Fretplay.com Frank Zappa CD reviews Frank Zappa guitar tabs Frank Zappa CD reviews Frank Zappa tabs Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch


Frank Zappa - Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch Audio CD

A fair review of the Frank Zappa "Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Frank Zappa reviews here, or go back to the Frank Zappa tabs.

Frank Zappa Band: Frank Zappa
Title: Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch
Rating:
Release Date: 1995-05-02
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: No, Not Now 2: Valley Girl 3: I Come from Nowhere 4: Drowning Witch 5: Envelopes 6: Teen-Age Prostitute

"Drowning Witch" and "Envelopes"
"Ship arriving too late. . " is one of the most broadly known Zappa albums. This is partly due to "Valley Girl's" success, which according to Frank in numerous interviews was more accidental than anything else. But what the hey? This particular song today sounds dated - at least in this reviewer's opinion - and shouldn't be the sole motivation behind buying this album. If that's all you know and like, chances are you'll be disappointed with the rest. The two, in my opinion, most relevant tracks on this album are "Drowning Witch" and "Envelopes", which are among the most complex pieces of music conceived by Frank Zappa.


Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch...
Frankly, I bought this album for the Song, "Valley Girl" which was a hit in the early 80's from Frank's daughter Moon! I had forgotten about his level of musicianship - that man had skills! Four stars!!.


Zappa got into a lot of unsuspecting teenagers' minds with this album...hehehehe
So all the teenagers who really dug the Valley Girl song actually got to listen to 5 other great Zappa tracks. One of the greatest things about this album is that, thanks to the song Valley Girl, a lot of people who would never even think about owning a Zappa album bought one. Granted, there's probably a few of them out there who played the album once, and never played it again. But they always say to themselves "what was that really long song on side two? I never heard anything like that. I can't get it out of my head! AARRGGHH!!!!" The stuff got inside their heads, and stayed there. I do rather like this album, especially the title track (the 12 minute one) and No Not Now. Envelopes is OK (I prefer the LSO version), and I do like Valley Girl. .


Zappa's best release
Frank Zappa is amazing at writing music. (of the four I have)
I can't say that I am a diehard Zappa fan, but I immensely enjoy this album.

The album:
No Not Now: Probably the worst on the album, but it is a good listen every once in a while (whenever I find the time to listen to the album all the way through). 3/5

Valley Girl: Frank Zappa's hit song. Insanely funny. I've heard that this song is where the term Valley Girl actually comes from. Wouldn't surprise me if Zappa had coined it. He was an extremely unique and influential guy. 5/5

I Come From Nowhere: The lyrics are decent (although the first stanza is excellent). The real star here is the music, which is excellent. 4. 5/5

Drowning Witch: The star of the album. The lyrics are pretty good, but again, the music is what makes the song great. 5/5

Envelopes: Zappa can really write instrumentals. This is one of his best that I've heard so far. 5/5

Teen-Age Prostitute: A decent end to the album. It's kinda cute. 4/5

An excellent album put out by Zappa. 5/5.


Metallica Ten Years Before
I always wished Zappa could have kept the sound and intensity he achieved in "Ship Arriving Too Late . . " for at least one more record.

The first song, "No Not Now" has ridiculously stupid lyrics and an excellent blues/doo-wop melody straight from "Cruising with Ruben and the Jets" welded to an infectious hardcore popping bass riff.

Valley Girl has one of the most crushing bass and guitar parts heard then or ever in semi-popular music. because moon zappa's vocal is so funny and off the wall it is easy to forget contemplating the weirdness of this song charting in the top 40 at the end of the 1970s with such a heavy and grinding musical chassis.

There is a very surfy California sound to this entire album, part in the rhythm, the guitar sound, bass sound, the drum sound, and the lyrics. In some ways the sound and attitude reminds me of California bands like Agent Orange and the Minutemen and the Dead Kennedys. It's a light and carefree sound but also deceptively serious. Because Frank Zappa was practically a southern California native, a desert rat Army brat from deep in the Mojave, I like to think that he had this sound in his skin and bones and on Ship Arriving Too Late . . . it just oozed out of his pores.

"I Come From Nowhere" has always been one of my favorite Zappa songs. It fuses some of Frank's most aggressive speed metal rhythm and solo guitar playing, an astoundingly tight rhythm section, a completely insane vocal delivery with lyrics that are as funny and disturbing as "Who Are the Brain Police?"

The opening section of Frank's guitar solo is as violent a piece of music as can be found anywhere and his guitar tone rips your head off. Patrick O'Hearn's astounding bass playing takes the song into a whole different category.

It would take nearly a decade, until Metallica, before music this intense, abrasive and highly structured found any audience.

Side two of Ship Arriving Too Late is a 17 minute medley that defies description. Typical of Frank during this period, it contains a continental plate collision of loosely improvised and difficult, highly rehearsed music all performed live, with Steve Vai all over it on some of the weirdest and hardest live guitar parts ever recorded. Scott Thunes on bass deserves huge accolades for anchoring this bizarre concoction, as does drummer Chad Wackerman. This type of stuff shouldn't work but I love it. Frank sarcastically named a bunch of live CDs "You Can't Do This on Stage Anymore" but hearing this stuff I think he was just telling the truth.




.


You can see a complete list of all Frank Zappa discography, or go back to the Frank Zappa tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

Search guitar tabs

#ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
[ Search tabs | Guitar tabs | Bass tabs |
Easy guitar tabs | Guitar solo tabs |
Acoustic guitar tabs | Guitar chords |
How to read guitar tabs ]
Forum topics
Music forums
- Bands and artists - Songwriting and lyrics - Tablature talk - Promote your band
Instrument forums
- Guitar basics - Gear & accessories - Bass guitar
Community
- The pit - Site Feedback - Reviews
[ User survey | About us | Privacy statement ]