{"id":5448,"date":"2022-05-05T19:09:04","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T19:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=5448"},"modified":"2024-02-08T09:39:52","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T09:39:52","slug":"book-review-the-hot-rats-book-zappa-gubbins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=5448","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REViEW: The Hot Rats Book, Zappa & Gubbins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This terrific little book arrived today. One of the things that strikes me most about it, and that\u2019s a very pleasing thing, is how unpretentious it is. Zappa\u2019s whole weird schtick can sometimes obscure the sincerity and ordinary decency of a man striving to make art without boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So a key theme – not especially trumpeted by either Frank or this book – is freedom. Also celebrated are such things as the music studio as alchemical wonderland, and a serious work ethic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s strange for me, because I\u2019m simultaneously both a Zappa freak, and totally not<\/em> a Zappa freak. He\u2019s done a lot, musically and otherwise, that doesn\u2019t really do anything for me. But then he\u2019s also done a lot that does<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When Gubbins met Zappa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And, rather serendipitously, Hot Rats <\/em>is one of his albums I like best. Especially musically. I mean, Joe\u2019s Garage <\/em>is a masterpiece, but it is so as much for its entire existence, and it\u2019s psychic architecture (and the humour and pathos of it all) as for the music. With Hot Rats<\/em> I feel a much more \u2018pure music\u2019 vibe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think\/feel I\u2019ve always preferred the jazz side of Zappa to the \u2018classical\u2019. And on Hot Rats <\/em>he fuses jazz improv with some of his more dense writing in a way I totally dig. It\u2019s also interesting to hear how it was listening to some jazz – specifically Archie Shepp soloing – that gave birth to the album\u2019s title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The textual side of the book is mostly a transcription of a chat between Ahmet Zappa and Bill Gubbins, whose photos of some of the Hot Rats <\/em>sessions (and a bit more besides) are the core attraction of this book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dick Kunc, Zappa, and Ian Underwood, at work.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If I were to be super pernickity, I might lament the facts that Gubbins doesn\u2019t have pics of the Van Vliet\/Bill Harklerod visit, or that his time in the studio with Frank only covers a latter stage – overdubs and mix-down period – of proceedings. I\u2019d have loved to have seen photos of the rhythm section tracking sessions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But despite these lacunae, this is a wonderful thing. And a very beautiful and candid portrait of Frank, the artist, at work. As already alluded to, there\u2019s a bit more, inc photos from what turned out to be the final Mothers gig in the US, and sundry other moments around the whole trip to LA that a young and green Gubbins made, way back in \u201869.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s so much to commend this to the lover of art, music and modern culture. But I guess it\u2019s also very much a niche \u2018Zappa fan\u2019 thing, as well? I love all the studio shots, with all those elements of the recording world, from the architecture to the gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Zappa on bass, in the control room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not big on hero worship. But I have to admit that this publication can feel a bit cloyingly reverential. But then again, Zappa (and Ahmet and Bill G, for that matter) do come across very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intriguingly, it was during these Hot Rats<\/em> sessions that Zappa disbanded the Mothers. And the fall out from that, whilst less apparent than one might anticipate, does leech into this otherwise very positive celebration of Zappa and his art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I think I\u2019ll leave it there, for now. In conclusion: fantastic, and highly recommended. Take a trip back in time, and dig the sights and sounds of the Zappa-verse, Hot Rats <\/em>style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This terrific little book arrived today. One of the things that strikes me most about it, and that\u2019s a very pleasing thing, is how unpretentious it is. Zappa\u2019s whole weird schtick can sometimes obscure the sincerity and ordinary decency of a man striving to make art without boundaries. So a key theme – not especially … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “BOOK REViEW: The Hot Rats Book, Zappa & Gubbins”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-1pS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5448"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5448"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11525,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5448\/revisions\/11525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}