THE BEST BAND YOU NEVER HEARD IN YOUR LIFE: LIVE COMPILATIONS #3
The 1988 "Heavy duty Judy" version opens "The best band you never heard in your life". It only overlaps
with its predecessor from "Shut up 'n play yer guitar" in reusing the vamp in 12/8, otherwise it's a new composition.
Steve Vai notated the "Heavy duty Judy (1980)" vamp in 4/4, using triplets (see the corresponding section).
Zappa might just as well have used a new title as "Son of Heavy duty Judy", as he had done several times before.
The brass section is used for creating an opening theme around the vamp. After up to two minutes he falls
in with a sharp solo (in the midi file below some bars with repetitions are skipped).
As it comes to new compositions "The best band you never heard in your life" has only one unreleased song by Zappa himself,
the others are covers. More than on "Make a jazz noise here" it's the alternative bars and solos that make this collection
worthwhile, like the six minutes solo from "The torture never stops part two". Regarding the live versions of the original
studio songs from "Zoot allures", the themes are more brought back to their basic elements. In the case of "The torture
never stops" the "Zoot allures" version has a lot more of adornal embellishments to it, and of course the moaning of Gail Zappa. You can
compare the black dots from the Zoot allures section with the one below. Biographer Neil Slaven states that he prefers
the group effort above Zappa playing most of the overdubbed parts on "Zoot allures", so there are people who don't see
this as a disadvantage.
Zappa included "The torture never stops" in about every tour since it was written, each time
playing a large solo in the middle of the song. Next is the main theme plus the opening of the guitar solo
from the 1988 version.
On "The best band you never heard in your life" four titles from the 1975 album "One size fits all" are played live.
"Florentine Pogen" and "Andy" follow the 1975 version with only the instrumentation and the included guitar solos being different.
See the One size fits all section for the opening of "Florentine Pogen (1975)".
The song "Andy" mentions the movie actor Andy Devine, starring in westerns and known for his raspy voice.
By themselves the lyrics are hardly understandable. Two citations in the Ulrich book shine some light upon where
its idea might be coming from. One is a posting by Cal Schenkel on alt.fan.frank-zappa:
In case of "Inca roads" the bigger differences between the 1988 and 1974/5 performances lie in the included guitar solo and the example from below.
"Inca roads" ends with varying the opening theme. In 1988 the variation starting in bar 4 from the example below follows the original, but four times
slower. It also alternates beats with quarter notes and beats with an eighth note plus an eighth note pause, without a specific pattern. It's sort of a variation of a variation,
sounding thus different that, in effect, it becomes a new variation.
Globally the construction of "Mr. Green Genes" goes as:
Three songs on "The best band you never heard in your life" have the addition Swaggart version between brackets, and "Stinkfoot"
from "Make a jazz noise here" could have had that addition too. On this occasion the lyrics from "More trouble every day" got adapted
to the Swaggart situation beginning at 1:16 with "Wednesday I watched Jimmy Swaggart, watch him weeping all over the place ...".
"Penguin in bondage" from 1988 gets played as in 1984 with a few additions for the horn section. The principal difference lies in the guitar solo.
In 1988 Zappa is following the blues scheme again, as in 1973. It's in D Dorian, in the six bars from below largely following the D minor pentatonic scale, with the
additional E and B from the Dorian scale only being touched upon.
In case of "Lonesome cowboy Burt" the lyrics got more or less rewritten for Swaggart. Musically it goes as "Lonesome cowboy Nando" from "YCDTOSA vol VI", with two examples
from that particular version being included in the next section. See also "Lonesome cowboy Burt" from "200 Motels"
for the original 1971 version, of which a description and the opening are included in the corresponding section. The example below contains the end of this song.
The original recording of "The Eric Dolphy memorial barbecue (1969)"
can be found on the "Weasels ripped my flesh" album. See the corresponding section for the written opening theme. In total the written part takes
up a minute of this 1988 performance, lasting 9:18 in total. It's a fine example of how well the combination of improvising and synclavier parts could work out
to create what I'm referring to as a type of modern jazz in the next section. It's very difficult to transcribe sections like this precisely. In
both examples from below some degree of approximation was unavoidable.
"A few moments with Brother A. West" is a comedy act by Andrew West Reid Jr., impersonating a tv-evangelist. Andrew West
also did the graphics for The real FZ book and "Broadway the hard way", signing as AWEST in ancient-Egyptian-styled letters.
"The best band you never heard in your life" is a live compilation. The original recordings of the included tracks turn up elsewhere
in this study. The examples/titles from above are specifically transcribed from the "The best band you never heard in your life" version.
In 1987 preparations were made for Zappa's biggest tour effort. At first the rock band section rehearsed,
afterwards a brass section joined in, bringing the band's magnitude up to twelve members. In total it took four months
of practicing for a
program of five hours, enough for two completely different shows. Touring started in the east of the U.S.,
next Europe. The U.S. west and south coast, planned for the autumn, had to be cancelled however.
Tensions within the band had become too big to continue. Zappa let everybody vote whether
they could move on with bass player Scott Thunes and the general opinion was no, so in
Zappa's words the band self-destructed.
The financial loss was compensated by releasing as good as all material on CD. "Broadway the hard way"
was dealt with in the previous section. In this section and the next Make a jazz noise here section we continue with examples
from the two double CDs that ensued from the tapes.
Right: outtake from the original "The best band you never heard in your life" CD cover, featuring a photo of the band
playing on stage by Bruce Malone. Today the cover got replaced by a drawing by Cal Schenkel. Below at Zomby woof you can find an outtake from Cal's drawing,
where you can recognize references to his earlier drawings for "The grand wazoo" album.
Heavy duty Judy (1988)
Heavy duty Judy (1988), opening (midi file)
Heavy duty Judy (1988), opening (transcription).
The repeated bar 1 represents an intro for this version of "Heavy duty Judy". In bars 4-5 you've
got the characteristic vamp returning, beginning before beat at beat 4 in bar 4. Steve Vai describes it as "sort of
boppin'", using triplets if you would notate it in 4/4. At this point it's in a different key
compared to the original. Here it's in D Mixolydian with the progression I-II-VII. At bar 13
you get at an interlude without the vamp. Here the band gets to play through varying keys. The basic
chord progression in rock terms in staff 3 is Eb-F-Db-Eb-F#m. The bass moves downwards: Ab-G-Gb-F-E. In none
of these instances is the bass part of the 5th chords of staff 3, thus the bass enlarges the total sounding
chords. In bar 13 for instance to Abmaj9. In bar 20 we get at the vamp in its final key: E Mixolydian again as in the
original (same I-II-VII chord progression). Other than in the original the bass doesn't give an E as a pedal note,
but forms part of the chords.
The torture never stops (1988)
The torture never stops part two, opening (midi file)
The torture never stops part two, opening (transcription).
This one is in A Dorian instead of G Dorian on the "Zoot allures" album. Zappa frequently
transposed his songs for his different tours. The harmony in bars 1-2 is also different. On "Zoot allures" it's I followed by
a blending of I and VII in G Dorian (bar 1). Here it's I 7th - I 9th in A Dorian (bars 1-2).
Zomby woof (1988)
"Zomby woof" is present three times in Zappa's catalogue. The original studio version appeared on "Overnite sensation" in 1973.
Next you've got live versions from 1982 en 1988 on "YCDTOSA I" and "The best band you never heard in your life" respectively.
They differ in various minor elements. The bigger difference lies in the included guitar solo. Wolfgang Ludwig
transcribed the lead melody of the first minute for his study from 1992, whereas all of "Zomby woof" (1973 version) got published
in the Hal Leonard series (2011, transcr. Paul Pappas). It's a complex song, made up of a multitude of motifs, smaller
themes and riffs. The meters keep changing. The below follows the set up from 1988:
Instrumental opening:
- 0:00. Instrumental opening theme of three bars, played in parallels. Bar 1 returns the most in this song and can be seen
as the central melodic element.
As for most of "Zomby woof" it's diatonic material from varying scales
without clear key notes. Ludwig and Pappas use different meter notations for most of their bars.
The first bar lasts 3/4, subdivided into four times 3/16. Wolfgang Ludwig notates this as actually four 3/8 bars,
while Paul Pappas chose for 3/4 with a syncope. Ludwig is using smaller units in most cases in a similar way (I'm here following
the Pappas meter notation).
- 0:05 Motif 1 (bar 4 in the example below) made up of five beats with quintuplets. The bass plays a chromatically descending line. You can see
this bar as polyscale, with a scale fragment per bar.
- 0:08 Motif 2, played four times (bars 5-8) with the instrumentation building up in layers.
Block with lyrics alternated with instrumental bars:
- 0:18 First sung theme ("300 years ago ..."). It's played over a bass riff.
- 0:28 One intermediary bar ("You know I ..."). Whereas the larger part of "Zomby woof" is relatively
monodic, without much chords,
or composed polyphonically, this bar has a clear chord present for the bass plus brass section (Dm7).
- 0:31 Motif 3 (bar 14) in 2/4, instrumental.
- 0:32 Motif 1 repeats.
- 0:35 Second sung theme, starting over motif 2 as a guitar/bass riff for the first two bars ("Seems to me ..."). Beat 4
of the riff gets augmented with one 16th note so that it now lasts a normal 4/4 bar instead of 15/16. In bars 17-18 you can see the
B-D motif of bar 1 returning.
- 0:45 Two bars (20-21) with instrumental improvisation.
- 0:51 Two bars from the second sung theme (bars 18-19) get repeated instrumentally. The first example ends here.
Zomby woof (1988), opening (midi file)
Zomby woof (1988), opening (transcription).
Second instrumental block:
- 0:57 Motif 1 gets varied upon. Here you've got a 6/4 and a 5/4 bar. The first one contains the melody of motif 1
identically followed by a one beat pause with some percussion. Bar 2 plays this melody backwards. Instead
of the quintuplets, Zappa is now using normal 16th notes, thus beats of 5/16 (Ludwig
notation). Paul Pappas chose to maintain the original quintuplet notation of motif 1 and then has to change the tempo:
it goes from the metronome tempo of a quarter note being 90 to being 76. Arithmetically the result is as good as the same: (90/76)*(4/5) is about 1.
- 1:05 Instrumental bars with a little chord progression and the bass riff for the next third sung theme.
Second block with lyrics alternated with instrumental bars:
- 1:15 Third sung theme over this bass riff ("I am the Zomby woof..."). It's a theme of four bars, played twice,
of which the first bar is a variation upon bar 9.
- 1:35 Fourth sung theme of two bars, of which the first is a variation upon bar 1 ("Tellin' you all ..."). These two
bars can also be interpreted as a free variation upon bars 18-19. A note example from this point till where the fifth theme starts
is included in the Overnite sensation section, where it is specifically transcribed from the
"Zomby woof (1973)" studio version.
- 1:40 Motif 4, an instrumental sequence of 32nd notes, played four times.
- 1:46 The fourth sung theme returns once more.
- 1:52 Little theme of two bars, repeated four times with variations. The first contains two-part
counterpoint and gets either
instrumentally played or sung ("Reety awrighty ..."). The second bar is monodic.
- 2:12 Two bars with a flatly sung fifth theme, that introduces the guitar solo ("They was awreety ...").
Guitar solo:
- 2:18 Guitar solo in A Dorian, played over a one bar bass vamp in 4/4. The original 1973 solo is played
over a bass pedal note, though also here you can discern the vamp in the first couple of bars.
Both the 1982 and 1988 solo are using the bass vamp from below all through. It comprises about half of the time the song lasts.
Zomby woof (1988), section (midi file)
Zomby woof (1988), section (transcription).
Third block with lyrics alternated with instrumental bars:
- 4:36 Polyphonic instrumental bars, not present in the 1973 version.
The brass and bass play a melody twice. It's made up of two bars in 4/4 over which
the guitar lets the figure from the second bar
of the little theme return, that started at point 1:52.
- 4:47 Sixth sung theme ("I gotta great big ..."). For the larger part it's sung with only accompaniment by the drummer.
- 5:09 Motif 3 returns in a 4/4 bar: the first two beats are motif 3 played identically, beats 3-4 are for the drummer.
- 5:12 The sixth sung theme continues, now sung over motif 2.
- 5:16 The fourth sung theme now returns as the outro theme, followed by two bars with instrumental improvisation.
All four bars are played twice.
- 5:35 The instrumental opening now returns as the coda. It gets augmented by one beat where Zappa at last
seems to settle for a key: A Dorian.
- 5:41 End.
Florentine Pogen (1988)
Florentine Pogen, 4:58-5:24 (midi file).
Florentine Pogen, 4:58-5:24 (transcription).
In 1975 "Florentine Pogen" didn't have a solo. It ends with the "Chester's gorilla" line, fading out. The chord progression
during this line is A-Em-D in A Dorian. Without the Em chord this progression continues being used as a chord alternation
for the 1988 solo. The rhythmic notation of bars 1-4 by themselves looks a bit odd, starting with the A on beat 3 and including
two syncopes. The context makes clear this is the way it should best be notated.
Andy (1988)
The other one is from a bootleg of a Capitol theatre concert, Passaic, New Jersey, where Zappa talks about "the mutated condition of the skin in the
region between the toes irritated by the friction of a thong sandal ...".
So it looks like he just found it funny to blow up something rather meaningless into mythical proportions. Moreover, when the band start playing
this song live in 1974, a connection with Andy Devine wasn't yet made.
Andy, 2:36-3:18 (midi file).
Andy, 2:36-3:18 (transcription).
The structure of "Andy" gets dealt with at large in the One size fits all section of this study, with an example from "Andy (1975)".
The example above is presented as section D in the Ludwig study, at this point with a slowly played melody in it. It's called "Breakdown" in the One size fits all guitar
book. At "Inca roads" I'm pointing at Zappa's desire to break patterns. In this case this is happening at beats 1-2 of bar 10 in the example from above.
The players are asked to interrupt the slow melody by playing strings of fast notes, where they can pick notes as they like. Obviously they can be different on each performance.
Above these notes as they are picked on the "One size fits all" album, as transcribed by Addi Booth. Something else you might be calling pattern-breaking is the manner
Zappa starts the guitar solo on "The best band you never heard in your life". From bar 12 through bar 18 it's chromatic rather than diatonic. Only in bar 19 the solo returns
to A Lydian. This is quite different from the 1975 version, that is brightly in A Lydian all through. This solo is the main difference between these two versions, with the 1988
solo lasting much longer.
Opening bars of the 1975 solo (One size fits all Guitar book, page 160). Addi notates "Andy" in A major, a convention in the Hal Leonard series. The D# turns this
into A Lydian.
Inca roads (1988)
Inca roads, 6:57-7:32 (midi file).
Inca roads, 6:57-7:32 (transcription).
The example contains:
- Bars 1-3: final bars of an instrumental interlude. Bars 1-2 go similar to the 1975 version, but not identical. It's played that fast at this point, that it's getting
easy to mishear or mishit a note, so I can't tell for sure if all of such differences are intentional. The difference at beats 3-4 of bar 3 is directly recognizable and
intentional.
- Bars 4-10: what was a 16th note in the 1975 score has become a quarter note space in 1988. Other than in 1975 these bars have no lyrics.
How the meters should best be notated is getting a matter of choice. I've let each bar begin with a full quarter note, and I've avoided notating syncopes.
In case of the One size fits all guitar book Addi Booth notates accompanying chords (not present here), which clarify his meter notation.
- Bars 11-13: these bars do have lyrics in 1988. It's a figure in 5/4, played three times with slight differences.
This whole example could be called diatonic, though only with fragments from varying scales in bar 1. At no place you can say the bass is reaching at stable pedal notes,
so it can't be assigned to keys, other than maybe some brief moments.
Inca roads, 1:30-2:02 (midi file).
Inca roads, 1:30-2:02 (transcription).
This second example contains the first instrumental interlude and the opening of the guitar solo. The following can be noted:
- Bars 1-4: these bars from "Inca roads (1975)" are also present in the One size fits all section.
The difference with the 1975 version lies in the bass giving a C pedal in bars 1 and 3, setting the key to C Lydian, and the presence of a chord in both of these two bars.
- Bars 5-8: the counterpoint line from 1988 goes quite different. Here it's an upgoing melody, E-F#-A-B-D-F#, that is getting varied upon.
- Bar 8: this track was recorded at two different locations. Normally Zappa edited the tapes in such a manner that it became undetectable where switches
are taking place. Only bootlegs from these concerts make it possible to identify from which concerts which sections stem, when present.
In this case Zappa apparently didn't mind that you could hear a switch, the one taking place at beat 3 of bar 8. In the transcription
you can see that the melodies in staves 3-4 take a jump.
- Bars 9-16: the guitar solo over a C-D alternation. During bars 9-14 keyboards and the rhythm guitar are giving a harmonic fill-in as usual.
In bars 15-16, their melodies and chords are becoming more articulated, at some points making the solo sound almost as a duet. This remains so for the rest
of the solo.
Mr. Green Genes
- 0:00 Intro with a figure in D Dorian.
- 0:00 Theme A with this figure vamping, "Eat your greens ...". See "Mr. Green Genes (1969)"
from the Uncle Meat section for the lead melodies.
- 0:44 Theme B, "With Sauerkraut ...".
- 0:55 Theme C, "Eat a grape ...".
- 1:05 Themes A-C are repeated instrumentally.
- 1:49 Themes A-C return with other lyrics.
Mr. Green Genes, 2:12-2:55 (midi file).
Mr. Green Genes, 2:12-2:55 (transcription).
The example begins with the end of theme C, where the lyrics are getting absurd. From bar 7 onwards you can see notes getting altered.
This is caused by a parallel playing of major triads, something Zappa does more often. In this case Bb, C, D. Finally in bars 10-11,
the chord sequence is D-Em-F-Em-D-Em-C, where also a minor triad is included.
- 2:44 An additional theme for the 1988 version, that, to a degree, you might call a variation upon bars 10-11.
It's a theme of two bars, that get repeated three times (the last time ending differently). The example ends after the first repetition.
- 3:03 Theme B, instrumentally, with bird sounds.
- 3:17 Theme C.
- 3:29 Coda with the triads sequence from above, ending with a D major triad.
- 3:38 End.
More trouble every day (1988)
More trouble every day, 2:09-2:33 (midi file).
More trouble every day, 2:09-2:33 (transcription).
The example from above are the first eight bars of the guitar solo. During the first four bars it's just an intro, with the bass
guitar giving an F# pedal in F# Dorian. The text continues with referring to Swaggart. Ike Willis says "forgive me", Zappa responds
with "I just put the tippy in, oh my god". Swaggart confessed to having visited a prostitute, trying to defend himself by stating
that he had not actually perpetrated the act of sex with genital entrance.
Regarding its music "More trouble every day" comes from "Roxy and elsewhere". Like this it also got included on "Does humor belong in music?",
but as "Trouble every day", the title it had when Zappa first wrote the lyrics. See "More trouble every day (1974)"
and "Trouble every day (1984)" for the other versions from the corresponding sections.
Penguin in bondage (1988)
Penguin in bondage, 2:21-2:39 (midi file).
Penguin in bondage, 2:21-2:39 (transcription).
The solo lasts till 3:28. "Penguin in bondage" carries the addition Swaggart version, but during the song hardly anything got adapted to the Swaggart situation. You can only hear
Ike Willis calling his name. At the very end, however, the lyrics got changed to "'Cause she just might turn you in ... and leave you sort of a dried-up wooden little
ministery". The final bars from this song are included in the following example. It contains:
- Bar 1: two figures lasting 5/16, played via parallels. A pattern breaking bar, as Zappa liked to add them.
- Bars 2-3: two bars in D minor pentatonic with Zappa speech-wise singing.
- Bars 4-6: a sustained chord, F-C-Eb-Ab-(C), with the bass improvising a melody.
- Bars 7-9: a cadence, IV-I in D Dorian. D Dorian/minor pentatonic is the principal scale of "Penguin in bondage", so it could settle here.
- Bars 10-11: a chord progression moving away from D Dorian in a chromatic manner. Zappa repeatedly chose to end songs in a harmonically evasive way.
Penguin in bondage, 4:33-4:58 (midi file).
Penguin in bondage, 4:33-4:58 (transcription).
For more about this track, see "Penguin in bondage (1974)" and
"Penguin in bondage (1984)" from the Roxy and elswhere and Does humor belong in music sections.
Lonesome cowboy Burt (1988)
Lonesome cowboy Burt, 4:12-4:47 (midi file).
Lonesome cowboy Burt, 4:12-4:47 (transcription).
Bars 1-7: return of what I'm calling theme two of this song in the 200 Motels section. It's in A with 6/8 as meter.
Bars 8-22: return of theme three, played much slower. In my notation of it I'm letting the meter switch from 6/8 to two times 3/4, so I had to add "a bit faster" above it.
It goes slower, but not twice as slow. As also said in the 200 Motels section, this song has pastiche effects. In this example the song ends as a simple waltz.
For Zappa standards the rhythm of theme 3 is unusually simplistic.
Bar 23: musically the song ends with IV-I as a cadence in A. Next Ike Willis says "he, he, he", after which Zappa starts the final spoken "Opul, you hot little bitch ..." line.
The Eric Dolphy memorial barbecue (1988)
The Eric Dolphy memorial barbecue (1988), 3:54-4:12 (midi file).
The Eric Dolphy memorial barbecue (1988), 3:54-4:12 (transcription).
This first outtake from the part with improvisations contains two repeating synclavier figures. The first one from staff 2 lasts only 3/8 and is played fast.
It involves only two notes and begins at 3:51. The transcription starts at the point where the drummer starts beating in 3/8 as well. The saxophone player
continues his solo in a chromatic manner. The bass is giving a D pedal or pausing, it's not well audible at which exact points. In bar 15 a second synclavier figure gets added to this, a figure lasting two bars. Additional notes can be heard as well,
next to a voice saying "please". I can't tell for sure if they come from synclavier samples or band members.
The Eric Dolphy memorial barbecue (1988), 4:54-5:03 (midi file).
The Eric Dolphy memorial barbecue (1988), 4:54-5:03 (transcription).
Little is known about how the band rehearsed pieces like this. Something you can notice is that at various points the band is reacting upon situations
and that for instance the brass section is playing chords. So there must have been elements that were agreed upon in advance, possibly in combination
with signalling on stage. The second example begins with two bars with only the synclavier playing. In bar three you can see that the bass, drums and keyboard
start at exactly the same point, so it must have been pre-arranged to play it like this. The liner notes state that this track combines recordings from three
concerts. Apparently all three got bootlegged, because in the Ulrich book you can find where which sections were recorded. The two examples from above
come from the Syracuse concert, without editing at these specific points. In 1988 the song ended with parodying "The Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss.
A few moments with Brother A. West
A few moments with Brother A. West, 1:56-2:11 (transcription).
In this case he's doing his act in relation with Zappa's program, to give it some "balance". Zappa himself is responsible
for the music. The basis of the accompaniment is most of the time just a D pedal in 4/4 or 12/8, depending on how you would like to notate it.
It has some keyboard chords on top of it, setting the key to D Dorian. During bars 1-4 from the example from above Scott Thunes
has turned this into a walking bass to vary it a little. The more interesting musical elements are the synclavier parts, serving as some
kind of comment upon A. West's words. The crowd reactions add flavour to this title too. A midi file can't represent this well, so I've skipped
adding a midi file at this instance.
Other tracks from The best band you never heard in your life
Yet another opportunity to see this Best band came around in 2019, when Ahmet Zappa set up the Bizarre world
of Frank Zappa tour with members from the original eighties band and Zappa himself as a hologram.