THE MAN FROM UTOPIA: RECITATIVES

On "The man from Utopia" (1983) Zappa experimented with improvised recitatives with a melody directly derived from a spoken text, unrelated to scales. Two such live improvisations were included. Steve Vai was asked to score them out to make a guitar overdub along Zappa's melody possible. Beneath are some bars from "The jazz discharge party hats".

The jazz discharge party hats, 3:11 till 3:18 (midi file)

The jazz discharge party hats, 3:11 till 3:18, melody (notes).

A studio recorded recitative is "The radio is broken", that is partially improvised, partially prescribed. The way the vocalists interact works out well. Its general structure goes as:

0:00-1:01 Block I with free bass lines.
1:01-1:25 Intermezzo figure I.
1:25-2:22 Block II with keyboard/bass riff.
2:22-2:46 Intermezzo figure I.
2:46-3:49 Block III with bass/synthesizer riff.
3:49-4:01 Intermezzo figure II.
4:01-5:29 Block IV with free bass lines as in block I.
5:29-5:54 Intermezzo figure I and coda.

The radio is broken, 1:07-1:34 (midi file).

The radio is broken, 1:07-1:34 (transcription).

The example contains the 1st intermezzo figure - a fast guitar riff in 16/32 subdivided as 5+5+6 - and the beginning of block II. Transcribing forces you to listen to the details and in this case it appeared I always underestimated this piece.
The speach influence was transferred to the other songs with lyrics by stressing Zappa's voice. In combination with the flatness of some of the themes, this gave the album an air of coldness. Especially "Stick together", with a slow and simple reggae tune repeated for three minutes, worked estranging for myself.
This effect was partially undone in the CD remix, where the other instruments were given more space. In "Stick together" vocals by Ike Willis were added, giving it more colour. Together with the three good instrumentals, "The man from Utopia" has become a bit defrosted.

One of the three instrumentals, "Tink walks amok", deals with varying bass motifs. Below is the opening with the basic motif in 11/16, interupted by one bar in 4/4. It has two bass lines that complete each other. One is a bass guitar, slapping the accentuated notes and picking the others. The other is a double-channeled synthesizer bass.

Tink walks amok, opening (midi file)

Tink walks amok, opening (transcription).