Zappa.com

I dig!
i think i even said so in the underrated solo thread.

about mike keneally, i keep meaning to check out one of his albums. i can't really hear any of his contributions on the '88 releases, or don't recognise it as him?

_________________
''minimart - it's basically a scaled-down supermarket, fits inside a petrol station. sells pies, antifreeze..''

Now that I think about it, Roy Estrada and Jimmy Carl Black were actually a damned good rhythm section for their time.

_________________
Dung work for Yoda, dung, dung.

Sure thing. Probably even way better than, say McCartney/Starr, or subsequently, Roger Waters/Nick Mason. Even FZ had good words to say about JCB's precise timing, as it reminded him of the drummer on those Jimmy Reed recordings he had.

Ah well, i guess I should not over-react or get too defensive over some petty things. there are millions of tastes. although, i take a guess that whether or not you actually appreciate Tommy Mars' synthesizer sounds kind of depends on what do you think of eighties in terms of music. As far as mainstream music goes, I'm of the "Holy Crap the Eighties Sucked" school of thought. How 'bout you?

It seems to me that many Zappa fans, those who came aboard after the mid-seventies anyway, tend to undervalue to vocalizing of the more youthful Mothers. At this website, Flo and Eddie are seriously undervalued.

i dont mind tommy mars' synth, took a little getting used to though, not being around at that point in time. maybe it did sound cool then?! tell us if you were there!

the cheesiest it sounds to me is on the dub room special, the solo on the synth during 'nig biz' is almost unbearable for me! at times on tinseltown it seems a bit 'in yer face'.

but i like it on sheik, don't think it sounds too bad there. with the 84 synths i just think fuck it, and go with the whole cheesy aspect they had sometimes, hahah!

_________________
''minimart - it's basically a scaled-down supermarket, fits inside a petrol station. sells pies, antifreeze..''

The Synclavier.

_________________
"bit of nostalgia for the old folks."

Flo and Eddie will never be undervalued in this house.

The day Steve Vai comes up with a nice little MELODY on his own, like Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance, or Let's Make The Water Turn Black, instead of constant guitar pyrotechnics, I'll like him a lot better.

No such bias, although it's more because I think mainstream music of EVERY era sucked. Also, Tommy was using those sounds as far back as '77, so I don't necessarily think of it as an "'80s thing" (that said, I find his synth noises a lot more enjoyable on Sheik Yerbouti than, say, Tinseltown Rebellion).

_________________
Dung work for Yoda, dung, dung.

True, true, true



...

_________________
TB -

I love Flo and Eddie and I fail to understand how they annoy anyone. Don't blame them for the lyrics (which I like anyway, but that's not the point. You'll blame that on me being fourteen anyhow). I really like the vocal contributions to the instrumentals...Peaches, Little House, Dog Breath are really nice touches.

But you can hardly call them underrated. So I'll go with the one guy everyone forgot about...the underdog...the perrenial black horse....



...What? He did some mighty fine soloing on Zappa's music, and the little I've seen/heard of ZPZ is pretty damn amazing.

Sometimes their singing was a little too over-the-top, though.

tommy mars is amazing IMO. i didnt realize he was so unpopular around here. i think its a shame he's not a household name, he is one helll of a musician.

_________________

I thought it was bombastic/operatic, and fun. But that's the line where it goes into opinion, I suppose.

If I had any problem with Flo And Eddie, it's how nasal they could be. A lot of time they do this screeching whiny thing that can really get on my nerves.

Didn't stop me from adding them on myspace, though...

_________________
Dung work for Yoda, dung, dung.

About Vai being overrated:

I think one should not forget that FZ considered his musicians as tools that enabled him to give a more or less accurate picture of the music he had in mind. Now this holds too for those musicians he seemed to have (and probably had) a special bond with, like Bozzio, Willis or Vai. In the case of the latter, FZ's praising of his stunning technique was no more than an aknowledgement of his being a superior tool. Unfortunately, the community of the mustache's fan (to which I belong), sometimes taking too much for granted what FZ said, and with some lack of discernement, thought that Vai's technique made him a great musician at all.

Well, about the most underrated ones, I'll choose : Dunbar, Erroneus, Martin and Thunes, the latter enduring some kind of anathem for his alleged role in the self-destruction of the 1988 band.

_________________
"Rundel asked that it be noted that english is his second language."

Scott Thunes and Tom Fowler. Tommy Mars isn't underrated. Everyone knows he's great!

Arthur Tripp and Bunk "Sweetpants" Gardner are particularly underrated.

_________________
"drums are too noisy, 'n you've got no corners to hide in"

Robert Martin, from Philadelphia,
Curtis Institute graduate, 1971
Let's hear it for him!

_________________
Alan Thicke: ''Now Frank, for those of us who have seen you as some kind of guru over the years, that's a kind of nihilistic assesment of music. Where's the hope ?''
Frank Zappa: ''Well, there isn't any...''

Not the biggest fan of JCB. It bothers me that he said he didn't get what Zappa was doing in the 60's in one interview and then pretended to be the expert judge of avant-garde (and says Beefheart was better at it than Zappa) in the next! I'm sorry he passed away, however. I will agree that Roy Estrada is awesome. He just cracks me up! Not a bad bass player either.

_________________

I loved Vai in the movie "Crossroads".

George Duke & Tommy Mars

_________________
Confusion will be my epitaph

Sal Marquez

_________________
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

The Giraff,The Poodle,tweezers & Susy Creamcheese.

_________________
I'm getting larger as I walk away.

Elliot Ingber

_________________
The more I learn, the less I know.