Even after repeated listenings to Frank Zappa’s 1983 release
The Man From Utopia, I’m left asking myself an important
question: What the hell was
that all about?
A definite transition album if I’ve ever heard one, Zappa seemed
as if he didn’t quite know where he wanted to take his music with
this one. There were hints at the oldies that he grew up with, and
teasers of real rock that Zappa had been known for. The rest of the
material, though, falls into one of two categories – scat-spoken
pseudo-jazz (which gets
real old,
real quick) and unclassifiable sludge. All in all, it ends
up not being one of Zappa’s most memorable outings.
If this disc is best remembered for anything, it would be two
particular tracks. One is “The Dangerous Kitchen,” the only one of
the three scat-vocaled free-form numbers that has any merit to it.
In this one, Zappa does paint a rather graphic portrait of a
disgustingly-kept living area, all the while backed with some
pretty good music. The other would be the anti-union number “Stick
Together,” which may be a bit simplistic as it relies on a whopping
two chords, but is catchy enough that you may find yourself singing
this one at inopportune times. It may not have the kind of power of
songs like “We Shall Overcome,” but it’s powerful in its own
right.
The remaining two scat-vocaled songs, “The Jazz Discharge Party
Hats” and “The Radio Is Broken,” both are wasted time, having
little substance and no depth, and even a semi-decent musical
backing track can’t save these disasters. Why Zappa felt the need
to put three songs in this genre on this album is beyond me.
The remants of
The Man From Utopia just seem to drift aimlessly, with no
one genre or storyline anchoring these tracks together. The two
rock-like numbers, “Cocaine Decisions” and “SEX,” hardly count
among Zappa’s best, though they are moderately passable tracks. The
pastiche of oldies, “The Man From Utopia Meets Mary Lou,” could
well be the best track on the disc, while the later homage to
doo-wop “Luigi & The Wise Guys” (a track thrown on when Zappa
re-worked this disc in the late ’80s) is nowhere in the same
league. Even the instrumentals, like “Tink Walks Amok” and
“Moggio,” fail to impress this time around.
In the end,
The Man From Utopia proves to be a lackluster effort –
regrettably, one of many that Zappa put out at this stage in his
career. While there are some tracks that are worth discovering,
this is a disc that should be saved until one is well into their
exploration of all things Zappa – ’cause if this man is from
Utopia, then it sure wasn’t any paradise.
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.
