Customer Reviews

Sleep Dirt

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Sleep Dirt was released in 1979, but recorded on different occasions between 1974 and 1976. It's all studio material, with
drummer Chad Wackerman's first contribution to Zappa's music on three tracks (of drum overdubs). Two tracks feature Terry Bozzio on drums, and one features Chester Thompson (+ Ruth Underwood on percussion). This is NOT a run-of-the-mill 70's rock/blues Zappa album. At times, it's even "jazzy". All (three) vocal tracks are sung by Thana Harris, who does an excellent job with her wide-range (at times "dirty") voice, and gives Zappa's music a new, never-before-introduced fresh flavour, as does the double bass (heard on three tracks as well) played by Patrick O'Hearn, and the acoustic piano of George Duke. The album is a bit short (around 38 minutes), but the intense material saves it. Shorter FZ albums have indeed been released, so at this price, it isn't really a problem.
The three-plus minute title track, featuring a less professional recording technique than the other tracks (therefore giving the tune a certain charm), is an acoustic guitar duet by Frank Zappa (on lead) and James "Bird Legs" Youman - an unusually emotional ballad.
Most of the album brings out a side of Zappa's compositional technique that can't be heard anywhere else, so if you are a collector of his albums - GET THIS ONE TOO!
Sleep Dirt is among my top ten favorites. To give you an idea of my judgment, other favorites include "Apostrophe'", "Joe's Garage", "The Yellow Shark" and "Civilization Phaze III".

"Sleep Dirt" is a collection of instrumental pieces that showcase Frank Zappa's eclectic compositional genius. The kick ass opening track "Filthy Habits" (originally slated for a double album - "Night Of The Iron Sausage" - later to become "Zoot Allures") features a very nasty sounding ostinato over which FZ experiments with very dynamic guitar feedback, (very reminiscent of the composition "Zoot Allures"). The whole piece has a rather Arabian vibe to it modally but ultimately it veers into a psychotic little march toward the very end. A classic Zappa guitar excursion.
Track two, "Flambe", is a parody of the popular standard "Laura". It is a cocktail tour de force with the versatile George Duke doing his best "Art Tatem -ish" imitation. Chester Thomson (drums) and Patrick O'Hearn (bass) add to the drunkenness of the piece while Ruth Underwood on marimba emphasizes the constantly building melody sometimes in tandem with the piano. After a slight variation of the main theme, FZ steers us off into a very cartoonish section that is very regimented and far from the loose drunken feel of the previous passages. There is even a little "yelp" one can hear mid way through this section as if a cartoon character is being put in some uncompromising position. FZ had such a great sense of humor and here his mastery of comedy and serious art is in fine form. After this short excursion into cartoon land we are brought back to the cocktail bar scene again. This time the band is a bit more laid back but the expressive melody in marimba and piano soon build to a beautiful climax and end on a very regimented / stern sounding section that seques nicely into "Spider Of Destiny".
Like "Flambe", "Spider Of Destiny" contains vocals for FZ's unfinished musical "Hunchentoot". And although Thana Harris sings well on these tracks if you can find the original vinyl recording of this album listen to that instead. For me, the vocals are too distracting and the compositions here are so strong they don't need any words to cloud up the brilliance of what's going on below. On "Spider of Destiny" we are treated to a catchy whole tone melody that is almost nursery rhyme like in spots. The form is very clear and very structured in a "German kind of way". where the guitar part works with the ensemble instead of just as a purely solo vehicle. The work ends with a jab of very dynamic guitar outbursts and then a seven note passage (variation on the main theme) repeated and augmented by some twisted sounding chimes. The piece ends on a chime hit and bang! The drums kick into the "Regyptian Strut" a funky brass laden processional that dates back from the "Grand Wazoo" days. This master work features some crackling, low funky bass playing from James "Bird Legs" Youman, a perfectly slow, funked up groove from Chester Thomson, surprising gospel type piano jabs from George Duke, jangling and scraping percussion from Ruth Underwood and of course the brilliant trombone playing of Bruce Fowler who executes all the basic melodies and chords. A recurring five note melody is actually a quote from "Saturn" by Gustav Holtz a work FZ admired. Here he exploits this melody on top of a plodding ostinato, building on it like he was constructing an Egyptian pyramid. The brass parts keeps piling up and the tension mounts until just when you think FZ can go no further he pulls out all the stops and takes us up a half step! The result of which is nothing short of orgasmic. The entire processional exclaims the main majestic melody and proudly ends with the beating of a major chord with a seventh in the bass leaving the listener elated and exhausted.
The next piece, "Time Is Money" is a progressive jazz/ rock work. Again there are words here that do nothing to enhance what is already a lovely melodic piece. Avoid the singing when possible. In fact, you can find a version without vocals on the "Lather" collection. The sweet melody of "Time Is Money",played by FZ on guitar, is constantly being broken up by question mark segments that consist mainly of drum rolls on the bell of cymbals, angular vibes, piano chord clusters and synth bass. These segments go into a very precise mechanical riff (enhanced by an array of cowbells) that is reminiscent of clock gears. Some of it reminds me of a section from the "Roxy and Elsewhere" number "Don't You Ever Wash That Thing". The overall work is very visual in a "Greggery Peccary" sort of way.
Next we are confronted with an FZ rarity: an acoustic guitar number. It's the title track "Sleep Dirt". FZ prepares us for this touching acoustic guitar work by saying "Arf" just so we don't take it too seriously. Here he is solely supported by James "Bird Legs" Youman who plays a somewhat melancholy chord progression while FZ improvises over the top. Frank is in fine form here, constantly inventing new melodic passages with odd rhythmic groupings. There is an almost Eastern European flavor that emerges in the types of scales FZ favors which makes the whole event extremely exotic sounding. Eventually, the piece comes to a fragmented end with FZ asking, "Gettin' tired?" To which Youman replies' "No, uh uhh - my fingers got stuck."
Quick edit right into the the last piece, "The Ocean Is The Ultimate Solution". It begins with a casual rock groove with Terry Bozzio on drums and Patrick O'Hearn on bass. I believe this was O'Hearns actual audition for FZ. In any event, there is a structured melody here with typical FZ melodic jumps and a quick, progressive unison passage that goes into a funky groove emphasized by FZ's chorused drenched strat. This is a progressive rock instrumental with clearly defined sections that ultimately ends up in an eight minute jam that exploits O'Hearn's bass prowess and burns with Zappa's fiery electric guitar chops. Outstanding musical communication.
Overall this is an excellent album (marred in my opinion by unnecessary vocals and awkward Chad Wackerman drum overdubs) that showcases the restless mind of Frank Zappa. Find the original vinyl for best listening results. If you like this CD you will also enjoy it's two siblings, "Studio Tan" and "Orchestral Favorites".
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Just have to toss in my 2 pennies. This was one of my favorite records growing up-- I loved it. I was happy to learn it was coming out on CD, but the horrible, warbling, operatic vocals are terrible. ... Ruined...ruined. Give it two stars only because of the memories of its former glory...

This WAS a great album but has sadly been ruined by the addition of vocals by Thana Harris. What possessed Zappa to replace or add these to the reissued CD isn't clear but it detracts from what was a fantastic instrumental work. Although the vinyl version is available at a price, I suggest anyone who prefers the original instrumental versions of Flambay, Spider of Destiny and Time is Money, to purchase Läther and make up their own version of Sleep Dirt. Even this isn't quite perfect as these versions are slightly shorter and are interrupted at the end of some tracks by Zappa's remarks. Note also that the title track, Sleep Dirt, is only on this CD. When and if the original vinyl version is ever released I recommend snapping it up before it becomes unavailable, as many Zappa releases do. As much as I love Zappa's work he does have a habit of altering and even ruining material on subsequent CD releases of original vinyl LPs. Another example was the appalling re-release of We're Only in it for the Money. The CD ZAP 13 version [1985] was entirely different from the original LP and this was not remedied until 1995 when Rykodisc and the ZFT released RCD 10503. Even Hot Rats is not quite the same as the original vinyl version and Weazils Ripped My Flesh is also different from the original. Some re-releases also display altered track orders as in Man from Utopia, but this version of Sleep Dirt is by far the worst example of a ruined re-release of an otherwise fantastic work.

SLEEP DIRT has always been one of my favorite Zappa instrumental albums, so I made sure I picked up a CD version of it when it became available. The remastering is excellent; the original vinyl LP sounded pretty muddy, but on the CD reissue even the little details of the percussion come through loud and clear.

But why, oh, why did somebody add _vocal tracks_? I have nothing in particular against vocalist Thana Harris, but I liked the instrumental versions of (e.g.) "Flambay" and "Spider of Destiny" as they were. The vocals, besides being an unnecessary revision of an album that originally lacked them, tend to cover up the music -- including but not limited to some brilliant keyboard work by George Duke on "Flambay." (Fortunately, _most_ of the cuts were not altered in this way, or I'd have given the result far fewer than four stars.)

What an irritating change -- especially since I _didn't know about it_ when I bought the CD. I don't care about preserving the missing lyrics from "Hunchentoot" (anybody who wants to do that can write a book); I just wanted a CD version of the original SLEEP DIRT.

(If FZ himself approved the change, I _might_ alter my opinion a little. But his musical judgment was usually better than that. EDIT: I'm told he did approve of them, so okay. I still like them better without the vocals myself.)

That said, however, the remastered version of "Regyptian Strut" is still worth the price of the CD.

Don't be fooled by the awful cover or by the fact that it is a cut and paste thing did by Zappa with different materials taken here and there in his production vaults. This album is magnificient, nothing less. This is an album from Zappa where you can really appreciate and enjoy his immense compositional and arranging talents (and even his quite unique guitar style, still "stuck in time" here). I read that in the box set Lather you can find pure instrumental versions of the sunged compositions you will find here. That are three. I haven't yet listened to them but their vocal versions contained here are still stellar. I could easily imagine how they should sound as pure instrumentals. Infact the voice here is used almost as a pure lead instrument. There are words, lyrics, but the melodies are so strong that they rules in a sense. You can imagine the voice from Thana Harris as a sax maybe, playing the melody .. and what melodies! Venusian melodies! This is another album I would suggest to the guys out there who are searching in the wide Zappa's production for his best music, not his lyrics, the freak attitude or the goofy things. This is a serious classical instrumentals album with even some nice Jazz inside ("Flambay", "The ocean is the only solution" which is the most earthly tune .. even the acoustic number "Sleep dirt" is quite unusual .. ). What is really amazing is the amount of creativity and the vision of music Zappa had. Here you can appreciate those things clearly. This is one of his best "instrumentals albums" in my opinion. So good I'll buy the Lather box next time just to have even the unsunged versions of these classics of modern music. Exceptional!

when it was first issued, and just recently listened to this remastered version.

Know what? Thana Harris' vocals remind me of the original Star Trek motion picture, when Nichelle Nichols (as Lt. Uhuru) distracts a group of nasty alien sentries with a serenades.

Get the picture?

"Filthy habits", "Sleep dirt", and "the ocean is the ultimate solution" are some of the best Zappa tracks around. The electric upright bass solo on "ocean" is particularly noteworthy as is the transcendantly beautiful "sleep dirt"-my candidate for best Zappa guitar piece. (another reviewer thought this piece was called "Flambay" but I'm pretty sure that's the name of one of the awful tracks). Why oh why did the great man then go and make such horrible noises with that singer, uggh! Thana Harris is quite a capable vocalist and might sound good in another context but I can only imagine that Zappa's intention on the vocally oriented tracks was to make something deliberately awful sounding.

nope, sorry, the vocals destroyed a great album. they are distracting and annoying as .... btw, it was supposedly fz's choice to remaster it this way. got to love that 'uhura' comparison ....

Sleep Dirt is... an interesting album to say the least. Not always memorable, but hardly ever terrible either. Actually scratch that- it's *definitely* more memorable.

Definitely not a classic though, and it's easy to why it slipped through the cracks over the years and hasn't received much attention. It misses the mark in a few key areas that makes the rating go down a couple notches, so it's probably Zappa's worst album since... well, I WANT to say that dreaded Fillmore album, but I don't think that was released until many years later, so... worst album since Uncle Meat. Yeah.

WOW, when I put everything into perspective, I see what a looooong stretch of really good albums that is! Though come to think of it, I haven't heard anything from 200 Motels, and only a few selections from Chunga's Revenge, so maybe these albums are worse. Update- December 22, 2011. No those albums are slightly better, especially Chunga's Revenge which is *much* better.

The title song is a quiet instrumental that focuses around acoustic guitar and a noticeable Spanish flavor. It has its moments, and thankfully it's short because Zappa is no Carlos Santana or Al Di Meola in that regard. "Regyptian Strut" perhaps tries to represent something Epyptian-sounding, but it doesn't really sound convincing enough. The brass work creates a theme reminiscent of a Rocky movie, but it's fairly melodic at least. "Flambay" is a relaxing, soft jazz instrumental that's not really interesting to me, but it's harmless at least. I wish it were a couple minutes shorter.

"Filthy Habits" is based on a groovy rhythm that chugs along so mysteriously. I love it! The guitar work reminds me of Jeff Beck at times, and while the keyboard solos are good, they don't elevate the song to greater heights or anything. Great song regardless.

The high point is obviously the 13-minute guitar jam at the end titled "The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution". While I'm not crazy about sitting through 7 straight minutes of boring acoustic work (with a good chunk of it bordering on mindlessly repetitive) the payoff is that you're eventually treated to a 6-minute explosively heavy guitar jam. The sound of Zappa's guitar playing feels quite different from his guitar work on previous offerings such as that on "Willie the Pimp" or "Inca Roads". His style here represents a more modern or commercialized approach, but thankfully he never once loses his creativity in coming up with some good licks for the entire second half of the song, so all is forgiven.

Overall, Sleep Dirt isn't one of Zappa's better albums but it's decent enough that I recommend a purchase.