The Yellow Shark

The Yellow Shark
Live album by Frank Zappa
Released	November 2, 1993
Recorded	September 17–28, 1992 at Alte Oper, Frankfurt; Philharmonie, Berlin and Konzerthaus, Vienna
Genre	20th century classical
Length	72:02
Label	Barking Pumpkin
Producer	Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa chronology
Ahead of Their Time (1993) The Yellow Shark (1993) FZ:OZ (2002)

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Allmusic

The Yellow Shark is an album of orchestral music by Frank Zappa, released in 1993. It features live recordings from the Ensemble Modern's 1992 performances of Zappa's compositions. It was the last Zappa album released before his death. In the album's notes, Zappa describes The Yellow Shark as one of the most fulfilling projects of his career, and as the best representation of his orchestral works.

Singer Tom Waits has listed it as one of his favourite albums, commenting: "The ensemble is awe-inspiring. It is a rich pageant of texture in colour. It's the clarity of his perfect madness, and mastery. Frank governs with Elmore James on his left and Stravinsky on his right. Frank reigns and rules with the strangest tools."

The choreographer Édouard Lock and his company La La La Human Steps were part of the show.

The posthumous album, Everything Is Healing Nicely (released in 1999), contains recordings from around the same time, made in preparation for the performances documented on The Yellow Shark.

Track listing

1. "Intro" – 1:43
2. "Dog Breath Variations" – 2:07
3. "Uncle Meat" – 3:24
4. "Outrage at Valdez" – 3:27
5. "Times Beach II" – 7:31
6. "III Revised" – 1:45
7. "The Girl in the Magnesium Dress" – 4:33
8. "Be-Bop Tango" – 3:43
9. "Ruth Is Sleeping" – 5:56
10. "None of the Above" – 2:17
11. "Pentagon Afternoon" – 2:28
12. "Questi Cazzi Di Piccione" – 3:03
13. "Times Beach III" – 4:26
14. "Food Gathering in Post-Industrial America, 1992" – 2:52
15. "Welcome to the United States" – 6:39
16. "Pound for a Brown" – 2:12
17. "Exercise, No. 4" – 1:37
18. "Get Whitey" – 7:00
19. "G-Spot Tornado" – 5:17

Personnel

Musicians

• Frank Zappa – conductor, producer, performer
• Peter Rundel – conductor, violin
• Dietmar Wiesner – flute
• Catherine Milliken – oboe, english horn, bass oboe, didjeridu
• Roland Diry – clarinet
• Wolfgang Stryi – bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, contrabass clarinet
• Veit Scholz – bassoon, contrabassoon
• Franck Ollu, Stefan Dohr – french horn
• William Formann, Michael Gross – cornet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet, trumpet
• Uwe Dierksen – trombone, soprano trombone
• Michael Svoboda – trombone, euphonium, didjeridu, alphorn
• Daryl Smith – tuba
• Herman Kretzschmar – celeste, harpsichord, voices, piano
• Ueli Wiget – celeste, harpsichord, harp, piano
• Rumi Ogawa-Helferich – cymbalom, percussion
• Andreas Böttger – percussion
• Detlef Tewes – mandolin
• Jürgen Ruck – banjo, guitar
• Ellen Wegner – harp
• Mathias Tacke, Claudia Sack – violin
• Hilary Sturt – violin, voices
• Friedemann Dähn – violoncello
• Thomas Fichter- contrabass, Fichter electric upright bass
• Ensemble Modern – main performer

Technical staff

• Todd Yvega – synclavier assistance
• Spencer Chrislu – engineer, mixing
• Harry Andronis – engineer
• Brian Johnson – art direction, design
• Hans Jörg Michel – photography
• Henning Lobner – photography
• Dave Dondorf – engineer, coordination
• Jesse Di Franco – art direction, design
• Ali N. Askin – arranger
• Fritz Brinckmann – photography

Charts

Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1993	Top Classical Crossover	2

External links

• The Yellow Shark