Customer Reviews

Zappa: The Yellow Shark

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Frank Zappa was not known for his serious nature. He was very good at pointing out the silliness and stupidity of just about anything that could be conceived. If there was one thing (besides family) that he took seriously, it was music, and he really did not take most of that too seriously, either. His rock compositions were big jokes as far as he was concerned. The only reason that it was as complex and involved as it was came from nothing less than the force of his genius. At the beginning of Yellow Shark, he off-handedly asks to audience to "get serious" (before asking them to put panties on one side of the stage), and one gets the impression that he is at least a little serious. Lord knows, if Frank is serious about it, maybe we should be, too.

Academia, if it as smart as it purports to be, will hopefully also take Zappa's chamber work seriously. Let's take a look at some of the major trends in the chamber / art music of the twentieth century and see why.

From 1900 to WWI, tonal harmony got deconstructed and eventually destroyed by Schoernberg and his students, Webern and Berg. Stravinsky and Bartok used this freedom to create new tonalities, like octotonicism and symmetrical harmony. Between the World Wars, many composers, like Copland and Villa-Lobos, turned towards the traditional music of their homeland for inspiration. After WWII, Cage and Brown worked under a philosophy that came to be called indeterminacy, in which the very idea of what music was came to be questioned. In the late 20th century, the climate of "classical" chamber music was a rediscovery of tonality and a turn towards minimalism. Composers like Glass and Reich took cues from meditative music from different cultures to create complex textures that were composed of very simple parts.

Then Zappa comes along. He asks the musicians to interpret notation like an indeterminist (Food Gathering in Post-Industial America), but uses melody and harmony in a way that recalls Stravinsky (Dog Breath Variations). He paints a picture of the landscape of his surroundings like a mid-20th century composer, but the picture he paints is one of excess, stupidity, and ignorance (Welcome to the United States). He creates textures like a minimalist (Pound for a Brown), but uses them as a tool to lull the listener into a musical trap that explodes in his/her face. He calls Varese a major influence, and has a similar percussive approach, but moves away from electronic music and into the wind ensemble (G-Spot Tornado). In short, people will most likely be studying his work well into the 21st century.

In this regard Yellow Shark is and will be a historically significant recording. Frank's hand is all over this album. One gets the sensation that it was organized and executed in a way that he approved of, and getting Franks approval on anything was no easy task. The recording is clear and pristine and the performances are passionate and flawless. G-Spot Tornado as realized by Rundell and the Ensemble Modern here is the most electrifying chamber performance I own on CD. The audience sits in an audibly stunned silence for several long seconds before literally erupting into applause. Ah, to have been there.

Be warned, if you are a FZ fan, you may or may not "get" this. If you liked the LSO recording, Yellow Shark stomps it. If Freak Out is your favorite and you were the guy on Baby Snakes hollering for Dinah-Moe Humm, you get no guarantees from me. This is dense and heady, but it is probably the definitive recording of Zappa's chamber work. At the very least, it's the swan song of the last great composer of the 20th century and is worth owning for that reason if no other.

There was an interview I was reading by chance--perhaps on an airplane--where Zappa was discussing the state of modern orchestral music. I knew very little about him and was not at all familiar with his music. However, I found his views most interesting and was inspired to buy his "Yellow Shark".

I discovered very quickly--he's not a pop musician trying to do somthing Classical-sounding. This is an album composed of serious works.

Stylistically, it is quite original but also follows logically within the chronology of development of 20th century music; it is definitely NOT an "off the wall", novelty sort of album. Any enthusiast of 20th century music of the likes of Berg, Stravinsky or Varese, for instance, will appreciate these works of Zappa's.

I in fact wouldn't be surprised if one day this "Yellow Shark" is seen as one of the highlights of classical music in the 1900s.

5-stars.

JB

A composer/performer/musician/satirist for all time.

First the Ensemble Modern attacks the compositions with the right amount of enthusiasm, admiration, and fear so that all the tracks sparkle . . . very rare! Their rendition of G-Spot Tornado is live perfection. Hearing the Seattle Symphony attempt to play it with no enthusiasm, little admiration, and extreme fear shows how well balanced and mature Ensemble Modern is.

Zappa will be remembered by some as a serious musician who wrote funny songs. By a few generations as someone who satirized anyone who thought too much of themselves. By many as a crass, crude, leftist pig who explored the darkside of our society. By musicians as someone who could perform the stylings and calestetics of all the great rock guitarists, but who could play a single note better than any musician in any medium.

However, Zappa will be remembered for all time as someone who composed for all media, in all song stylings, and who took music to beyond the next level. Nobody was more prolific, insiteful, innovative, influential, and even sucessful in spite of society and himself.

Yellow Shark is an album for all time.

This 72 minute long album features 18 Zappa compositions. Some pieces were written in the late sixties, but it's mostly material from its present. Everything old, though, is reworked and orchestrated for Ensemble Modern who do a GREAT job performing the music throughout the album. It's a very fresh, well performed and hi-tech sounding recording. It starts off with a nostalgic "Dog Breath/Uncle Meat" medley, and continues with a beautiful ballad called "Outrage at Valdez."
A rework of the classic "Bebop Tango" is also performed featuring a new part written specifically for this recording.
"Ruth is Sleeping" is an advance 6 minute piece written for, and performed on 2 pianos - truly inspiring as is "Get Whitey" (definitive highlight.)
"Food Gathering..." and "Welcome to the U.S." are hilarious pieces of musical comedy - cracks me up!
The album rounds off with Zappa conducting the ensemble playing "G-Spot Tornado;" a strong and perfect finish that was appreciated with a 15 minute standing ovation according to a FZ interview I read some time ago (on the recording the applause fade after 2 minutes.)
The enclosed booklet is very informative; 30 pages featuring a lot of photos from the recording and the rehearsals plus a LONG story about the whole project as well as commentary on EVERY PIECE from both Frank Zappa and the conductor Peter Rundel.
This recording is perfect proof that Frank Zappa was way more than a rock'n'roll guitar player, which unfortunately is the only way many saw him, and still do. He was and is an underrated composer as well and this is some of best work. This recording MIGHT not appeal to you if "Bobby Brown Goes Down" and "Valley Girl" are your favorite Zappa songs, but is deeply recommended to fans of "Civilization Phaze III," where Ensemble Modern is partly featured by the way. "C.P.III" is a must for those who like this recording and vice versa. It is a shame that Zappa didn't have enough time to record more music like this. Recently released, though, is a CD called "Everything Is Healing Nicely," consisting of recordings from the "Yellow Shark" rehearsals. Also worth checking out.

I'm a huge fan of the Ensemble Modern, the Frankfurt-based group that performs on this CD, and this is one of their greatest efforts. Frank Zappa's abilities as a composer have never been an issue with me (his abilities as a humorist are another matter), but this is really the definitive argument that Zappa was (IS) the most gifted serious American composer of his generation.

I saw the Ensemble Modern (conducted by John Adams perform some of this music at Chicago's Orchestra Hall in 1996. It was a great program (Zappa, Varese, Adams, Nancarrow...) and a great performance, but what was really amazing was how genuinely worked up the audience got over even the most challenging of the Zappa pieces. I've never seen so enthusiastic a reception to this kind of music before. Their rendition of "G-Spot Tornado" was so powerful that the audience demanded they play it again. Listen to it on this CD and you'll know why.

If you like "Yellow Shark" and want to hear other examples of the Ensemble Modern playing energetic, exciting, totally unique music, check out "John Adams: Chamber Symphony and Shaker Loops," and especially "Conlon Nancarrow: Studies." These two CDs, along with "Yellow Shark," will give you some of the best American music of our age, performed by one of the best musical ensembles in the world.

This cd was great when it was released so many years ago, and it still is fresh when you put it in to listen to. Zappa's compositions are played by a band of classical folk who really wanted to be there (Unlike the LSO and FZ's work with them ten years prior to this release) and wanted to impress frank. Fact is, he discouraged them from trying G SPOT, but they worked so hard at it, that he finally gave in... if you like classical music, written by someone while you have been alive.... this will do well. Frank Zappa fans have been treated through his whole collection of classical oriented music, either ORCHESTRAL FAVORITES, or LSO I and II, and others.. so no suprize here that frank finally attracted the talented EM to perform his music before he died. ten out of ten.

I can't add much to the other reviews except to say that this is an extraordinary performance of some of the most difficult chamber and orchestral music ever composed. Some of these tracks (most notably, G Spot Tornado) were composed and performed on the Synclavier Computer, and were never intended to be performed by a live ensemble. The fact that the Ensemble Modern was able to give a convincing performance is remarkable.

Also, regarding the reviewer who mentions Nancarrow, I had the absolute pleasure of seeing the Ensemble Modern perform live at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC shortly after this album was released, and in addition to several pieces from this album they also performed two Nancarrow works. It was a stunning evening of music. Seek out Ensemble Modern recordings wherever you can!

Critics who review "The Yellow Shark" behave as if Zappa had only recently discovered polyrhythms and atonality, and even go so far as referring to Zappa as a "rock musician." That's like saying the internet contains text: its true, but there's so much more. In fact, the Yellow Shark once again confirms Zappa's nature as brilliant composer in the truest sense. With this album, its not an understatement to claim Zappa has composed in all idiom and genre, and taken us along for a wonderful, sensory ride along the way. Zappa is a shining, rather, piercing light in a largely 20th century musical wasteland.

i was late in discovering frank zappa. i had only known zappa's work for two years when 'yellow shark' was released.

he'd already blown me out of the water with 'hot rats' and 'apostrophe'. i later heard from hardcore zappa fans that those weren't even his best albums.

i love classical and jazz, and 'yellow shark' took elements of each (among other 'styles' that probably dont' have names yet). i had this on repeat for a week after i bought it. there are jingles, sexy themes that should have belonged to 1920s It girls, brief tastes of marches and latin swing....overload. addictive. impossible to absorb in one sitting, even if you like it from the first note.

Most successful musicians are good at their particular style; what sets the great ones apart is that they can cross over to different styles successfully. It is really admirable for anyone of Zappa's stature to even want to work outside the box. But FZ pretty much lived outside the box, and this CD is proof. If you have an interest in Zappa's chamber or orchestral compositions (and be advised, this isn't "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" with violin accompaniment; these are real chamber music compositions), this is the one to buy. The London Symphony Orchestra sessions worked fine as compositions, but the recordings are rendered unlistenable by FZ's unfortunate choice of using 40-50 PZM's (pressure zone microphones) on the orchestra. I'm a recording engineer so take it from me: other than for a few very esoteric uses, PZM's take "suck" to a whole new level. The Yellow Shark, in addition to featuring performances by fantastic musicians, is very well recorded indeed. I personally would have been a little happier had they cut out at least some of the generous applause between tracks, which becomes tedious after awhile, but hey, it's a small matter. These are very good musical works by one of America's most gifted composers. The tragedy, of course, is that we can only imagine what he would be writing now if he were still with us.