WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH - YCDTOSA V, DISC I: COUNTERPOINT #1 AND IMPROVISATIONS

COUNTERPOINT IN EARLIER WORK

Much of Zappa's music has it's basis in the single melodic line, nor chord progressions nor counterpoint play an important role in much of his music. When you listen for instance to "Bongo fury" (1975), the little counterpoint you can encounter are some motives played by the bass. Hardly any rules apply to Zappa's music however and when you take the little use of counterpoint as characteristic, you will also find sections showing the opposite, together enough to fill a CD with counterpoint exercises. This section focuses on the places where he is applying counterpoint and some of it's different appearances. For definition purposes: counterpoint is seen here as any kind of music where more then one more or less individual melodic line is played at the same time.

This section works in conjunction with the "The yellow shark: counterpoint #2" section, this one doing examples from Zappa's earlier work and the latter fills in the picture with pieces composed in the eighties.

1) Classical counterpoint.

Zappa mostly doesn't use classical forms as fugues and canons with imitation in the melodic lines, but sometimes imitation is applied. Take the canon set up of "What will this evening bring me this morning", from "200 Motels (1971). From 1:35 onwards a second voice is singing one bar after the first voice. Or take the little fragment between 1:07 till 1:12 from "Pound for a brown", Yellow shark version.

What will this evening bring me this morning, theme (midi file).
What will this evening bring me this morning, canon (midi file).

What will this evening bring me this morning (transcription).

2) Counterpoint including complementary harmony.

See the counterpoint #2 section for "Strictly genteel (1987)".

3) Counterpoint through multiple layers.

"The dwarf nebula and dwarf nebula processional march" from "Weasels ripped my flesh" opens with an interesting counterpoint showpiece, where several (speed up) melodies are played simultaneously in different combinations. The first four melodies are given beneath:

Dwarf Nebula (midi file).

Dwarf Nebula (transcription).

They are subsequently played in the following combinations: A-B, A-C, A-B and A-C-D. Though all melodies use the scale of A with a few alterations, their harmonic and rhythmic movements are more independent of each other, giving the melodies more individuality then in the first example. Melody A is an easy folk tune like one, opening with I 5th, V 5th and VI 5th of A. Melody D is harmonically the most exotic one, opening for instance with a 9th chord on C sharp and a chromatic passage. The combination of these two openings can't be called harmonically complementary. Melody B opens with several syncopes.

4) Counterpoint with shifting harmonies.

Harmonic independency is very explicitly present in the following example from "Sofa" from "Zappa in New York" (1978) with two part counterpoint:

Sofa, fragment (midi file).

Sofa, fragment (transcription).

Again both melodies are in the same key, and both move harmonically independently. This is accentuated by the fact that the two melodies, that both are repeated, are of unequal length, namely four and three bars. Thus the harmonic combinations we are getting keep changing all the time. See the "New brown clouds" theme in the "Studio Tan" section for another example.

5-6) Free counterpoint and counterpoint in an atonal field.

The 1974 version of the "Dog breath variations" can serve as an example of free counterpoint in earlier work. See the Uncle Meat section for a transcription. The counterpoint #2 section continues with this item with three examples from The yellow shark" and two from "Everything is healing nicely".

THE COLLECTED HISTORY AND IMPROVISATIONS OF THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION

During the spring tour of 1969 it became noticeable that Zappa was becoming to feel worn out playing with the Mothers in this form. In the press he started complaining about audiances clapping for the wrong reason and said that he felt that he was banging his head against the wall. The band was on a regular payroll and the most economic way to end the situation was to disband the group. Zappa took this step in August, but continued working with his two best skilled musicians, Ian Underwood and Art Tripp (the latter would soon join Beefheart's Magic band). It shows that he could be ruthless as it came to persuing his ideas. The story about Duke Ellington begging for an advantage in The real FZ book seems awkward, but more convincing is what he said in the press directly afterwards. Namely that it was time to work upon the material already recorded, rather than trying to keep doing the same thing over and over again. With "Hot rats" in progress he was heading for new directions with session musicians and he wanted to close the first Mothers period.
The first idea was to come up with a 12-record set, called "The collected history and improvisations of The Mothers of Invention". His record company wasn't interested, so he advertised for it, trying to sell the records individually by mail order. All had names by now, indicating that they went back to early pre-Mothers recordings. The next year however two albums from the set were regularly released, leaving ten in stock. As time progressed in the seventies he lost interest in the project, saying that his current band could do better.

Next are some compositions that have a prescribed framework, but mostly are improvisations. First are two riffs from "Didja get any onya?" over which the brass section improvises. Both riffs are in odd meters. The second one in 14/16 is also present in "Charles Ives" from "YCDTOSA Vol. V" and "The blimp" from Beefhearts "Trout mask replica" album, that Zappa produced. During the Berlin concert of 1968 the rebellious student audiance tried to climb on stage and Zappa asked Don Preston to press all keys to scare off the crowd. The incident exists on film and was presented in L.A. colleges as part of the short "Burnt weeny sandwich" movie (still to the right). Apparently Zappa liked the effect, so they could do it again during normal concerts. Don already used a rushing sound in the examples below and by clustering the keys you get the big blast of rush with feedback on "Weasels ripped my flesh". It follows upon a guitar solo that gets cut off and its shock effect never fails. "YCDTOSA Vol. V" is additional to "Weasels ripped my flesh" with a lot of experimental stuff, conversations and improvisations. "Baked-bean boogie" is Zappa himself soloing.

Didja get any onya?, opening (midi file).
Didja get any onya?, central riff (midi file).
Lumber truck solo-Weasels, transition (midi file).
Baked-bean boogie, opening (midi file).

Didja get any onya?, sections (transcription)
Lumber truck solo-Weasels, transition (transcription)
Baked-bean boogie, opening (transcription)

The chances that the original "Collected history..." set will ever be released have become about nill. The actual releases of material with the original Mothers from 1970 onwards would be differently:

- FZ albums that were part of "The collected history...":
1) Burnt weeny sandwich
2) Weasels ripped my flesh
- Other FZ albums:
3) Ahead of their time
4) YCDTOSA I: 3 tracks
5) YCDTOSA IV: 3 tracks
6) YCDTOSA V: disc I
7) The lost episodes: tracks 1-22
8) The mistery disc
- Single collections:
9) Rare meat/Cucamonga years/Cucamonga
- ZFT releases:
10) Joe's domage
11) Joe's Xmasage
12) MOFO
- Bootlegs from the Beat the boots series:
13) 'Tis the season to be jelly
14) Our man in Nirvana
15) Electric aunt Jemina
16) At the Ark

It's impossible to say what would be on the remainder of ten records. But what you can say is that the amount in minutes on official releases is about the same as what would be on the record set. And when you include the four bootlegs it by far exceeds the quantity of the "Collected history...". The sound quality of the bootlegs varies between poor and listenable, but for sixties bootlegs they are surprisingly well. "Electric aunt Jemina" is close to a normal sound quality. "The Ark" is a concert that Zappa himself recorded as well for a possible album release. These bootlegs give an opportunity to listen to an abritrary Mothers concert from the sixties as they used to be. They were full off improvisations and extensive soloing. I guess you could say that the "Collected history..." mostly has become available, but in a different form.