On August 27th, Transparent hosted a listening party for the premiere of Bob Ludwig’s new master of Frank Zappa’s Sheik Yerbouti. Bull Moose Music’s Chris Brown organized the party which was open to a select group of contest winners. There could be no greater first listen to Frank Zappa’s Sheik Yerbouti than in Transparent’s state of the art listening room with legendary mastering engineer Bob Ludwig’s recounting of his original sessions at MasterDisk with Frank Zappa.
To sum up the experience with a phrase, it blew my mind. This album had all the traits that shoot straight to my heart: incredible sound, diligent composition, sarcasm, and ripping guitar solos. I was amazed and delighted to learn that this album used takes from live shows, many of them as basic tracks. There are incredible examples of virtuoso musical improvisation on the album, notably the epic live guitar solo in ‘Rat Tomago’ and the uncanny pairing of bass and drums in ‘Rubber Shirt’.
Zappa’s satirical and parodying lyrics added the crowning touches to the genius of his musical production on the album. The dichotomy of such silly, sometimes perverse lyrics joined with highly evolved music and musicianship is unmistakenly Frank. The album flowed with rock music that defies convention. I have never laughed so hard or have never been so musically awestruck by an album before. I will now venture on my journey through his prolific career.
by Katie Gilchrest
Nice review
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