Frank Zappa - Thing-Fish (1984) [2CD] {1995 Ryko Remaster Complete Series}

Frank Zappa - Thing-Fish (1984) [2CD] {1995 Ryko Remaster Complete Series}

Rock / Experimental Rock / Jazz Rock / Art Rock

Of all of Frank Zappa's discography, Thing-Fish must be his most controversial, misunderstood, overlooked album. Obviously, it is not a masterpiece, but reducing it to a compilation album with a racist plot distorts the reality. First released as a three-LP set (and reissued on two CDs), this album is the "original cast recording" of a never-produced Broadway show. Working-class joes have been mutated into potato-headed, duck-mouthed creatures by a government experiment gone wrong. They put up a Broadway musical in which reality and fiction become one for two members of the audience. The main character, Thing-Fish, is played by Ike Willis. His thick caricatured Negro accent is directly taken from Amos 'n' Andy's King Fish character. Zappa's intention was not to mock African Americans, but to ridicule the way they are depicted on Broadway, mainly a white male-dominated milieu. Harry and Rhonda, the two audience members drawn into the story by force, are played by Terry Bozzio and Dale Bozzio. Harry will realize he is gay, Rhonda will turn into a briefcase fetishist. Zappa exaggerates the yuppie trends of the mid-'80s (Harry is gay for "career purposes"; Rhonda embodies the ultra-feminist) and slips into the plot concerns about the spread of AIDS being the result of governmental scientific experiments. It's crazy, offensive, barely holding together, but it sure is entertaining. To accommodate the plot, Zappa wrote a couple of new songs and re-recorded a handful of tracks from Zoot Allures, You Are What You Is, Tinsel-Town Rebellion, and Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch with new lyrics. It is definitely for the seasoned fan (the conceptual continuity clues make an integral part of the experience), but more than rehashed material. Personnel: Written-By [Book], Lyrics By, Music By, Arranged By [Arrangements], Directed By [Direction Of Characterizations], Producer [Album Production], Guitar, Synthesizer [Synclavier], Vocals [Uncredited] – Frank Zappa Bass – Arthur Barrow, Scott Thunes Double Bass [String Bass] – Jay Anderson Drums – Chad Wackerman Guitar – Steve Vai Guitar, Vocals [Owl-gonkwin-jane Cowhoon] – Ray White Keyboards – Tommy Mars Percussion – Ed Mann Piano [Broadway] – Chuck Wild Programmed By [Synclavier Programmer] – David Ocker, Steve De Furia Vocals [Brown Moses] – Johnny 'Guitar' Watson Vocals [Evil Prince] – Napoleon Murphy Brock Vocals [Harry, Mammified Evil Prince] – Terry Bozzio Vocals [Harry-as-a-boy] – Bob Harris Vocals [Rhonda] – Dale Bozzio Vocals [Thing Fish, Mammified Evil Prince] – Ike Willis tracklist: CD1 01 - Prologue 02 - The Mammy Nuns 03 - Harry & Rhonda 04 - Galoot Up-Date 05 - The 'Torchum' Never Stops 06 - That Evil Prince 07 - You Are What You Is 08 - Mudd Club 09 - The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing 10 - Clowns On Velvet 11 - Harry-As-A-Boy 12 - He's So Gay 13 - The Massive Inprove'lence 14 - Artificial Rhonda CD2 01 - The Crab-Grass Baby 02 - The White Boy Troubles 03 - No Not Now 04 - Briefcase Boogie 05 - Brown Moses 06 - Wistful Wit A Fist-Full 07 - Drop Dead 08 - Won Ton On