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LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA VOL. II

Frank Zappa

RIO/Avant-Prog


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Frank Zappa London Symphony Orchestra Vol. II album cover
3.02 | 113 ratings | 1 reviews | 15% 5 stars

Good, but non-essential

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Studio Album, released in 1987

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Bogus Pomp (24:32)
2. Bob In Dacron (12:12)
3. Strictly Genteel (6:53)

Total Time 43:37

Line-up / Musicians

- Frank Zappa / composer, producer

With:
- The London Symphony Orchestra
- Kent Nagano / conductor
- David Ocker / clarinet
- Chad Wackerman / drums
- Ed Mann / percussion

Releases information

Recorded (like Vol. I) January 12,13 & 14, 1983, Twickenham Film Studios, London.

Artwork: Mark Hanauer (photo)

LP Zappa Records ‎- Zappa 5 (1987, UK)
LP Barking Pumpkin Records ‎- SJ-74207 (1987, US)

Thanks to WiguJimbo for the addition
and to Quinino for the last updates
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FRANK ZAPPA London Symphony Orchestra Vol. II ratings distribution


3.02
(113 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(15%)
15%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(21%)
21%
Good, but non-essential (39%)
39%
Collectors/fans only (18%)
18%
Poor. Only for completionists (7%)
7%

FRANK ZAPPA London Symphony Orchestra Vol. II reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by tarkus1980
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars As mentioned in the Vol 1 review, this album consists of recordings of Zappa pieces from sessions with the London Symphony Orchestra in early 1983. The main reason it took so long for these tracks to come out on CD was that Zappa was extremely displeased with the way they turned out. In the liner notes, he expresses a great deal of bitterness towards the unprofessionalism with which his music was treated, and comments that everybody who criticized Jazz from Hell for its sterile perfection should love this for all of its mistakes. The most obvious annoyance is the out-of-tune horns in "Strictly Genteel," which ruin the song enough that it becomes clearly inferior to the Orchestral Favorites version. The song is still pretty, but it feels rather perfunctory.

The other two tracks don't change my mind about Zappa as a classical composer, but I do find them vaguely interesting, though not really entertaining. I'm not thrilled to have a 24-minute version of "Bogus Pomp" (double the length of the Orchestral Favorites version), but I do think it's neat that many of the things I don't like about it were actually done purposefully. The reason it sounds like an awkward mish-mash of movie soundtrack cliches is because, essentially, Zappa was shooting for a parody of movie soundtrack cliches. No, I don't really enjoy it, but I can at least respect it, and it is kinda funny to play "spot the cliche" when listening to it.

The remaining track, according to the liner notes, is actually supposed to be a ballet. "Bob in Dacron" mostly strikes me as a pretty ok Stravinsky imitation, but it's got a couple of weird sonic moments that are quintessentially Zappa. Plus, who else would write a ballet about somebody trying to find a hookup in a singles bar?

In the end, this won't convert somebody who isn't already into Zappa the classical composer, but like its predecessor, it is ultimately an important part of Zappa's career. I'd probably give the combined release a slightly higher grade (***) than the individual albums, and somebody really interested in Zappa's career (and not just his best albums) will probably want it.

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