Rheum

Look it up!

Frank Zappa released his LP Sleep Dirt on this day in 1979. He had originally envisioned the album being titled Hot Rats III, which would have been a typically Zappaesque contrarian move because even though he released his Hot Rats LP in 1969, there never was a Hot Rats II. Some rock critic somewhere (I can’t quite remember and I’m too lazy to sleuth it down right now) once described Hot Rats as a Zappa album that contains tracks even people who aren’t fans of Zappa would appreciate. As a vivid reminder of how skilled he was at creating instrumental compositions that really engage a listener, the following is one of the most popular tracks from Hot Rats.

Sinuously catchy. Uplifting, even. A certain aesthetic logic to it.

But back to the Sleep Dirt LP. In some of the tracks on that LP, Zappa achieves the same kind of — I can’t think of a more adequate word for it — grandeur that he hits with “Peaches En Regalia.” Here’s an example:

Another track, the title track, in fact, from Sleep Dirt showcases, in my humble opinion, two musicians striving to be at the top of their craft in a way that seems intimate. Not at all them being intimate with one another, mind you. (well, in a way) But intimately devoted to cooperative musical expression. This is a duet between Zappa himself (doing all the fancy slide, legato and god-knows-what-else fret work) and James Youman accompanying him until, as you can hear, Youman’s admissions that his “fingers got stuck.”

The longest track on the album (clocking in at 13:20) is “The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution.” It’s a fragile, venturing, seeking, searching instrumental. Worth checking out.

When this album was released, Zappa was embroiled in one of his many, characteristic legal battles with labels, producers, pretty much the rest of the world. But gorgeous music nonetheless. I hope you enjoy listening to these! Happy Sunday.

#30#