Music
The first half of the album loosely follows a continuing theme. "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" and "Nanook Rubs It" tell of a dream the singer had where he saw himself as an Eskimo named Nanook. It continues into "St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast",which Zappa said was inspired by a television commercial for Imperial margarine. [4]
As was the case with many of Zappa's albums,Apostrophe (') was a melange of archival and recent recordings;side one of Apostrophe (') and the whole Over-Nite Sensation album (released as the immediate predecessor to Apostrophe (') in 1973) were recorded simultaneously during the spring of 1973. The tracks on side two originate from various 1972 sessions with overdubs recorded in 1973 and 1974,except for "Excentrifugal Forz",where the drum track (played by Johnny Guerin) originally came from the Hot Rats sessions in 1969 (along with the bass and drum tracks for "Lemme Take You to the Beach" on Studio Tan (1978) and Läther (1996),although in the case of "Excentrifugal Forz" this is not actually noted in either the album liner notes or official correspondence), [5] [6] [7] and "Stinkfoot",where the basic track,possibly originally known as "The Bass &Drums Song", [8] dates from the Chunga's Revenge sessions in early 1970 as the backing track to a cover of Lightnin' Slim's "I'm A Rolling Stone". [9]
"Apostrophe'" is an instrumental featuring a very fuzzed bass part by Jack Bruce from Cream,and with session drummer Jim Gordon,who was on tour with Zappa's band at the time of the session in November 1972. Zappa stated of Bruce in one interview,"Well,that was just a jam thing that happened because he was a friend of (drummer) Jim Gordon. I found it very difficult to play with him;he's too busy. He doesn't really want to play the bass in terms of root functions;I think he has other things on his mind. But that's the way jam sessions go." [10]
Release and reception
Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote in his review:"Disillusioned acolytes are complaining that he's retreated,which means he's finally made top ten,but that's just his reward for professional persistence. If anything,the satire's improved a little,and the title piece—an improvisation with Jack Bruce,Jim Gordon,and rhythm guitarist Tony Duran—forays into quartet-style jazz-rock. Given Frank's distaste for 'Cosmik Debris' you'd think maybe he's come up with something earthier than Mahavishnu,but given his distaste for sex you can be sure it's more cerebral instead." [12]
Apostrophe (') and Over-Nite Sensation,recorded with the same group of musicians,are the subject of a Classic Albums series documentary from Eagle Rock Entertainment,released on DVD May 1,2007.
In July 2016,the Zappa Family Trust released a CD of alternate mixes,different takes and live versions of material from Apostrophe (') titled The Crux of the Biscuit . [15] [16] It includes early versions of "Down in De Dew",which Zappa considered for Apostrophe (') but later included on Läther.
On September 13,2024 album was re-released with new remaster,additional studio material and concert performances from 1974 on six CD and Blu-Ray Audio discs.
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
