3 years ago I wrote about Frank Zappa's Roxy & Elsewhere album for Ripple (http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2011/12/frank-zappa-roxy-elsewhere.html).
Right after that review came out it was announced that the
Zappa family was planning to release more music from the shows recorded
at the Roxy in December, 1973 and that video footage would be also
released. The concert footage is still to come but earlier this year
they put out 75 minutes of unreleased performances and, holy shit, they
are good.
The
Roxy era band was one of the very best Zappa ever had. The twin
powerhouse drumming of Ralph Humphrey and Chester Thompson combined with
Ruth Underwood's insane percussion drove the band like no other.
Combine that with the ultra funky George Duke on keyboards, the insane
soul vocals of Napoleon Murphy Brock, the rock solid bass playing of Tom
Fowler and his brother Bruce's wild trombone playing and you've got a
helluva band. Oh yeah, this line up also
inspired some of FZ's best guitar playing.
Roxy
By Proxy starts off with a version of "Inca Roads" that's drastically
different from the one that would wind up on 1975's One Size Fits All.
This 73 one is loungey and George Duke's singing the lyrics like he's
Mel Torme. It's a little disorienting hearing such a weird version of
one of his all time classics. It eventually crashes into "Penguin In
Bondage" that's similar to the one released on the original Roxy album.
It's followed up with killer instrumentals of "T'Mershi Duween," "Dog
Breath/Uncle Meat" and "RDNZL." Alternate versions of Roxy classics
"Village Of The Sun," "Echidna's Arf (Of You)," and the major drum freak
out of "Don't You Ever Wash That Thing" that segues into an all
percussion
version of "Cheepnis." Then they play the vocal version of "Cheepnis"
to really bug everyone out. The last 25 minutes of the disc are even
better than the previous 50. There's a killer version of "Dupree's
Paradise" where George Duke really gets down and then a massive medley
of "King Kong," "Chunga's Revenge," and "Mr. Green Genes." Goddamn, this
band could play!
Also
released this year is another show from August, 1973 with a similar
line up. There's only one drummer, Ralph Humphrey, but they're joined by
Ian Underwood on bass clarinet and synthesizer and Jean Luc-Ponty on
violin. The double disc called Road Tapes is a rough, soundboard tape
and it's fascinating to compare it to the December recordings from the
Roxy. Some of the material is
repeated but the arrangements are totally different. This line up is
more jazz oriented and they really stretch out the arrangements to
showcase the soloing of Ponty and Duke.
Early
to mid-70's is a real peak in Zappa's catalog. In 1972 he released the
incredible big band albums The Grand Wazoo and Waka Jawaka. Over-Nite
Sensation came out in late 73 while Apostrophe (') and Roxy and
Elsewhere came out in 74. There are plenty of bootlegs and semi-legit
live recordings documenting all the bands and it's wild to consider just
how much music this guy created in such a short period of time. And
it's not like he stopped there, either, but this has been some of my
favorite music for 35+ years and I'm still discovering cool shit in
these
jams.
- Woody
Buy here -
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