haven't read, but I've heard he gets into some pretty far-fetched theories), but it's still a fun read.

The only specific thing I remember about the Barry Miles book is that he mixes up Flo and Eddie. Just an example of the lack of care that went into the book.

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

yeah feet, that is the kind of stuff I have heard, also that Miles tried to draw some sort of a psychological portrait of Frank.

I have several privately-produced compendiums of his musical output, one I got through a contact on this forum which covers 1959-1969.

I also own a four-volume set, color printed which covers all LPs, CDs (up till '93) and boots in various forms.

Most of these private volumes, including some websites, are good background and worthwhile to look at every couple of years.

I wanted to buy "Necessity Is" just for the other early Mothers' perspectives. and, for a laugh, read "I'm With the Band" by Pam (Zarubica) Des Barres. She is pretty funny, and tells some fun stories about hanging around the Laurel Canyon House with Gail, Don and babies Dweezil and Moon.

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If we're dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An' maybe even a little bit ugly on the side)

I read TRFZB, it was great.

Now I'm reading Necessity Is and it is very good as well. It's got some great early Mothers stories, I'm on about chapter four now.

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"If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mother, your Dad, your priest, to some guy on television, to any of the people telling you how to do your shit, then you DESERVE it."

Greg Russo's Cosmik Debris is an essential source of information about albums, concerts and other activities.

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What's the ugliest part of your body ?

At least Miles dares to raise some criticisms about Frank, which I think is welcome reading. I don't like just to read glorifying stuff. I like to read stuff with which I don't necessarily agree. TRFZB is great except that the type setting is so awful (umpteen different fonts and font sizes are tiresome).

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"Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, and don't kid yourself" - FZ
http://www.myspace.com/kirnehness

HJ you are right about the fonts, they were annoying, good to hear another viewpoint on Miles

_________________
If we're dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An' maybe even a little bit ugly on the side)

That's what I excpect from a good bio, too. I like Miles' book.

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What's the ugliest part of your body ?

I didn't really have a problem with his criticisms about Frank (though they admittedly made me uncomfortable, but there's nothing wrong with that). I just felt that there were many careless errors on factual matters (e.g. Flo = Howard, Eddie = Mark), which undermines the book's credibility in my eyes.

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

my two favorites also.

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"bit of nostalgia for the old folks."

Agreed. There are indeed a number of annoying factual errors (wrong years etc.).

But concerning the particular issue you raise (maybe I should start a new thread), I have this vague recolletion, that the names Flo and Eddie initially were used the other way. This is not an attempt to help Miles, but a genuine question. Maybe my mind is playing games on me, but I think I heard that they started out used the aliase the other way round, before settling on Flo=Mark, Eddie=Howard. Is this dead wrong?

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"Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, and don't kid yourself" - FZ
http://www.myspace.com/kirnehness

you are correct. the nicknames switched. when? that i do not know. Definitely before their time with Frank though.

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The BM book is the best i have read in a long while The Real frank zappa book was a good one when bought it.

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Arf you out of your fucking mind.

If you have Japanese kids:

Bought this one: pretty good, so far.

Also got myself The Electric Don Quixote by Neil Slaven.

Thanks for all the tips!

Which one Ben Watson as 4 Zappa books out.

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Arf you out of your fucking mind.

The Collected Works, little paperback, don't want Poodle Play, and didn't know, till feetlightup said so, that he has any other books

_________________
If we're dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An' maybe even a little bit ugly on the side)

Woah touchy

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Arf you out of your fucking mind.

I just got myself a copy of No Commercial Potential. It's not a very substantial book and there are some glaring inaccuracies in the added chapters. I like The Real Frank Zappa Book mainly because it's by FZ, it's a good read but it's not complete, although highly recommended. If you want a comprehensive biography of FZ then Electric Don Quixote is a very good choice, I enjoyed reading it immensely.

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The way I see it Barry, this should be a very dynamite show.

I Fell guilty for not buying that now looking at the price 6.99 i payed 20 pound for th BM one.
Thank poly.

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Arf you out of your fucking mind.

Sorry not really high-strung. I read No Commercial Potential years ago, there are loads of factual errors in it - too bad I am getting old, or I would'a remembered what they were!

_________________
If we're dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An' maybe even a little bit ugly on the side)