Search - Frank Zappa :: Tinsel Town Rebellion

Kevin H. (spankrabbit) from TAMPA, FL
Reviewed on 1/14/2007...

1990 Rykodisc edition; RCD 40166. Exact songs as 1995 edition.

One Heck Of A Good Album Of New & Old Delights!!!

William Caputo | Scranton, PA United States | 03/23/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This 1981 album has old FZ classics but they are all performed completely different from their originals.



"Peaches III" is Peaches En Regalia played marvelously on electric guitar.



"I ain't got no heart" is played at a very fast speed as opposed to the original downbeat version on "Freak Out" and you can hear Zappa sing it this time...finally!



You get Zappa also singing "Tell me you love me" instead of Flo & Eddie (a BIG PLUS to the fans who detest Flo & Eddie).



Zappa also sings "Love of my life" instead of the original Ray Collins version from "Ruben & The Jets."



All of these versions may be inferior or superior to the originals...that is not the point. The point is that they are all done very differently than the originals and, to some, sound like totally new songs.



The new delights include: "Fine Girl" - a tribute to the hard-working women of the past.



"Easy meat" has an awesome keyboard solo performed by the talented Thomas "Tommy" Mars.



"For the young sophisticate" makes its premiere here but it is not as good as the version found on the "Lather" album.



"The Blue Light" is a half-sung half-spoken MELT-DOWN track similar to "The Dangerous Kitchen" but not as good.



"Pick Me, I'm Clean" is NOT really about a groupie of the band but about an interracial relationship involving a woman who is just learning to speak English. This song also examines the different sexual preferences of the band (going "bare back" is gay; going "wet-back" is dating a mexican; going "way back" is dating older women; "should get back" is not dating anyone).



The previous song and the blues-influenced "Bambbozled by love" perfectly capture the activity and attitude of polar-opposite sexual relationships.



This album is not a disappointment.









"

Good, But Also Points Out The Crux Of The Biscuit

E. Presley | FL United States | 01/30/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The song TTR and Frank's other vehicles for 'skewering' of the 'establishment' and contemporary musical styles is often what started to push me away from Frank. The last few bands he toured laughing at themselves throughout the sets because they were so funny cracking themselves up and the stream of songs making fun of drugs and boobs and sex and drugs and boobs and the narcissistic view he had of his own improv'd guitar solos started me to kind of rethink his creativity and his motto on contemporary composers. At the time it was the punks and the new wavers that were trying something new. The underground punk scene in particular with their gonzo / guerilla tapes often made in their bedrooms and tape traded around the world were doing new and creative stuff... often miles away more creative than Frank's 'funny' and 'naughty' songs and "improvised" guitar solos and fake cut and pasted "live" recordings. Some of these punkers and underground musicians weren't just at the edge they were over the edge. Frank wasn't anywhere close to them in some cases as far as creativity goes and pushing boundaries. Even the underground metal scene at the time was really working on new stuff along with the electronic underground with industrial sounds and techno sounds beginning to emerge. Even Frank started to "give up" on real bands playing together and going for electronically faked music. Even his own back catalog was "remastered" with fake instruments taking the place of original live musicians and poor 'digital' remixes and remasters going out of his classic albums.



In TTR instead of showing off what a great forward think composer he is, he makes fun of processed pop groups. Well yeah. Duh. The rest of the album is mix and matched live stuff and older material. Where for art thou great contemporary composer? Where for art thou great forward thinker? Oh he's on stage getting girls to give up their panties in an ironic way to make fun of them...Tom Jones is calling, he want's his Vegas show back...



I do like Frank for what he was - the ultimate progressive rock group. Though I'm sure he'd be making fun of The Flower King's and The Mars Volta and Porcupine Tree if he were around today... He's got some great improv's, some great bands and there are essential albums and key essential live sets. This isn't one of them and his condescension and his snobbery and his narcissism eventually begins to grate. Humor does belong in music, but the joke was wearing quite thin by this point."