"Code MD2" A Frank Russell Miles Davis Tribute

Waka/Jawaka

‘Although it doesn’t happen often, whenever Frank Zappa goes about the task of purging himself of his normal ration of acrimony, contempt, bile and phlegm, he sometimes comes forth with an album that is every bit the musical experience that he always claimed he could produce. With the exception of the astonishing work he and his musicians did on Hot Rats a couple of years ago, much of Zappa’s musical output has been too malnourished to support his artistic pretensions. His excursions into jazz with the Mothers of Invention were never more than pale imitations of Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman, overlayed with effects copped from Edgar Varese, and most of his “serious” compositions contained large helpings from the glut of modern music. Originality has never been Zappa’s strong point.

Waka/Jawaka — Hot Rats, while little more than a long delayed extension of the original Hot Ratsalbum, is one of Zappa’s most enjoyable, less hypertense efforts, and while it may lack the tightness, the rock-based energy of its predecessor, it contains some of the best material he’s done in years. Waka/Jawaka may well be something of a fence-mending job by Zappa after his execrable work on 200 Motels, which has got to be one of the all-time attempts by a musician and composer to discredit himself.

The musicians brought in for Waka/Jawaka are not the stellar personalities that graced Hot Rats.Captain Beefheart and Sugarcane Harris are gone, replaced by newer faces that include Tony Duran on slide guitar, Sal Marquez on trumpets, and Don Preston on Moog and piano. They comprise a tight, disciplined group.’ An article by Rob Houghton.

Sleep Dirt

Piese precum ‘Regyptian Strut’ si ‘The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution’ sunt extrem de puternice din punct de vedere instrumental, astfel incat nico interventie vocala nu ar fi putut imbunatati experienta sonora de pe acest album.  Percutia evocatoare de pe ‘Spider of Destiny’, atacul de jazz infricosator dar lent totodata de pe ‘Flambay’, par sa contina o mentalitate comuna de a crea frumusete artistica.