As the final disc released in Frank Zappa’s lifetime,
The Yellow Shark captured what Zappa considered to be the
best experience he had ever had with a symphony orchestra. Yet, as
talked about in a previous review, even the pairing with Ensemble
Modern didn’t prove to be a wholly satisfying album, though the
talent of the musicians was never in question.
So one has to wonder why Zappa’s estate would, six years later,
bring out
Everything Is Healing Nicely, a disc that captures some of
the rehearsals that Zappa had with Ensemble Modern in preparation
for the “Yellow Shark” concerts. Much more fragmented than the
concert, this disc, while having its moments of charm, adds
absolutely zero to the specter that is Frank Zappa, as well as his
musical legacy.
Once again, make no mistake regarding Ensemble Modern – the
talents that these men and women have are above questioning, and
that is not my aim in this review. But it often sounds like the
group is trying out pieces that Zappa threw together for the
purpose of seeing how well they could perform his music, no matter
how twisted it got.
Take, for example, the running joke of having Hermann
Kretzschmar reading letters to the editor of a body piercing
magazine (one line from which is where the title of this album is
derived). As much as Zappa wanted to be taken seriously as a
composer, apparently he never shook the desire to shock people,
even as he inched closer to his own demise. The sad thing is that,
while this was a predecessor to Kretzschmar’s performance on
“Welcome To The United States,” the graphic descriptions of some of
the, aah, modifications that one can make to certain areas of one’s
body. Yeesh…
The bulk of this disc has the feel of being extremely
disorganized, in that it doesn’t quite seem like the musical pieces
had come together into a whole, and were thrown to the orchestra in
an incomplete state. The first third of the disc moves slowly
because of this, and tracks such as “This Is A Test” and “Jolly
Good Fellow” never materialize into anything special.
Interestingly enough, right after the first dramatic reading
from the piercing magazine (“Master Ringo”), Zappa and Ensemble
Modern do hit paydirt with the next two offerings, “T’Mershi
Duween” and “Nap Time,” although the latter seems to stretch on a
little farther than it probably should have. It is on these two
songs that the collaboration between artist and ensemble shows that
this pairing would indeed work, and would work well.
Regrettably, that momentum cannot be carried through to the
second half of
Everything Is Healing Nicely. Tracks like “Amnerika Goes
Home,” “Naked City,” “None Of The Above (Revised And Previsited)”
and the continuation of the dramatic reading, “Wonderful Tattoo!”
fall completely flat.
Zappa insiders and extreme fans will probably say that the
general public’s inability to warm up to and understand composers
like Varese make approaching
Everything Is Healing Nicely difficult, and they’d probably
be right. Yet Zappa was able to utilize an orchestra and get them
to perform music that sounded magical – and was even able to make
this happen with Ensemble Modern. But this particular disc does
nothing much to build on the legacy that Zappa and Ensemble Modern
created with
The Yellow Shark, and, like many of the other posthumous
releases, is one recommended for completists only.
2005 Christopher Thelen and “The Daily Vault.” All rights
reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without
written permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of the
Zappa Family Trust / record label, and is used for informational
purposes only.
