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 Frank Zappa
Cucamonga Del Fi Records Frank Zappa was a consummate smart ass. During his career, he hit religion, race, politics, the gender wars, and just about everything else people could think of to put between themselves with his smirk firmly in place. Recent compilations have covered all of this material, and even his experimental instrumental music. What they haven't covered is the music that started everything else - until now. Not until Del Fi records' Cucamonga. Not many people associate Zappa with Rhythm and Blues, but it was just this music, along with Edgar Varese, that inspired Zappa play music in the first place. He started out as a drummer, and then a guitarist, in a bunch of different R&B groups like the Black-Outs, so named because it was one of the first interracial groups around. Cucamonga finds him in his later incarnations, when he was working with anyone he could at Del Fi records in the early sixties. The newest tracks on the album were recorded in 1964 with The Rotations and Mr. Clean. Everything else is from 1963. These were productive years for Zappa, playing behind groups as a studio musician along with fellow Cucamongan Paul Buff, who headlines two of these tracks. Zappa & Co. recorded R&B tunes under the names Bobby Ray and the Ferns, the Pauls, and the Heartbreakers. This album captures all of that material. It's a real find for Zappa fans. This stuff is kicking around, but most of it id fairly difficult to find. There is very little left that could shock a fan coming from Frank Zappa, but this collection just might do it. All the songs of the fifties he parodied so well on Freak Out! are crafted with love and sung with sincerity here. "Every Time I See You" and "Cathy My Angel" would fly right in under the radar at any oldies' station, complete with softly buzzing sax, do wop harmonies, and shuffling rhythm. Still, even then, the smart ass was lurking. "How's Your Bird?" was a stunt song, of sorts, made to get Zappa on "The Steve Allen Show," on the segment of the same name. It worked, and the picture on the inside carriage is of Zappa playing the bicycle on the show. He called the piece "Cyclophony." That picture alone is worth the price of the collection. The tracks that open and close Cucamonga are related, both under the name "Bob Guy," who was a disc jockey in L.A. at the time. They could be the soundtrack to a cheap haunted house, mastered by a guy Count Floyd couldn't out-ham. Great eyebrows. This collection is definitely for fans and historians, and should be approached with care. There are no long guitar solos, political satires, or techno-jazz whammies. This is the inception of a wonderfully twisted career in raw form. Cucamonga is a great find for those of us still looking for new perspectives on an already colorful career. -Nick |
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