Orchestral Favorites

Last updated
Orchestral Favorites
Orchestral Favorites.jpg
Cover art designed by Gary Panter
Live album by
ReleasedMay 4, 1979
RecordedSeptember 17–19, 1975
Venue Royce Hall, UCLA
Length33:55 LP
151:22 40th Anniversary 3CD
Label DiscReet
Producer Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa chronology
Sheik Yerbouti
(1979)
Orchestral Favorites
(1979)
Joe's Garage
(1979)
Alternative cover
Orchestral Favorites 40.jpeg
40th anniversary deluxe edition

Orchestral Favorites is an album by Frank Zappa, released in May 1979 on his own DiscReet Records label. [1] The album is entirely instrumental and features music performed by the 37-piece Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra. It reached No .168 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States.

Contents

Recording sessions

The recordings were sourced from performances recorded September 17–19, 1975 at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus with conductor Michael Zearott. There were two nights of live concert performances and an additional day of recording sessions without the audience.

Strictly Genteel was heard earlier as part of the 200 Motels film and soundtrack album in 1971. Bogus Pomp is also made up of themes that were used in 200 Motels. The album contains a new arrangement of Duke of Prunes, originally on the 1967 album Absolutely Free . There are no overdubs on the album other than Zappa's electric guitar solo, which he later added to this track. [2] According to Zappa, he funded the entire production cost of about $200,000 from his own pocket. [3]

History

An early version of the album titled Six Things was cut as a demo acetate disc at Kendun Recorders in Burbank, California, in April 1976. This was a different edit which included Re-Gyptian Strut and Music For Guitar & Low Budget Orch, which were later cut from the album. [4] The same year Zappa negotiated a distribution deal for an orchestral album with Columbia Masterworks, but the deal fell through when Columbia did not agree to Zappa's terms. [5] Zappa also played a demo disc of an unreleased orchestral album in 1976, according to biographer Barry Miles. [6]

In May 1976 Zappa's relationship with manager and business partner Herb Cohen ended in litigation. Zappa and Cohen's company DiscReet Records was distributed by Warner Bros. Records. At this point Zappa was still contracted to deliver four more albums to Warner for release on Discreet.

In March 1977 Zappa delivered master tapes for all four albums to Warner to fulfill this contract. [3] Zappa did not receive payment from Warner upon delivery of the tapes, which was a contract violation. [2] In a 1978 radio interview Zappa listed the four albums delivered to Warner and called this album by the title Zappa Orchestral Favorites. [7]

During a long legal battle Warner eventually released four Zappa albums on Discreet during 1978 and 1979: Zappa In New York , Studio Tan , Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites. (Since Zappa In New York was configured as a two-LP set, the complete four individual album collection actually contains a total of five full-length LPs.)

Much of the material from these four albums was also edited by Zappa into a four-LP box set called Läther . Zappa announced this album in a mid September 1977 interview where he described it as his "current album". [8] Three tracks from Orchestral Favorites also were included in Läther: "Pedro's Dowry", "Naval Aviation in Art?", and "Duke of Prunes" (titled there as "The Duke of Orchestral Prunes".)

Zappa negotiated a distribution deal with Phonogram Inc. to release Läther as the first release on the Zappa Records label. The album was scheduled for a Halloween October 31, 1977 release date. But Warner claimed ownership of the material and threatened legal action, forcing Zappa to shelve the project. [9]

As Zappa had delivered only the tapes to Warner, Orchestral Favorites was released in May 1979 with no musician or music publishing credits. [10] Warner also commissioned sleeve art by cartoonist Gary Panter, which was not approved by Zappa. The album went out of print when the Warner/Discreet distribution agreement ended in 1982.

CD editions

Zappa chose to issue Orchestral Favorites on Compact Disc on his Barking Pumpkin label in 1991 with Panter's original artwork and added credits. It marked the first time the album was issued with Zappa's authorization. [11] This edition has the stereo orientation of the left and right channels switched from the original release. This CD was reissued in 1995 by Rykodisc and at that time Panter provided additional art.

The Läther album was released on CD in 1996 after Zappa's death.

In 2012 Orchestral Favorites was reissued by the Zappa Records label. Despite new packaging the content is the same as previous CD releases. The 40th Anniversary Edition, released in 2019 uses the original stereo orientation as the 1979 LP. This version also contains two discs of previously unreleased bonus material from the 1975 sessions.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [12]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [14]

The Gazette wrote that "the big arrangements here are in an imaginative melding of 20th century classical music such as Stravinsky, the wacky kitchen sink music of Spike Jones and the electric entanglements of Jimi Hendrix." [15]

Track listing

All tracks written, composed and arranged by Frank Zappa.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Strictly Genteel"7:04
2."Pedro's Dowry"7:42
3."Naval Aviation in Art"1:20
Total length:16:06
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Duke of Prunes"4:20
2."Bogus Pomp"13:29
Total length:17:49

40th Anniversary Track Listing

Disc 1 - 40th Anniversary Remaster
No.TitleLength
1."Strictly Genteel"7:03
2."Pedro's Dowry"7:40
3."Naval Aviation In Art?"1:21
4."Duke Of Prunes"4:19
5."Bogus Pomp"13:30
6."Strictly Genteel (Keyboard Od Version)"7:16
Total length:41:09
Disc 2 - The Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra - Live At Royce Hall, September 18th, 1975
No.TitleLength
1."Show Start/Bogus Pomp Explained"6:28
2."Bogus Pomp"15:01
3."Revised Music for Low-Budget Symphony Orchestra"6:54
4."The Story Of Pedro's Dowry"2:10
5."Pedro's Dowry"8:08
6."The Story Of Rollo"3:38
7."Rollo"7:00
Total length:49:19
Disc 3 - The Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra - Live At Royce Hall, September 18th, 1975
No.TitleLength
1."Black Napkins Instructions"4:34
2."Black Napkins"7:30
3."Dog/Meat"5:02
4."The Players"1:07
5."Naval Aviation In Art?"2:05
6.""Another Weirdo Number""1:04
7."Lumpy Gravy (Extract)/Improvisation"7:01
8."Evening At The Hermitage"3:23
9.""A Special Guest Artist""0:43
10."Duke Of Prunes"5:40
11.""Absolutely Disgusting""1:43
12."The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary"13:39
13."Strictly Genteel"7:23
Total length:60:54

Personnel

Charts

Album Billboard (United States)

YearChartPosition
1979 Billboard 200 168 [16]
Chart (2019)Peak
position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [17] 48
Scottish Albums (OCC) [18] 59
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [19] 77

Related Research Articles

<i>Uncle Meat</i> 1969 studio album with live elements by the Mothers of Invention

Uncle Meat is the sixth album by the Mothers of Invention, and seventh overall by Frank Zappa, released as a double album in 1969. Uncle Meat was originally developed as a part of No Commercial Potential, a project which spawned three other albums sharing a conceptual connection: We're Only in It for the Money, Lumpy Gravy and Cruising with Ruben & the Jets.

<i>Waka/Jawaka</i> 1972 studio album by Frank Zappa

Waka/Jawaka is the fourth solo album, fifteenth album counting the work of his band the Mothers of Invention, by Frank Zappa, released in July 1972. The album is the jazz-influenced precursor to The Grand Wazoo, and as the front cover indicates, a sequel of sorts to 1969's Hot Rats. According to Zappa, the title "is something that showed up on a ouija board at one time."

<i>Over-Nite Sensation</i> 1973 studio album by The Mothers

Over-Nite Sensation is the twelfth album by The Mothers of Invention, and the seventeenth album overall by Frank Zappa, released in September 1973. It was Zappa's first album released on his DiscReet label.

<i>Quaudiophiliac</i> 2004 compilation album by Frank Zappa

Quaudiophiliac is a compilation album featuring music by Frank Zappa, released in DVD-Audio format by Barking Pumpkin Records in 2004. It compiles recordings he made while experimenting with quadraphonic, or four-channel, sound in the 1970s. Zappa prepared quadraphonic mixes of a number of his 1970s albums, with both Over-Nite Sensation (1973) and Apostrophe (') (1974) being released in discrete quadraphonic on Zappa's DiscReet Records label.

<i>The Yellow Shark</i> 1993 live album by Frank Zappa and Ensemble Modern

The Yellow Shark is an album of orchestral music by American musician Frank Zappa. Released in November 1993, it was the last album Zappa released in his lifetime, almost exactly a month before he died of the cancer from which he had suffered for several years. It features live recordings from the Ensemble Modern's 1992 performances of Zappa's compositions. In the album's notes, Zappa describes The Yellow Shark as one of the most fulfilling projects of his career, and as the best representation of his orchestral works.

<i>One Size Fits All</i> (Frank Zappa album) 1975 studio album with live elements by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

One Size Fits All is the fourteenth album by the Mothers of Invention, and the twentieth overall album by Frank Zappa, released in June 1975. The album reached #26 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart in the United States in August 1975.

<i>Zoot Allures</i> 1976 studio album by Frank Zappa

Zoot Allures is the 22nd album by the American rock musician Frank Zappa, released in October 1976 and his only release on the Warner Bros. Records label. Due to a lawsuit with his former manager, Herb Cohen, Zappa's recording contract was temporarily reassigned from DiscReet Records to Warner Bros.

<i>Sleep Dirt</i> 1979 studio album by Frank Zappa

Sleep Dirt is an album by Frank Zappa, released in January 1979 on his own DiscReet Records label, distributed by Warner Bros. Records. It reached No. 175 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States.

<i>Läther</i> 1996 studio album by Frank Zappa

Läther is the sixty-fifth official album by Frank Zappa. It was released posthumously as a three-CD set on Rykodisc in 1996. The album's title is derived from bits of comic dialog that link the songs. Zappa also explained that the name is a joke, based on "common bastardized pronunciation of Germanic syllables by the Swiss."

<i>Zappa in New York</i> 1978 live album by Frank Zappa

Zappa in New York is a double live album by Frank Zappa released on his own DiscReet Records label, distributed by Warner Bros. Records. It was recorded in December 1976 at a series of concerts at the Palladium in New York City.

<i>Studio Tan</i> 1978 studio album by Frank Zappa

Studio Tan is an album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in September 1978 on his own DiscReet Records label, distribued by Warner Bros Records. It reached No. 147 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the United States.

The Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra was a group of Hollywood session musicians organized by Frank Zappa in 1967 to record music for his first solo album Lumpy Gravy. Some of these musicians are thought to have worked together in various combinations under the leadership of Ken Shroyer as far back as 1959. However, it was Zappa who gave them the name several years later.

DiscReet Records, self-identified simply as DiscReet, was a record label founded by Frank Zappa and his then business partner and manager Herb Cohen. The name of the label was a pun derived from disc and the Compatible Discrete 4 process of encoding quadraphonic sound signals into phonograph records.

<i>Wazoo</i> (album) 2007 live album by Frank Zappa

Wazoo is a live album by Frank Zappa, posthumously released in October 2007 as a 2-CD set consisting of the complete concert given by "The Mothers of Invention/Hot Rats/Grand Wazoo" 20-piece big band on September 24, 1972 at the Music Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the third installment on the Vaulternative Records label that is dedicated to the posthumous release of complete Zappa concerts, following the releases of FZ:OZ (2002) and Buffalo (2007).

Zappa Records is an American record label based in Los Angeles which was founded by Frank Zappa in 1977. It was mostly inactive during the 1980s and 1990s, but was revived in 2006 by the Zappa Family Trust.

<i>One Shot Deal</i> 2008 live album by Frank Zappa

One Shot Deal is an album by Frank Zappa, posthumously released in June 2008.

<i>Old Masters</i> (box set) 1985 box set series by Frank Zappa

The Old Masters is a box set series by Frank Zappa, released in three volumes on Barking Pumpkin Records from April 1985 to December 1987, consisting of studio and live albums by Zappa and The Mothers of Invention originally released from 1966 to 1976 on other labels, as well as "Mystery Discs" which contained previously unreleased material. The graphics on all three sets was airbrush illustrated by Larry Grossman. 200 Motels was not included in the series, as it was the only Zappa/Mothers album for which Zappa was unable to secure the rights.

<i>Johnny Mathis</i> (album) 1956 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Johnny Mathis is the first studio album by vocalist Johnny Mathis that was released by Columbia Records in 1956. The subtitle A New Sound in Popular Song can be found on the back cover but not on the front of the album or the disc label; in fact, this Mathis LP has been referred to as "the jazz album".

<i>Holiday for Swing</i> 2014 studio album by Seth MacFarlane

Holiday for Swing is the second studio album and first Christmas album by American actor and singer Seth MacFarlane, released by Republic Records on September 30, 2014. It is available on CD, vinyl and as a digital download. The album is a collection of Christmas songs and contains collaborations with artists including Norah Jones and Sara Bareilles. It also features Frank Sinatra's bassist Chuck Berghofer as well as a 65-piece orchestra. The album is the follow-up to MacFarlane's Grammy-nominated 2011 debut album Music Is Better Than Words. Like Music Is Better Than Words, Holiday for Swing was produced and conducted by film and television composer Joel McNeely.

<i>No One Ever Tells You</i> 2015 studio album by Seth MacFarlane

No One Ever Tells You is the third studio album by American actor Seth MacFarlane. The album was released on September 30, 2015 through Republic Records. The album features Frank Sinatra's bassist Chuck Berghofer as well as a 65-piece orchestra. The album is the follow-up to MacFarlane's 2014 Christmas album Holiday for Swing. Like his two previous albums, No One Ever Tells You was produced and conducted by film and television composer Joel McNeely. The album earned MacFarlane a Grammy Award nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

References

  1. Selvin, Joel (20 May 1979). "Frank Zappa: Orchestral Favorites". San Francisco Examiner. p. 51.
  2. 1 2 Davis, Michael. "Record Review Interview: Frank Zappa". Record Review, April 1979. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
  3. 1 2 Rense, Rip. "Frank Zappa – A Would-be Chemist Who Turned to Music". The Valley News, December 30, 1977. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  4. "FRANK ZAPPA Lather / Six Things 1976 6-Song 12" Metal Acetate LP". Popsike.com. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
  5. Hopkins, Scott. "The Frankness of Zappa". Music Media, December, 1976. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  6. Zappa: A Biography, by Barry Miles, published 2005
  7. "CFNY, Toronto, October 2, 1978".
  8. John D'Agostino, "Zäppa (pronounced Zappa)", San Diego Reader, 15 September 1977, p26
  9. Miles, 2004, Frank Zappa, p. 261.
  10. FZ vs. Warner Brs. Story or Lather/Laether/Leather, Zappa in New York, Arf.ru
  11. "Biffy the Elephant Shrew looks at Läther".
  12. Ruhlmann, William. "Orchestral Favorites – Frank Zappa". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  13. MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1996. p. 758.
  14. The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 799.
  15. Rodriguez, Juan (19 May 1979). "Zappa lumbers in style". The Gazette. p. 32.
  16. "Charts and Awards for Orchestral Favorites". AllMusic . Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  17. "Offiziellecharts.de – Frank Zappa – Orchestral Favorites" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  18. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  19. "Swisscharts.com – Frank Zappa – Orchestral Favorites". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 11, 2019.