Touch Me There

Last updated
Touch Me There
Shankar Touch Me There.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 24, 1979
August 18, 1992 (reissue)
Recorded Advision Studios [1]
Genre Rock [2]
Length36:01
Label Zappa
Producer Frank Zappa
Shankar chronology
Touch Me There
(1979)
Who's to Know
(1980)

Touch Me There is the debut solo album by L. Shankar, released in 1979 on Zappa Records. Shankar performed acoustic and 5-string Barcus Berry electric violin.

Contents

Production

The album was produced by Frank Zappa. He also served as the album's lyricist and who co-wrote, with Shankar, the music for the tracks "Dead Girls of London" and "No More Mr. Nice Girl." Shankar composed all the other music for the album and served as arranger and orchestrator.

"Dead Girls Of London" was originally intended to be sung by Van Morrison. He was signed to Warner Bros. Records, who Zappa was in a legal dispute with at the time. Zappa was unable to release the song with Morrison's vocals, so it was re-recorded by Zappa and Ike Willis. The original version later appeared on the compilation The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAAAAAM Birthday Bundle 2011 .

Vicky Blumenthal provides the chorus on "Dead Girls Of London," "Knee-Deep In Heaters," and "No More Mr. Nice Girl," while Jenny Lautrec sings the lyrics to "Touch Me There," and Shankar himself sings the lyrics to the album's final track, "Knee-Deep In Heaters."

"Dead Girls of London" was released as a 12" maxi single on September 24, 1979.

Release history

The album was released on Zappa Records in 1979, and was reissued on CD by Barking Pumpkin Records in 1992. It was released on iTunes in 2012.

The original album is credited to "L. Shankar", but on CD and iTunes, he is credited as "Shankar".

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

AllMusic writer Ken Dryden called the album "uneven but worthwhile". [2]

Track listing

Original vinyl release

(Zappa Records, 1979)

Side One:

  1. Dead Girls Of London (L. Shankar: Music, Frank Zappa: Lyrics, music) 5:23
  2. Windy Morning (Shankar: Music) 3:57
  3. Knee Deep in Heaters (Shankar: Music, F. Zappa: Lyrics) 5:38
  4. Little Stinker (Shankar: Music) 3:20

Side Two:

  1. Darlene (Shankar: Music) 2:56
  2. Touch Me There (Shankar: Music, F. Zappa: Lyrics) 3:03
  3. No More Mr. Nice Girl (Shankar, F. Zappa) 8:16
  4. Love Gone Away (Shankar: Music) 3:33

CD reissue

(Barking Pumpkin Records, 1992)

  1. Dead Girls Of London (L. Shankar: Music, Frank Zappa: Lyrics, music) 5:23
  2. Little Stinker (Shankar: Music) 3:20
  3. Touch Me There (Shankar: Music, F. Zappa: Lyrics) 3:03
  4. No More Mr. Nice Girl (Shankar, F. Zappa) 8:16
  5. Love Gone Away (Shankar: Music) 3:33
  6. Darlene (Shankar: Music) 2:56
  7. Windy Morning (Shankar: Music) 3:57
  8. Knee-Deep in Heaters (Shankar: Music, F. Zappa: Lyrics) 5:38

Personnel

Production

Related Research Articles

<i>Some Time in New York City</i> 1972 album by John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephants Memory and the Invisible Strings

Some Time in New York City is a part-studio, part-live double album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono as Plastic Ono Band that included backing by the American rock band Elephant's Memory. Released in June 1972 in the US and in September 1972 in the UK on Apple Records, it is the third album to bear Lennon's name since he left the Beatles, and his fourth with Ono. Like Lennon's previous solo albums, it was co-produced by Lennon, Ono and Phil Spector. The album's agitprop lyrics are politically charged compared to its predecessors, addressing political and social issues and topics such as sexism, incarceration, colonialism, and racism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Cuccurullo</span> American musician, singer, songwriter and former body builder

Warren Bruce Cuccurullo is an American musician, singer-songwriter, restaurant owner and former body builder who first worked with Frank Zappa during the 1970s. He was also a founding member of Missing Persons in the 1980s. In 1986 Cuccurullo joined Duran Duran, becoming a long-term member of the band until 2001. In 2022, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Duran Duran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L. Shankar</span> Indian violinist, singer and composer

Lakshminarayana Shankar, better known as L. Shankar, Shankar and Shenkar, is an Indian violinist, singer and composer.

<i>Jazz</i> (Queen album) 1978 studio album by Queen

Jazz is the seventh studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 10 November 1978 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the album artwork was suggested by Roger Taylor, who previously saw a similar design painted on the Berlin Wall. The album's varying musical styles were alternately praised and criticised. It reached number two in the UK Albums Chart and number six on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart.

<i>Apostrophe ()</i> Album by Frank Zappa

Apostrophe (') is the sixth solo album and eighteenth in total by Frank Zappa, released in March 1974 in both stereo and quadraphonic formats. An edited version of its lead-off track, "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow", was the first of Zappa's three Billboard Top 100 hits, ultimately peaking at number 86. The album itself became the biggest commercial success of Zappa's career, reaching number 10 on the US Billboard 200.

<i>Cruising with Ruben & the Jets</i> 1968 studio album by the Mothers of Invention

Cruising with Ruben & the Jets is the fourth album by the Mothers of Invention, and fifth overall by Frank Zappa, released under the alias Ruben and the Jets. Released on December 2, 1968 on Bizarre and Verve Records with distribution by MGM Records, it is a concept album, influenced by 1950s doo-wop and rock and roll. The album's concept deals with a fictitious Chicano doo-wop band called Ruben & the Jets, represented by the cover illustration by Cal Schenkel, which depicts the Mothers of Invention as anthropomorphic dogs. It was conceived as part of a project called No Commercial Potential, which produced three other albums: Lumpy Gravy, We're Only in It for the Money and Uncle Meat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Mothers of Invention</span> American rock band

The Mothers of Invention was an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows.

<i>Thing-Fish</i> 1984 studio album by Frank Zappa

Thing-Fish is an album by Frank Zappa, originally released as a triple album box set on Barking Pumpkin Records in 1984. It was billed as a cast recording for a proposed musical of the same name, which was ultimately not produced by Zappa, but later performed partially in 2003, ten years after his death.

<i>Broadway the Hard Way</i> 1988 live album by Frank Zappa

Broadway the Hard Way is a live album by American musician Frank Zappa recorded at various performances along his 1988 world tour. It was first released as a 9-track vinyl album through Zappa's label Barking Pumpkin Records in October 1988, and subsequently as a 17-track CD through Rykodisc in 1989.

49ers were an Italian house and Eurodance act, featuring producers and DJs Gianfranco Bortolotti, Luca Cittadini, Diego Leoni and Pieradis Rossini with vocalist Ann-Marie Smith. They were named after the San Francisco 49ers American football team, and because former vocalist Dawn Mitchell was the 49th vocalist to audition.

<i>You Cant Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6</i> 1992 live album by Frank Zappa

You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 is the last of six double-disc collection volumes of live performances by Frank Zappa recorded between 1970 and 1988. All of the material on Disc one has a sexual theme. Zappa used the monologue in "Is That Guy Kidding or What?", to ridicule Peter Frampton's album I'm in You with its double entendre title and pop pretensions. Disc two includes performances from Zappa's shows between 1976 and 1981 at the Palladium in New York City, as well as material like "The Illinois Enema Bandit" and "Strictly Genteel" that he frequently used as closing songs at concerts. It was released on October 23, 1992, under the label Rykodisc.

<i>Halloween</i> (Frank Zappa album) 2003 live album by Frank Zappa

Halloween is a live album by Frank Zappa, released in DVD-Audio format by Vaulternative Records in 2003. It features recordings compiled from various shows at The Palladium, New York City in late October 1978—including a Halloween show on October 31—along with some video content from the same period.

<i>Beat the Boots! II</i> 1992 box set by Frank Zappa

Beat the Boots! II is a box set by Frank Zappa and a follow-up to the 1991 box set of the same name. Released in 1992 through Rhino Entertainment, the set contains legal reissues of seven bootleg recordings made between 1968 and 1978 and originally distributed illegally prior to this official release. As with the previous box set, no alterations were made to the audio contents or covers of the original bootlegs, reproducing the exact contents and packaging of the bootleg albums.

<i>200 Motels</i> (soundtrack) 1971 soundtrack album by Frank Zappa

The 200 Motels soundtrack to Frank Zappa's film 200 Motels was released by United Artists Records in 1971. Like the film, the album covers a loose storyline about The Mothers of Invention going crazy in the small town of Centerville and bassist Jeff quitting the group, as did his real life counterpart, Jeff Simmons, who left the group before the film began shooting and was replaced by actor Martin Lickert for the film.

<i>The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAA Birthday Bundle</i> 2006 compilation album by Frank Zappa

The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAA Birthday Bundle was released as a digital download on iTunes on December 15, 2006. It consists of five previously unreleased tracks performed by Frank Zappa, and six new tracks featuring the Zappa family.

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>Alive Again</i> (Matt Maher album) 2009 studio album by Matt Maher

Alive Again is the second studio album by contemporary Christian musician Matt Maher, released on September 22, 2009. It is his second album with Essential Records. It reached #6 on the Billboard Christian albums chart, and reached #128 on the Billboard 200. The single "Alive Again" became the top selling Christian and Gospel single on iTunes Rewind. The song "Hold Us Together" was the No. 1 K-LOVE song of 2010.

<i>The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAAAAAM Birthday Bundle 2011</i> 2011 compilation album by Frank Zappa

The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAAAAAM Birthday Bundle 2011 is a compilation album released as a digital download through the Zappa Family Trust on Frank Zappa's 71st Birthday, December 21, 2011. It features both recordings by Zappa himself, as well as various covers of his material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sofa (Frank Zappa song)</span> 1975 single by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention

"Sofa" is a composition by American musician Frank Zappa, released in 1975 on One Size Fits All. In 1993, the year of Zappa's death, Steve Vai covered "Sofa" for Zappa's tribute album Zappa's Universe. The cover won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1994. This was Vai's first of three Grammies.

"I Have Been in You", by Frank Zappa, is the opening song on the 1979 album Sheik Yerbouti. Taking the structure of a love song pastiche, Zappa used the composition to ridicule Peter Frampton's 1977 album and single I'm in You. Zappa's parody was directed at Frampton's change from the earnest musician to teen pop idol, replete with bare chested album cover, and syrupy love ballads. The song is in the same vein as the Mothers of Invention's lampooning of the Beatles with We're Only in It for the Money.

References

  1. "L. Shankar - Touch Me There". Globalia.net. 1979. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  2. 1 2 3 AllMusic review
  3. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 177. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.