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Civilization Phaze III

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Civilization Phaze III is the sixty-third album by Frank Zappa, released posthumously as a double album on October 31, 1994.

The album marks the third part of a conceptual continuity that started with We're Only in It for the Money (1968), with the second part being a re-edited version of Zappa's 1967 album Lumpy Gravy. The storyline of Civilization Phaze III involves a group of people living inside a piano, and the menacing reality of the outside world. The album's themes include personal isolation and nationalism.

Much of the album's improvised dialogue was originally recorded as part of sessions which produced We're Only in It for the Money and Uncle Meat, which contained some dialogue by the same speakers, and some of the dialogue on this album previously appeared on the re-edited version of Lumpy Gravy released in 1968. New dialogue was recorded by Zappa in 1991, and includes similarly improvised dialogue by members of the Ensemble Modern orchestra, Zappa's daughter Moon Unit and actor Michael Rapaport.

Civilization Phaze III has been acclaimed as one of Zappa's best works, and has been appraised for its challenging, complex music, largely composed and performed on a Synclavier. This is Official Release #63.

Background

In 1967, while recording We're Only in It for the Money with the Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa discovered that the strings of Apostolic Studios' grand piano would resonate if a person spoke near those strings. The "piano people" experiment involved Zappa having various speakers improvise dialogue using topics offered by Zappa. Various people contributed to these sessions, including Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and Tim Buckley.[1] The "piano people" voices primarily consisted of Mothers of Invention bandmembers Motorhead Sherwood and Roy Estrada, Spider Barbour (leader of the rock band Chrysalis), All-Night John (the manager of the studio) and Louis Cuneo, who was noted for his laugh, which sounded like a "psychotic turkey".[2]

In 1992, Zappa recorded The Yellow Shark with the Ensemble Modern orchestra, and sampled their instrumentation with his Synclavier. After revisiting his archives, he decided to create an album which would combine the 1967 "piano people" dialogue, Synclavier music, performances by the Ensemble Modern, and newly recorded dialogue.[3][4] The project began under the title Lumpy Gravy, Phase 3 (with phase one being We're Only in It for the Money and phase two being the 1968 version of Lumpy Gravy), but was later changed to Civilization Phaze III.[5]

Zappa recorded new dialogue segments to accompany the original "piano people" recordings. The new dialogue speakers included members of the Ensemble Modern,[6] Moon Zappa,[7] Dweezil Zappa[8] and actor Michael Rapaport.[7]

Concept and music

The album's storyline was conceived via improvised dialogue involving a series of randomly chosen words, phrases and concepts, which included motors, pigs, ponies, dark water, nationalism, smoke, music, beer and personal isolation.[9] The music was conceived as an opera pantomime,[10] and is dark and ominous.[11] The Ensemble Modern samples allowed the Synclavier to produce richer-sounding music than Zappa's previous works using the machine, which produced the cruder-sounding music on albums such as Jazz from Hell.[10] University of Washington music theory chair Jonathan W. Bernard suggests that Civilization Phaze III is heavily influenced by Zappa's disenchantment with avant-garde composition and Zappa's acute awareness of his own mortality. Bernard suggests that Civilization Phase III is Zappa's last, greatest attempt at being recognized as a composer of "serious music". [12]

Release

Frank Zappa died before the release of the album.[13] It was published posthumously by Barking Pumpkin Records on October 31, 1994, solely as a mail order album, with no advertising or promotion; the album subsequently received a strong number of orders from Zappa's fanbase.[11][14] Rykodisc was given the option of distributing the album nationally,[11] but the label ultimately did not distribute it.

The album was also not released with Zappa's other works in the 2012 reissue of his catalog, but it can still be ordered from the artist's official website. "I think it's very much about finishing his life," says Gail Zappa, his widow, in a recent interview. After he finished this,he said, "I've done everything that I can." [15]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[10]
Rolling Stone[16]

The album was well received as one of Zappa's best works. Allmusic reviewer François Couture wrote, "It belongs to his corpus of 'serious music.' [...] The original artwork and packaging are stunning and luxurious, a match for the music, some of the most compelling Zappa wrote outside of the rock realm."[10] However, some critics felt that the "piano people" narrative did not hold up for a double album.[4]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Frank Zappa

Act I
No.TitleLength
1."This Is Phaze III"0:47
2."Put a Motor in Yourself"5:13
3."Oh-Umm"0:50
4."They Made Me Eat It"1:48
5."Reagan at Bitburg"5:39
6."A Very Nice Body"1:00
7."Navanax"1:40
8."How the Pigs' Music Works"1:49
9."Xmas Values"5:31
10."Dark Water!"0:23
11."Amnerika"3:03
12."Have You Heard Their Band?"0:38
13."Religious Superstition"0:43
14."Saliva Can Only Take So Much"0:27
15."Buffalo Voice"5:12
16."Someplace Else Right Now"0:32
17."Get a Life"2:20
18."A Kayak (On Snow)"0:28
19."N-Lite: Negative Light/Venice Submerged/New World Order/The Lifestyle You Deserve/Creationism/He Is Risen"18:00
Total length:56:03
Act II
No.TitleLength
1."I Wish Motorhead Would Come Back"0:14
2."Secular Humanism"2:41
3."Attack! Attack! Attack!"1:24
4."I Was in a Drum"3:38
5."A Different Octave"0:57
6."This Ain't CNN"3:20
7."The Pigs' Music"1:17
8."A Pig with Wings"2:52
9."This Is All Wrong"1:42
10."Hot & Putrid"0:29
11."Flowing Inside-Out"0:46
12."I Had a Dream About That"0:27
13."Gross Man"2:54
14."A Tunnel into Muck"0:21
15."Why Not?"2:18
16."Put a Little Motor in 'Em"0:50
17."You're Just Insultin' Me, Aren't You!"2:13
18."Cold Light Generation"0:44
19."Dio Fa"[nb 1]"8:18
20."That Would Be the End of That"0:35
21."Beat the Reaper"15:23
22."Waffenspiel"4:05
Total length:57:37

Personnel

  • Frank Zappa – producer, compiler, editor, composer, performer, conductor, liner notes
  • Ensemble Modern – orchestra
  • Dick Kunc – engineer (1967)
  • David Dondorf – engineer (1991)
  • Todd Yvega – engineer (1991)
  • Spencer Chrislu – engineer (1991)
  • Uri Balashov – cover design
  • Command A Studios – art direction
1967 voices
1991 voices

Note and references

Note
  1. ^ A profanity used in Piedmont (Italy), meaning "God is a liar"
References

[1]

  1. ^ James, Billy (October 1, 2002). "Necessity Is: The Early Years of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention". ISBN 9780946719518. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ Slaven, Niel. "Electric Don Quixote: The Definitive Story of Frank Zappa". ISBN 9780857120434. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ Sitsky, Larry (2002). "Music of the Twentieth-century Avant-garde: A Biocritical Sourcebook". ISBN 9780313296895. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ a b Morin, Alexander J (2002). "Classical Music: The Listener's Companion". ISBN 9780879306380. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ Slaven, Niel. "Electric Don Quixote: The Definitive Story of Frank Zappa". ISBN 9780857120434. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ Wilson, Andy (September 2006). "Faust - Stretch Out Time 1970-1975". ISBN 9780955066450. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ^ a b Zappa, Frank (1994). "General notes". Civilization Phaze III (Media notes). Frank Zappa. Barking Pumpkin Records.
  8. ^ Schinder, Scott; Schwartz, Andy Schwartz (2008). "Icons of Rock: Velvet Underground ; the Grateful Dead ; Frank Zappa ; Led Zeppelin ; Joni Mitchell ; Pink Floyd ; Neil Young ; David Bowie ; Bruce Springsteen ; Ramones ; U2 ; Nirvana". ISBN 9780313338472. Retrieved December 2, 2013. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Zappa, Frank (1994). "Scenario". Civilization Phaze III (Media notes). Frank Zappa. Barking Pumpkin Records.
  10. ^ a b c d Allmusic review
  11. ^ a b c Nielsen Business Media, Inc (May 6, 1995). "Billboard". {{cite journal}}: |author1= has generic name (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. ^ Jonathan W. Bernard (2011). "From Lumpy Gravy to Civilization Phaze III: The Story of Frank Zappa's Disenchantment". Journal for the Society of American Music. 5 (1). Cambridge Journals: 1–31. doi:10.1017/S1752196310000490.
  13. ^ "The New Yorker". November 1993. Retrieved December 2, 2013. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ Kostelanetz, Richard; Rocco, John M. (April 10, 1997). "The Frank Zappa companion: Four decades of commentary". ISBN 9780028646282. Retrieved December 2, 2013. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "Another Tangento Rescue: Zappa's Outermost Phaze By Stephen Homan". www.tangento.net. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  16. ^ Fricke, David (August 24, 1995). "Civilization Phaze III | Album Reviews | Rolling Stone". rollingstone.com.
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