21 Apples SpotLate On The Zappa Party Pt 2.

[Yngve J. Chapleen]

Does the apple fall far from the tree?

Stick around, we'll figure it out.

     Being a child of a genius like Frank Zappa must have some privileges as well as some encumbrances. The pros are; you have the genes, great musicians will stop by to give you a lesson like Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai and you get to record your own songs at early ages. The biggest con is, the expectation. The shoe is certainly huge to fill, so do you try to wear it, or would you go for a different pair?

     Dweezil Zappa decided to experiment. There are the genes which you can't just switch off, but also a desire to be judged on your own merit. For that end, Dweezil did wrote few weird and funny songs, but mostly he was performing straight Rock. Another thing I noticed (and it's here for you to agree or disagree) is that he evolved with each new project. We are sampling his first 3 albums, since they are mostly vocal oriented as opposed to his recent works where he switched to perform mostly instrumentals.

click on the album cover to listen
1. DWEEZIL ZAPPA - I Want A Yacht
from "Havin' A Bad Day" CD ℗ 1986

Still in his teenage years, the lyrics are a dead give away. Not much of the weird/funny stuff here, except for I Want A Yaht, with guest appearance from Bobcat Goldthwait (Police Academy).

2. DWEEZIL ZAPPA - Shameless
from "My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama..." CD ℗ 1987

His second CD was all about "regular" songs. Only the title track had some Frank weirdness, but that's because the song was written by Frank and the version here is merely a cover. Therefor, I had to chose something else. It's the song I like the most on this CD: Shameless. If you imagine the other Frank (Gallagher) in the main role for the music video, it's funny... I suppose.

3. DWEEZIL ZAPPA - Stayin' Alive
4. DWEEZIL ZAPPA - Return Of The Son Of Shoogagoogagunga
from "Confessions" CD ℗ 1991

The third album comes the closest to what his dad was doing. Lots of humor and little bit of weirdness. The highlight of the CD is the Bee Gees cover Stayin' Alive, sung by Donny Osmond. Not a usual suspect to be covered by a Rock artist, but works for me. The guitar solo... or more precisely... solos are in order of appearance: Dweezil, Zakk Wylde (Ozzy), Steve Lukather (Toto), Warren DeMartini (Ratt), Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme) and Tim Pierce (just about everyone). The album closes in shenanigans or should I say in Shoogagoogagunga, with Nuno Bettencourt.

5. DWEEZIL ZAPPA - You Can't Judge A Girl By The Panties She Wears (Live)
from "Stayin' Alive" CD-EP ℗ 1991

And the last song here is going to be the one that only appears on the Stayin' Alive CD single.

For me, although in a restrained fashion, Dweezil Zappa is his Father's son. What's your opinion?

Finally getting around to listen to, (for the first time) some music I've been putting aside (for years). Including, things from the past I recently discovered, projects I previously had, but replaced with a newly remastered version, or those simple cases, were my last years order didn't arrive on time.

[Jon]

I have those two middle albums plus a couple others not featured here. Sadly, there's a couple folks that didn't like what was posted off his last album a couple years ago so I decided not to post anything else from DZ until they grew up. However, I think Stayin' Alive might have been posted years ago when we did cover songs/albums in April. The fourth track is so juvenile that's it awesome. There's also a killer cover of the Grinch song on Automatic that's a must-hear. His first and second albums are hard to come by at a decent price, but I managed to get the second one for around $25 somew time ago. Yeah, he quirky but not as quirky as Frank. He's still fun, though. 

[Yngve J. Chapleen]

That explains the response to these Zappa Parties I posted, or the lack of it, to be correct.

Well, people like what they like, I can't change that. Shame, since Dweezil's newer albums are really approaching his Father's talent, but if Frank isn't very popular here (didn't pass through my HOF nominations) then what chance does his son have?

Funny you mention it, I had his first CD in my hand about the time it came out, but with limited financial abilities I had to put it back on the shelf, and ended up buying I believe Steve Vai's Flex-Able instead. Partly because I thought it's going to be harder to find Vai at later days, but it ended up being the opposite. Steve Vai you can find. However Dweezil doesn't look like he is putting out his old material again. 

I had to pay for the first CD double what it would have cost me at the earlier date, but still only a fraction of the price they command now. Picked up his second CD from a Sale bin and ever since I'm buying his CD's when they come out, just so I don't have to hunt for them.

Two interesting things (I think)

One: I ordered his very first 7" Vinyl My Mother Is A Space Cadet on line and received it broken in half. The merchant was nice enough to fully reimburse me, but that is pretty much the only thing I don't have from him. Apparently Eddie Van Halen was involved in the project and Dweezil was just a kid at the time.

Two: I read in 1991 a newspaper article about Dweezil where he first mentioned a huge project he was doing and it stalled, but I have hopes it will be released one day. The project is called "What The Hell Was I Thinking? and here is the quote I found on the internet about it:

This yet-to-be-released album features “over 30 guest guitarists on one continuous 75 minute piece of music spanning infinite stylistic backgrounds…all different types of rock, jazz, country, classical, ethnic musics and acoustic experiments morphed together in an audio movie environment.” The album was originally slated for September ’96, but has apparently been held up.

This would be interesting to come to fruition, since some of those artists involved in the project are not among living anymore.