The Cover Art
Liner notes by Rip Rense
"I just got very excited that I can do a Frank Zappa cover!" said Csupo. "I asked Frank if he had any specific idea for it, and he said 'absolutely not--do what you like.' So I gave him three different designs, done on my Macintosh computer. The first one was the big face [Zappa's]--with the big moustache staring into the camera. The next one was kind of expermiental half computer graphic--kind of a green half-negative of Frank playing guitar. And the third one was a very cartoony, claustrophobic drawing there he is sort of lost in his basement where he piled up all his tapes. King of tearing his hair out."
Csupo presented all three to Zappa one afternoon in 1993, when the composer was working quietly at his Synclavier, "tweezing" passages of Civilization Phaze III. FZ swiveled his chair sideways, smiled at the three pieces of art through rather professorial black-rimmed glasses, and instantly pointed at the very cartoony, claustrophobic, lost-in-the-basement version.
"That's the one," he said.
Gabor Csupo, HUH Magazine, July, 1995
I left Europe to follow a young American lady I
met in Stockholm; her name was Arlene Klasky, and she lived in Los Angeles.
[...] When I arrived in LA I wrote letters to my friends back in Europe that now I
was finally living in the same city as Frank Zappa. Arlene and I started a small
animation company called Klasky-Csupo Inc. The studio became very successful,
and we started to animate The Simpsons. Matt
Groening, the creator, and I were talking about our love for Frank Zappa's
music and we both fantasized how great it would be if we could get Frank to
do the scoring. We couldn't convince the producers of the show, and they went
with Danny Elfman instead. After The Simpsons got on the air, our talent agency
informed us that one of their clients, Frank Zappa, was a really big fan of
the show. I told the agent that we were at least as much fans of his music,
and if Frank would like to meet with us and visit the studio we would be honored.
A few hours later, Frank Zappa with his whole family arrived at my office
in Hollywood. My heart was pounding so hard, like one of his drum solos. I told
him about my admiration for his work, and after he shook hands with over a hundred
artists in the studio, he invited me up to his house. I knew he was living somewhere
up in the Hollywood Hills, but I did not realize until he give me his address
that he lived only a few blocks away from my house. Not only did I live In the
same city as Frank Zappa, but almost on the same street, two minutes away. Pretty
spooky, isn't it? So our friendship began. [...] My dream came true when Frank agreed to supply
music to our new animated show, Duckman. Me and Frank Zappa on the some project!
We even convinced his son Dweezel to be one of the voices on the show. Frank
also made me very happy when he asked me to design an album cover for his Lost
Episodes CD. It's still not out yet, and it won't be in the stores until early
'96 as a Rykodisc release.
Ruth O'Neill, "Gabor Csupo: An idiosyncratic view of the beautiful," FT.com, May 13, 2005
"He laughed when he saw it and asked 'Do I really have eyes like
that?'," Csupo remembers. "I said, 'No . . . but
the nose is right.' "
The Original Project
Also being compiled is The Lost Episodes, comprised of studio outtake material daring back to 1969. "There's a thing I did with Captain Beefheart here at the house, a little jam session in the basement, called 'Alley
Cat,'" Zappa says. "There's also the original version of 'Redunzl' with George Duke and Jean-Luc Ponty,
and a bunch of stuff with Sugarcane Harris like the original version of
'Sharleena' which was ten minutes long, with a fabulous blues violin
solo. I also have the original demos we presented to United Artists to
get the 200 Motels deal. There's probably
enough for two or three CDs of really interesting material. I've built
three versions of it, but I haven't settled on which one to put out
yet."
1. The Blackouts
Liner notes by Rip Rense
Date: 1958 or '59
Location: Best guess comes from James "Motorhead" Sherwood, who [...] has a vague memory of FZ recording this "in a garage off an alley--not his home."
Musicians:* WAYNE LYLES (vocal); TERRY WIMBERLY (piano); ELWOOD JR. MADEO (guitar); FZ (drums)
* It should be noted that Elwood Jr. Madeo was mentioned in The Real Frank Zappa Book as the leader of The Ramblers--not The Blackouts [...]. It can only be assumed that Madeo's inclusion is either an error by FZ, or that this is yet another version of The Blackouts.
Transcription
I'd just like to tell you about a little incident at Shrine Auditorium. [...] Louis Armstrong and his boys were gonna be there, an' the Titans, and the Velvetones, and the Blackouts.
Johnny Franklin (quoted in John "Drumbo" French's Beefheart: Through The Eyes Of Magic, 2010, p. 43)
We did a show at the Shrine Exposition Hall years ago, Louis Armstrong was there. Dorothy Dandridge's mother had a band called The Titans, I believe. It was a calypso group. One of the LA DJs--I think his name was Joe Adams, was there. He went on to be pretty big in the radio world...
There's a group picture that they took there. I know everybody in there, 'cept there's one or two faces I just can't--one face I just can't place. But some of them have different names on them. Even Sonny [Freddy Louis, guitar player] my cousin--he's in there, Carter my brother. I could just about name 'em all, there was Wayne Rawls [spelled Riles on p. 40 of the book and Lyles on p. 45 of The Real Frank Zappa Book], there was Charles Reeves, there was Junior Madeo...
[...] Ernie Thomas, he was a trumpet player. Hmm, I think I just about named them all. Of course, there was Frank. Frank was our drummer.
More about the picture and The Blackouts here.
Informant: Charles Ulrich
2. Lost In A Whirlpool
Liner notes by Rip Rense
Also dating from 1958 or '59, this spectacular item, according to FZ, probably marks the recorded blues-singing debut of the teenaged, yet-to-be-christened Captain Beefheart, Don Van Vliet. It was taped in an empty classroom at Antelope Valley Jr. College in Lancaster, California, with FZ on lead guitar (an instrument with which he had been acquainted for only about six months), and Frank's former guitar teacher, brother Bobby, on rhythm guitar. (Bobby, FZ noted, later abandoned music and entered the Marines "in order to not be anything like his brother.") It was recorded on an old Webcor reel-to-reel that, FZ fondly remembered, "just happened to be sitting there waiting to be plundered--maroon, with the green blinking eye." The tale of a lover spurned in rather surreal fashion, "Whirlpool's" lyrics were improvised by Vliet, who begins with an arresting parody of a (female?) blues singer. After a few lines, the essential vocal personality of incipient Beefheart becomes apparent. Listeners with an ear for metaphor and a penchant for "interpreting" lyrics might be advised not to burrow too deeply here. The whirlpool in question is one that is commonly found, and regularly employed, in modern households. Said Vliet: "Frank and I had a good time. We were just fooling around."
Den Simms, Eric Buxton & Rob Samler, "They're Doing The Interview Of The Century," Society Peges, June, 1990
Den Simms: What are the origins of that? Was it a demo tape or something?
FZ: No, it was the very first . . . it's the earliest tape that I have a copy of, from when I first started taping stuff.
Den Simms: From the Cucamonga period?
FZ: No, that was 1957!
Den Simms: Really? That's the date on that?
FZ: That's right, and "Lost in a Whirlpool" was taped on one of those tape recorders that you have in a school in the audio/visual department. We went into this room, this empty room at the junior college in Lancaster, after school, and got this tape recorded, and just turned it on. The guitars are me and my brother and the vocal is Don Vliet.
Eric Buxton: Reel-to-reel?
FZ: Reel-to-reel. 1957.
Eric Buxton: And you composed the, uh . . . you wrote the words?
FZ: Well, the story of "Lost in a Whirlpool" goes back even farther. When I was in high school in San Diego in '55, there was a guy who grew up to be a sports writer named Larry Littlefield. He, and another guy named Jeff Harris, and I used to hang out, and we used to make up stories, little skits and stuff, you know, dumb little teenage things. One of the plots that we cooked up was about a person who was skindiving -- San Diego's a surfer kind of an area -- skindiving in the San Diego sewer system, and talking about encountering brown, blind fish. It was kind of like the Cousteau expedition of its era. So, when I moved to Lancaster from San Diego, I had discussed this scenario with Vliet, and that's where the lyrics come from. It's like a musical manifestation of this other skindiving scenario.
Pour some Drano down,
And get the plunger right after me
Wikipedia (October 14, 2010)
Drano is a drain cleaner product manufactured by S. C. Johnson & Son.
There's a star called DRANO on the back cover of One Size Fits All (1975).
Informant: slimey.oofytv.set
6. Mount St. Mary's Concert Excerpt
Liner notes by Rip Rense
This music, as FZ told Don Menn in the 1992 "Zappa!" tribute magazine (published by Keyboard and Guitar Player magazines) is part of the very first Zappa-led performance of the composer's so-called "serious," or orchestral music. It took place in 1963 at, of all pastoral places, lovely Mount St. Mary's College, a private Catholic institution perched in the lush Santa Monica Mountains above West Los Angeles. Zappa spent $300 from his own pocket, organized a "college orchestra," and "put on this little concert." It was taped and broadcast by Los Angeles public radio station KPFK, but FZ did not hear the tape until 1991, after a fan in England mailed him a cassette. Although the concert was much longer than this fragment, this excerpt of what FZ described as "oddball, textured weirdo stuff" is still a minor treasure. [...] The program included a piece called "Opus 5," aleatoric works that required some improvisation, a piece for orchestra and taped electronic music, with accompanying visuals in the form of FZ's own experimental 8mm films (Motorhead Sherwood described one such film depicting the Los Angeles County Fair carnival, double exposed with passing telephone poles).
Regarding the film "depicting the Los Angeles County Fari carnival, double exposed with passing telephone poles," check the "G-Spot Tornado" videoclip included in Video From Hell (1987).
7. Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance
Liner notes by Rip Rense
"[FZ] just came in one day in 1960, when he was around 20, as a person who wanted to record some jazz," Buff remembered. "He had some musicians, and wanted to rent a studio."
The January 1961 Pal Studio Band version of Frank Zappa's "Never On Sunday" (later: "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance") is up next.
8. Tiger Roach
Liner notes by Rip Rense
Date: 1962 or '63*
Location: Studio Z, Cucamonga, Calif. [...]
Musicians: DON VAN VLIET (vocals); FZ (guitar); JANSCHI (bass); VIC MORTENSON (drums)
[...] Said Frank: "The way that was done was a proto five-track machine mixed to mono. But finally I had a stereo mix. It was my first attempt at stereo. The band was in the studio mixed down to one track, and Don was in the hallway with just the leakage coming through the door, perusing an X-Man comic book pinned on the wall, riffling through it as we did it. There are three or four more Beefheart masters from this perios, including a Holin' Wolf-like version of 'Slippin' and Slidin',' and instrumental called 'I'm Your Nasty Shadow,' and 'Metal Man Has Won His Wings.'" [...] (Frank tried to interest Dot Records in "Slippin' and Slidin'," the aforementioned version of "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance," and the first version of "Any Way The Wind Blows"--see notes for track 12--all under the name, "The Soots," published by FZ's Aleatory Music--but Dot's A&R man, Milt Rogers, wrote in a December 13, 1963 letter that while "the material does have merit, we do not feel strongly enough about its commercial potential . . ." [...]
*FZ listed the recording date as 1962 or '63, although Buff, who was not present for this session, suggests it was most likely 1963. Mortenson's presence also suggests 1963, as he was involved in several other unreleased 1963 sessions. Finally, the Dot rejection letter is from 1963, and "Slippin' and Slidin'," FZ said, was from the same period as "Tiger Roach."
FZ, Sounds Magazine, November 1, 1970
I had a recording studio in a small town called Cucamonga in California. I
talked [Don Van Vliet] into becoming a singer. Tthe earliest things he recorded were "Slippin'
And Slidin'" completely in Jimi Hendrix style with a slow rhythm, the Howlin'
Wolf piece "Evil," "The Grund," "Tiger Roach," and "Vicious Intentions," a slow blues.
Heitor Mendes, alt.fan.frank-zappa, May 24, 2003
I was browsing some old comics and, with the help of my friend Kibe De Large, I came across "Green Lantern #34", January 1965.
As you can check in the link below, this comic could be the source of some of the "Tiger Roach" lyrics, specifically "Green Lantern! Funny lizard! Three-way!" (and eventually: "Looks like greeny! Maybe it's purple").
I don't [know] exactly when it was on sale, but according to the ads in this issue, it was on sale before December 3rd, 1964, probably about November 1964. [...] So, my theory is that "Tiger Roach" was recorded in late 1964, probably in the same sessions of "Malt Shop", that also featured Don Van Vliet and Vic Mortenson, as "Tiger Roach" did.
Green Lantern!
Funny lizard!
Three-way!
Buddy learns!
Biffy the Elephant Shrew, alt.fan.frank-zappa, May 24, 2008
I happen to have this comic, and on seeing this
message, I immediately dug it up. There's another "Tiger Roach" phrase
on the back cover: "Buddy learns" turns out to be from an ad for
Aurora slot cars, with the headline "Buddy Learns the Secret."
Heitor Mendes, alt.fan.frank-zappa, May 25, 2008
For those who don't have the comic, this is the Aurora Model Motoring
ad:
See also: Metal Man Has Won His Wings
21. Alley Cat
Liner notes by Rip Rense
[...] Said FZ: "That's me, Don [Van Vliet], Elliot Ingber, and Drumbo recorded downstairs in the basement in 1969. On a Scully 2-track with a couple of mikes [...]."
I remember very little about that particular jam (Alley Cat). I do recall jamming in the basement studio and doing a thing in 3/4 time. I was the only drummer around at the time and there were quite a few musicians there. It was just before Trout Mask Replica was recorded. Frank had a little chord change/ melody written out and I just played by ear. I think Eliot Ingber was there.
The only thing which doesn't fit in here is that he says it's in 3/4. Alley cat is in 4/4 and he's playin drums in 4/4.
John French, Beefheart: Through The Eyes Of Magic, 2010, p. 526
After the [Lick My Decals Off] Sessions were over, Elliot Ingber began to rehearse with us.
Chato Segerer (June 27, 2011)
My theory: FZ is playing bass and overdubbed his guitar track (like on Wedding Dress Song/Cabin Boy) as the guitar on left channel and the vocal overdubs [at 2:11] have much more reverb than the rest.
