Shane’s Music Challenge: FRANK ZAPPA – 2002 – FZ:OZ

Shane’s Music Challenge: FRANK ZAPPA – 2002 – FZ:OZ
6/10

Featuring most of a 1976 concert from Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion, FZ:OZ famously was recorded on a single reel to reel tape deck, meaning there are several dropouts where Frank’s son Dweezil, producing the double album, was forced to insert inferior quality bootleg recordings when the tapes had to be changed over.

Despite some online purists ranting about average sound quality and strained vocals and sub-par musicianship, I confess to quite liking FZ:OZ.

Much of Frank’s work runs the risk of alienating either the musical obsessive, or those looking for a hilariously smutty good tune, and FZ:OZ nicely balances this duality: there’s catchy little witty ditties like Dirty Love and Dinah-Moe Humm, alongside extended introspective instrumental jams like Black Napkins and Chunga’s Revenge.

Anyone familiar with Gary MacDonald’s 70’s TV character Norman Gunston may recall his interview with Zappa on the eve of this show, where he pulled out his harmonica and blew a quick solo, FZ accompanying him on acoustic guitar, finishing up with an improvised version of the ABC theme tune. Zappa asked him then and there to appear on stage with the band, and he blows some harp on The Torture Never Stops that appears here at the end of disc 1.

Not Frank’s best, but entertaining none-the-less.

Category: Shane's Rock Challenge