Frank Zappa always proved to be a prolific artist – how else
\ndoes one explain releasing over 50 albums prior to his death in
\n1993? But the two-month period from October to November 1984
\nfurther illustrated that amazing output level that Zappa was able
\nto maintain, as three separate discs – one of them a two-CD set –
\nwere released.<\/p>\n
\nThem Or Us<\/i>, the first of the batch, proved to be the final
\nstudio rock-based album that Zappa released, but at least he closed
\nthis portion of his career on a very high note, as this disc is one
\nof the strongest releases Zappa had recorded for a while. From the
\nopening doo-wop number “The Closer You Get” to the closing salvo of
\n“Whipping Post,” Zappa seems to let everything go in a 14-track
\nfrenzy.<\/p>\n
It is interesting to note that Zappa seems to take a back seat
\nin terms of leading the group on this disc. Although it was not
\nuncommon for Zappa to let other members of the band sing lead
\nvocals on tracks, it almost feels like Zappa allows himself to just
\nbe a member of the band on this disc. Maybe that’s why things work
\nso well; it’s almost akin to the early days of the Mothers Of
\nInvention.<\/p>\n
There’s still plenty of low-brow humor scattered throughout
\nthese tracks; numbers like “Stevie’s Spanking” (an ode to “stunt
\nguitarist” Steve Vai), “In France” (lead by an idol of Zappa’s,
\nJohnny “Guitar” Watson) and “Baby, Take Your Teeth Out” all help to
\nmaintain a status-quo of potentially offending material that Zappa
\nhad become famous for. Yet this time around, they almost seem tame
\n– was it that we all were getting used to this level of humor from
\nZappa? (If so, we were in for one hell of a shock just one disc
\nlater.)<\/p>\n
The focus on the music is also noticed, and it is a welcome
\nattention shift. Tracks like “Ya Hozna” are truly bizarre, but they
\nprove to be somewhat charming in the guitar work, making them more
\nmemorable than one would have expected. “Sinister Footwear II”
\ndoes, admittedly, seem to stretch a little too long – but to play
\ndevil’s advocate, I’d have loved to have heard Zappa and crew
\ncontinue to go wild on the guitar solos on both “Stevie’s Spanking”
\nand “Whipping Post”.<\/p>\n
Granted,
\nThem Or Us<\/i> is a disc that didn’t spawn many songs that
\nbecame legendary in the Zappa catalog. Yet the whole disc, from
\nbeginning to end, is more approachable and listener-friendly than
\nanything Zappa had done in a few years, quite possibly going back
\nto
\nSheik Yerbouti<\/i> in my book. Tracks like “Marque-Son’s
\nChicken,” “Them Or Us,” the anti-MTV “Be In My Video” and even the
\nbizarre little number “Frogs With Dirty Little Lips” provide the
\nlistener with an enjoyable experience – and one that, sadly, ends
\ntoo soon.<\/p>\n
\nThem Or Us<\/i> is one of the many Zappa discs that seem to be
\nlost in the avalanche of releases that came from his fertile mind
\nand recording studio, but is an album that is well worth
\nre-discovering… even if you’re listening to it for the very first
\ntime.<\/p>\n
2005 Christopher Thelen and “The Daily Vault.” All rights
\nreserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without
\nwritten permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of the
\nZappa Family Trust \/ record label, and is used for informational
\npurposes only.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5625],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-38542","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-frank-zappa","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38542"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}