The Idiot Bastard wrote:
Trendmonger wrote:
Having jumped for joy while listening to BBC Radio 3 Here and Now "Frank Zappa 200 Motels", I was taken back by Ben Watson's post commentary. When he was asked if the London performance vindicated 200 Motels, if it were a masterpiece we should be hearing in concert halls more often, Ben replied "I think we should be seeing the film more often, quite honestly"
Well Ben Watson, you either get it or you don't. It's clear that you for one did not get it.
For a so called Zappalogist, Ben is vividly out to lunch.
Couldn't agree more, Trendy.
I think that Gail, Joe, Kurt, Scott and the thousands that enjoyed the shows
"Get It" a bit more than some may think. Remember I did state I was going to leave scrutinization of this London performance aside. Surly we could expect that if a fine-toothed-comb analysis was done by the scoremeister, that he would find some issues in the performance. We could even detect some character things that may not be perfect, but let's be clear, when it comes to Ben Watson and overt-fanatical-the-rock-band- is-missing views... pheeew, those overt views are out to lunch.
I am not talking about a fans or so called Zappalogist broad views of FZs overall cannon, but more-so, I am specifically talking about slanted views about this particular score. Fans with closed minds are missing something. The ZFT and their employees have clearly put pre-conceived notions to the side with this project. Some fans are caught in a movie-bubble.
As time goes on, I hope it is the score of the composer that has an opportunity to speak more than Ben Watson. We did get an opportunity to see FZ working from a bit of that in The True Story Of 200 Motels, but let it be known, FZs score has over 300 pages.
I've seen some reports that someone had obtained a copy of FZs shooting script for the movie, that was between 200 and 300 pages, some fans do talk a little bit of some of the details of that on the internet, but with all the hard work that went into getting the performance score ready, some folks may have read how that was assembled, with specific regards to the later, I think it would be prudent to put pre-conceived ideas of what the whole enchilada is to the side, and realise 200 Motels is a bit bigger and more orchestral than some had imagined from watching the movie, listening to the LPs or looking at some missing knowns from a shooting script. FZ gave enough clues in interviews and The Real Frank Zappa Book. I'll take the movie for what it is and I'll take this more-so in line with FZs vision.
The ZFT does employ a scoremeister. Just as Joe Travers has his job with all things vault related, Kurt Morgan has his job which is score related. As time goes on I hope many fans get the opportunity to hear more of how the scoremeister interacts with the guy with the wand and the stick. For Gail to employ that role, this is another example where Gail shows how much she cares. Lot's of time and money go into getting FZs scores together to where it can be done authentically. We can only hope that more and more orchestras will not only attempt FZs works, but do them with the composers intent.