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Frank Zappa - The Man from Utopia Audio CD

A fair review of the Frank Zappa "The Man from Utopia" 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: The Man from Utopia
Rating:
Release Date: 1995-05-02
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Cocaine Decisions 2: Sex 3: Tink Walks Amok 4: Radio Is Broken 5: We Are Not Alone 6: Dangerous Kitchen 7: Man from Utopia Meets Mary Lou (Medley) 8: Stick Together 9: Jazz Discharge Party Hats 10: Luigi and The Wise Guys 11: Moggio

Get The Vinyl--the CD version blows.
The scat/guitar sections, you cannot hear the guitar, whereas on the album, it's in your face. The production on this CD blows. The drums on Cocains Decisons blow out your woofer, and the album is fat.

It is a known fact that this remaster for CD was done by a reverb hungry Zappa, who was ill. He did not know what he was doing on the remaster.

Do yourself a favor. Find a good copy of the album and convert it to CD. You will know what I mean.


Different than my vinyl...again!
Of course everybody knows about some mixing differences in almost all of the catalogue, or the adding of modern bass and drums to the old tracks in Ruben & The Jets, or the added vocals on Sleep Dirt. This was the biggest surprise i got when buying the cds of lps i already have. . . all of which irritated many people. This was the last cd i bought as my spanish printed lp sounded good. For sure i was not expecting the changes in chorus and lead vocals of 'cocaine decisions', the extra organ which changed everything harmonically in 'The Dangerous Kitchen', the totally different mix in 'the radio is broken' or the extra song (Luiggi and the wise guys) which is not in my vinyl version.
Is it better? no, it is just another version of the same album. That Zappa. . . surprising till the very end!.


Without a doubt Zappa's worst and least interesting album
Humor does belong in music, too bad there's very little humor in evidence on this album. What a misfire: with few exceptions it's musically mediocre, stupid where it should be smart, has very little in the way of continuity and irritating when it's trying to be funny. On Utopia the much of the humor is silly at best and at worst annoying. The cd opener Cocaine Decisions is a mellow and not terribly interesting song about the bad decisions Hollywood and others make while on coke. Its OK, following that is the song SEX. While the rock groove is good if a little simple, the lyrics aren't. Don't expect any biting social criticism cause there ain't none to be found. The song is pointless and nothing Zappa hasn't done a thousand times before. The Man From Utopia Meets Mary Lou is an OK blues, nothing special but not bad either. Stick Together is yet another reggae song about the evils of labor unions. Whoopedeedoo! The very definition of mediocre. Frank's use of his grating sing-song "funny" voice ruins several songs starting with The Radio Is Broken. Which is a jokey song about old Sci Fi movies and their cheesiness. Sound familiar? Well it should, he'd done it MUCH better on the song Cheepnis from the essential Mothers album Roxy And Elsewhere. At least musically Radio is interesting, for the most part, and should have been an instrumental. Other "funny" speak-sing voice songs are The Dangerous Kitchen, an AWFUL pseudo jazz song on which Frank narrates a story about a dirty kitchen (so what?) while the band noodles behind him and the passable The Jazz Discharge Party Hats. Which follows the same formula as Dangerous Kitchen and concerns band members antics with groupies dirty underwear, ha ha I'm fifteen again! This is a throwback to the Flo and Eddie days, but it's somewhat amusing. In fact it might as well be called The Dangerous Kitchen Part 2 as the melody, what there is of it, and music are almost identical. To be fair both Kitchen and Jazz are (mostly) live and so were probably taken from the same source. Steve Vai overdubbed guitar parts in the studio to mimic Zappa's vocal lines which is interesting but only just. You know, If the music on these supposedly humorous songs was any good I could forgive the lyrics and failed humor, but the music (with the exception of parts of The Radio Is Broken) is as boring as the lyrics are puerile and uninteresting. Zappa obviously thinks he's being funny but I'm afraid he's the only one laughing. I saved the worst for last. Luigi & The Wise Guys is the worst song I've ever heard from Zappa. It's a doowop song, already a minus in my book, with lead falsetto vocals that are so out of tune and shrill, that it's more of an endurance test than entertainment. Definitely not for the weak! Or for those that can hear. Oh and did I mention there are no guitar solos on this recording? Not a one.

It's not all horrible. There are three worthwhile instrumentals that save this album from being a one star. We Are Not Alone, Tink Walks Amok and Moggio are interesting. But they only offer a glimpse of what Zappa is capable of, and their brevity is disappointing.

So let's recap. Bland songs, unfunny humorous songs, no continuity (the album sounds thrown together), 3 much too short instrumentals, Zappa's worst song, and no guitar. Man, two stars is being generous. .


Not one of Zappa's best, but worth 9 dollars
For FZ fans only; don't make this your first Zappa purchase or you'll probably never get by "Jazz Discharge Party Hats" or "Dangerous Kitchen", or buy anything else by him. Some good stuff mixed with some of his most offputting and annoying material.


A great album
It is original, and many of the songs are live. This album is a fantastic Zappa piece. Very funny and creative.


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.

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