Thursday, September 27, 2012

Mixed Formats: Peaches en Regalia



Dweezil Zappa: Peaches en Regalia

purchase link [Frank Zappa/Hot  Rats - Peaches en Regalia]


Life goes on. Your favorite music blog may be facing hard times – but it is still online and it is pumping out new tunes for you to listen to.  Once again, we’ve got a new topic for you and your bloggers are doing their best in the face of difficult odds to bring you songs of mixed styles that don’t really fit any genre.

First and foremost in this category for me is Frank Zappa. Yes, he had a number of songs that made it into the Top/Pop lists, but he always gave the impression that it didn’t really matter to him whether it was a hit or not (perhaps better if so, but … what mattered was impact: did it carry a message?)

His music touched on jazz, folk, and – of course – pop/rock. And it is with this in mind that I choose Zappa for my “doesn’t  fit any genre”  posting)

Life goes on. While not an outright fan of Zappa’s offspring, I  appreciate the fact that Dweezil and Moon Unit care enough for their father’s legacy that they are putting time and effort into keeping the flame burning (yes, I am sensitive to the pecuniary incentives)

Peaches en Regalia, originally from the Mothers’  Hot Rats album, combines pop, rock, jazz and classical genres in one piece. Zappa’s original selection of instrumentation and notation make this clear.

For my “safe” posting (having been repeatedly burned posting my own mp3s recently), I am linking to the son’s version of “Peaches”.  Dweezil may lack his father’s flamboyant style, appearance and guitar chops, but the rendition is credibly authentic: the xylophone, the tempo, the notes could almost be mistaken for a recording by his dad.

Suppose you comment and tell us what the genre is?

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