THING-FISH

Items ordered by ending time | Showing all 33 items

Visit eBay search:'prog rock' for items
Sell your FRANK ZAPPA items on eBay !

No release results - showing artist results instead

Sort: Recent best-seller | Results cached

Visit Amazon tag:'Progressive Rock' for more prog rock

Alright, my question to Mr. Zappa, what were you thinking with this one? A very odd and "interesting" concept album from Frank and his band of cohorts. Certainly one of the last ones in Zappa collection, as it is very strange and could put you off of Zappa easily. The reworkings of some classic Zappa songs here are welcome, and certainly translated into more "crude" forms vocally, but still there are some things to enjoy. Terry Bozzio does a terrific job in the role of Harry, and Dale Bozzio does a superb job as Rhonda. These two steal the show with their constant bickering and banter about mostly sex-related issues. It has a similarity with Joe's Garage with that. However, the melodies in the original compositions aren't really that strong but the dialogue that occurs really creates a broadway-type atmosphere. I really enjoy The Torchum Never Stops and Drop Dead. The first is a reworking of the classic The Torture Never Stops from Zoot Allures, only Ike Willis takes it to another level with his crude, ebonic-like vocals. Drop Dead features superb performances from Terry and Dale Bozzio, and has some strong rhythms to it. Overall, if you are a Zappa fan, you probably own this (and probably dislike it as much as I do), If you are just getting into Zappa, then steer clear of this and return once you've looked into the rest of his catalogue. In all seriousness, this album is not really worth the money unless you are a completionist (like me).1.5/5.

I have to give Zappa credit: I now know what it takes to turn me into a raging Puritan. It takes moments like hearing Terry Bozzio yelling out, "Hurt me, OB'DEWLLA! Make me whimper and beg for your tiny rubber love!"

I will admit that, when I think about what's accomplished with this album without thinking about actually listening to it, this album impresses me pretty well. It takes the form of a parody on Broadway musicals (Frank originally intended it to be a real production, but it was never performed in full until well after he died), starring the victims of government experiments to try and get rid of "highly rhythmic individuals and sissy boys." Thing Fish, voiced by Ike Willis (a Zappa regular) is one of these victims, and like all of them (the others, also part of the play, are called the Mammy Nuns) he ends up with a potato for a head, a duck bill for a mouth and wears an Aunt Jemima type dress. Two yuppies from Long Island, Harry (voiced by Terry Bozzio) and Rhonda (voiced by Dale Bozzio), come to the show expecting a generic razzle-dazzle Broadway production and unwittingly become part of the cast. Eventually, Harry as a young boy comes out on stage; Harry is revealed to be gay (for business purposes); Harry reveals his contempt for liberated women and women in the workforce; Harry falls in love with a robot version of Rhonda (Artificial Rhonda); Harry has a child (of sorts) with Artificial Rhonda; Harry dresses in bondage clothing and has lots of sex with one of the rubberized Mammy Nuns; Rhonda repeatedly has sex with her briefcase to get back at Harry. The end. No wonder the story of this album ended up as a featured article in Hustler.

It's hard to imagine a more vicious satire on yuppie culture than what happens on this album (that isn't to say it's all that successful, but it sure is intense). This album drew a lot of complaints for having excessive racist overtones, but I can't buy that; Willis' depiction of Thing Fish was little more than a faithful imitation of the Kingfish character from Amos and Andy, and this album really seems to make fun of racism in much the same way the movie Blazing Saddles did a decade previous. Plus, the album has a few really brilliant lines: it's hard to choose, but I think my favorite is when Rhonda goes on the following rant: "This is SYMBOLISM, Harry! Really DEEP, INTENSE, THOUGHT-PROVOKING BROADWAY SYMBOLISM! This isn't DREAM GIRLS, Harry! This is the way it REALLY IS ..." I'm also fond of when Harry pulls out the following gem (which I think is terrible, but which is so incredibly wrong that I can't help but laugh) about how he lost his attraction towards women when they started entering the workforce: "Let's face it: that would be like f***ing a slightly more voluptuous version of somebody's father! I'm far too sensitive for such a traumatic experience!" This album is a treasure trove of attacks on society the likes of which Zappa hadn't attempted since Money, and one could probably fill up pages of analysis on its various nooks and crannies if so desired.

It's too bad, then, that I really hated listening to this album (and yes, I did make myself listen to it start to finish more than just once). It's a cool idea on paper, but it's JUST TOO MUCH. The original music content of the album is extremely low: there are only a handful of new songs, and the rest is either reworked versions (with new lyrics) of previous Zappa songs (from Zoot Allures, You Are What You Is, Ship Arriving, Tinseltown Rebellion and probably others I'm forgetting) or generic Broadway-style dialogue-driven mush. The new "actual" songs are nice - I'm particularly fond of the hilarious disco-pop/doo-wop of "He's So Gay," and "Brown Moses" has a weird sense of power in its bluesy perversion - but they're clearly not the point of the album. The point is to take the most offensive concepts possible and shove them down the listener's throat with reckless abandon, and by the 3,000th entendre I'd just had enough. What it reminds me of, painfully, is the Flo and Eddie era, back with a vengeance and voiced by a black Mr. Potato Head. Many parts of the album make me laugh, but it's a very uncomfortable, unpleasant kind of laugh, and while that's almost certainly what Zappa would have wanted, that doesn't mean I have to pretend to enjoy it at all.

If you really, Really, REALLY like Zappa the social satirist, this is probably a must, and if you're fascinated by Zappa's obsession with conceptual continuity, it might be worth listening to just to play, "Name that Zappa song!" when listening. Otherwise, though, this is an absolutely nightmarish listen. I understand that even most Zappa fanatics tend to shun this album, and it makes me shudder to think that some people might have been introduced to him through here.

Now I am as big a fan of Frank Zappa's work as anybody, but this supposed Broadway show, or parody of a Broadway show is a nearly unlistenable mess. Whatever messages Zappa was trying to convey get lost in a bizarre script that can't seem to stay on any concept, other than weird sex, for more than a minute or two. It begins with what appears to be a story of government experimentation on it's own citizens, then veers quickly through self centered yuppies, religion, sexual preference, until it just sits mired in perversion and ridicule.

I would never accuse Zappa of being a racist, but having Ike Willis sing and speak the entire album in an exaggerated "ebonic" vernacular makes the album almost an embarassment to listen to. And what may have been very funny to Zappa when writing and recording this, just falls flat in the final product.

The majority of the music is made up of previously released songs, with lyrics changed to fit the loose story of the show. Most of the new tracks are simple rhythms, with bits of singing, or spoken lines over them. The only listenable new song is Brown Moses, a gospel blues rock song featuring Johnny 'Guitar' Watson.

My guess is that in the wake of the music labelling controversy, which had Zappa testifying in the U.S. Senate, and Tipper Gore reciting sexual lyrics, Zappa just tried to create the most offensive album he could. In that he may have succeeded.