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Apostrophe ('), 1974, Frank Zappa.
Un album ritenuto non dei migliori di Zappa da parte dei fan, ma io lo ritengo un album ottimo.
Cerchiamo di capirci di più: quale genio se non Zappa poteva fare musica simile nel 1974? E' proprio del 1974 "Apostrophe (')", precisamente è stato pubblicato il 22 aprile 1974. Apostrophe (') è stato l'album che ottenne il miglior risultato nelle classifiche americane, è la traccia di apertura "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" è il primo singolo di Zappa ad uscire, in versione allungata, annettendo parte di "Nanook Rubs it".
Ed è proprio di "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" e di "Nanook Rubs It" che andrò a parlare, tracce che insieme "St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast" e "Father O' Blivion" costituiscono una sola folle e cangiante canzone. Si parte con la lente e dissacrante "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" e la sua meravigliosa linea di basso, l'unica melodia che si mantiene lungo tutto il pezzo. La melodia tuttavia cambia quando il pezzo sfocia in "Nanook Rubs It", pezzo ancora più lento, ma non per questo non bello. Anzi, è davvero meraviglioso.
Nanook Rubs It si prolunga per 4 minuti e mezzo, per poi trasformarsi in "St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast", tramite un assolo di xilomarimba, un particolare xilofono in versione etnica, dal suono divertente e frenetico. St. Alfonzo's è forse la migliore traccia dell'album, seppur corta. E' corta, è vero, ma ti fa risvegliare dopo la sonnolente Nanook Rubs It con una velocissima melodia che continua su "Father O' Blivion", fino a diventare un folle incrocio tra samba e funky, con tanto di sintetizzatori, xilofono e un ritmo meraviglioso. Finita Father O' Blivion comincia "Cosmik Debris", un lento e provocante pezzo in tipico stile zappiano.
L'album prosegue sulla particolarissima "Excentrifugal Forz" che nonostante la sua poca durata permane nella mente per ore dopo averla ascoltata. Il pezzo contiene un assolo di chitarra live incollato sopra, proprio come un collage. Difatti Apostrophe (') contiene numerosi soli di chitarra live ingegnosamente incollati nei pezzi, tuttavia dopo qualche volta che si ascolta il pezzo ci si rende conto che il suono proviene da un'altra registrazione. E' ora della title-track, "Apostrophe", un classico blues in stile zappa. La critica ha definito Apostrophe la traccia più rilevante dell'album, ma se devo dirvi la mia ritengo essa meno rilevante di tutto il resto dell'album. Non che sia brutta, certo che no, anzi, contiene un assolo di chitarra mostruoso, ma rimane comunque non molto rilevante. Si passa poi ad "Uncle Remus", un pezzo meraviglioso con tanto di intro di piano. Ritengo il pezzo veramente meraviglioso: ha quel ritmo e quel sound tipico delle ballad del periodo, ma il testo è decisamente folle!
Infine, si passa a "Stink-Foot", l'ultima traccia, lunga ben sei minuti. Nemmeno Stink-Foot è rapida, come quasi tutto il resto dell'album, ma è comunque gradevole: contiene un paio di soli meravigliosi e degli intermezzi folli quali Zappa che chiama un cane rispondendosi da solo con un pazzo "Harf Harf Harf!.
Apostrophe (') è un buon album. Certo, non è equiparabile a capolavori musicali come Hot Rats, tantomeno a capolavori dissacranti quali Absolutely Free e Chunga's Revenge, ma ha comunque il suo fascino. Apostrophe (') rimane comunque uno degli album più facilmente ascoltabili di Zappa, e un vero capolavoro della musica, come del resto tutti gli album di Zappa (ad eccezione di Pregnant, quello lo odio è_é )
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
02 Nanook Rubs It (04:37)
Well right about that time, people,
A fur trapper
Who was strictly from commercial
(Strictly Commershil)
Had the unmedicated audacity to jump up from behind my igyaloo
(Peek-a-Boo Woo-ooo-ooo)
And he started in to whippin' on my fav'rite baby seal
With a lead-filled snow shoe . . .
I said:
With a lead
LEAD
Filled
LEAD-FILLED
A lead-filled snow shoe
SNOW SHOE
He said Peak-a-boo
PEEK-A-BOO
With a lead
LEAD
Filled
LEAD-FILLED
With a lead-filled snow shoe
SNOW SHOE
He said Peak-a-boo.
PEEK-A-BOO
He went right up side the head of my favourite baby seal
He went WHAP!
With a lead-filled snow shoe
An' he hit him on the nose 'n he hit him on fin 'n he . . .
That got me just about as evil
As an Eskimo boy can be . . . so I bent down 'n I reached down 'n I scooped down
An' I gathered up a generous mitten full of the deadly . . .
YELLOW SNOW
The deadly Yellow Snow from right there where the huskies go
Whereupon I proceeded to take that mitten full
Of the deadly Yellow Snow Crystals
And rub it all into his beady little eyes
With a vigorous circular motion
Hitherto unknown to the people on this area,
But destined to take the place of THE MUD SHARK
In your mythology
Here it goes now . . .
THE CIRCULAR MOTION . . . (rub it) . . .
(Here Fido . . . Here Fido)
And then, in a fit of anger, I . . .
I pounced
And I pounced again
GREAT GOOGLY-MOOGLY
I jumped up 'n down the chest of the . . .
I injured the fur trapper
Well, he was very upset, as you can understand
And rightly so
Because
The deadly Yellow Snow Crystals
Had deprived him of his sight
And he stood up
And he looked around
And he said:
I CAN'T SEE
(DO . . . DO DO-DO DO DO DO . . . YEAH!)
I CAN'T SEE
(DO . . . DO DO-DO DO DO DO . . . YEAH!)
OH WOE IS ME
(DO . . . DO DO-DO DO DO DO . . . YEAH!)
I CAN'T SEE
(DO . . . DO DO-DO DO DO DO . . . WELL!)
NO NO
I CAN'T SEE
NO . . . I . . .
He took a dog-doo sno-cone
An' stuffed it in my right eye
He took a dog-doo sno-cone
An' stuffed it in my other eye
An' the huskie wee-wee,
I mean the doggie wee-wee
Has blinded me
An' I can't see
Temporarily
Well the fur trapper
Stood there
With his arms outstretched
Across the frozen white wasteland
Trying to figure out what he's gonna do
About his deflicted eyes
And it was at that precise moment that he remembered
An ancient Eskimo legend
Wherein it is written
On whatever it is that they write it on up there
That if anything bad ever happens to your eyes
As a result of some sort of conflict
With anyone named Nanook
The only way you can get it fixed up
Is to go trudgin' across the tundra . . .
Mile after mile
Trudgin' across the tundra . . .
Right down to the parish of Saint Alfonzo . . .
05 Cosmik Debris (04:14)
The Mystery Man came over
An' he said: "I'm outa-sight!"
He said, for a nominal service charge,
I could reach Nirvana t'nite
If I was ready, willing 'n able
To pay him his regular fee
He would drop all the rest of his pressing affairs
And devote His Attention to me
But I said . . .
Look here brother,
Who you jivin' with that Cosmik Debris?
(Now who you jivin' with that Cosmik Debris?)
Look here brother,
Don't you waste your time on me
The Mystery Man got nervous
An' he fidget around a bit
He reached in the pocket of his Mystery Robe
An' he whipped out a shaving kit
Now, I thought it was a razor
An' a can of foamin' goo
But he told me right then when the top popped open
There was nothin' his box won't do
With the oil of Afro-dytee
An' the dust of the Grand Wazoo
He said:
"You might not believe this, little fella, but it'll cure your Asthma too!"
An' I said . . .
Look here brother,
Who you jivin' with that Cosmik Debris?
(Now what kind of a geroo are you anyway?)
Look here brother,
Don't you waste your time on me
Don't waste yer time . . .
I've got troubles of my own, I said
An' you can't help me out
So take your meditations an' your preparations
An' ram it up yer snout
"BUT I GOT A KRISTL BOL!", he said
An' held it to the light
So I snatched it
All away from him
An' I showed him how to do it right
I wrapped a newspaper 'round my head
So I'd look like I was Deep
I said some Mumbo Jumbos then
An' told him he was goin' to sleep
I robbed his rings
An' pocket watch
An' everything else I found
I had that sucker hypnotized
He couldn't even make a sound
I proceeded to tell him his future then
As long as he was hanging around,
I said
"The price of meat has just gone up
An' yer ol' lady has just gone down . . . "
Look here brother,
Who you jivin' with that Cosmik Debris?
(Now is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?)
Don't you know,
You could make more money as a butcher,
So don't you waste your time on me
(Don't waste it, don't waste your time on me . . . )
Ohm shonty, ohm shonty, ohm shonty-ohm
SSHONTAY
06 Excentrifugal Forz (01:33)
The clouds are really cheap
The way I seen 'em thru the ports
Of which there is a half-a-dozen
On the base of my resorz
You wouldn't think I'd have too many
Since I never cared for sports
But I'm never really lonely
In my Excentrifugal Forz
There's always Korla Plankton
Him 'n me can play the blues
An' then I'll watch him buff that
Tiny ruby that he use
He'll straighten up his turban
An' eject a little ooze
Along a one-celled Hammond Organism
Underneath my shoes
An' then I'll call PUP TENTACLE
I'll ask him how's his chin
I'll fine out
How the future is
Because that's where he's been
His little feet got long 'n flexible
An' suckers fell right in
The time he crossed the line
From LATER ON to WAY BACK WHEN
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Altre recensioni
Di paloz
Sono un pazzo per l’interpretazione del moscone sotto ai baffi come apostrofo.
Un'ottima (e bizzarra) aggiunta alla collezione di Zappa.
