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What's not to love? Zappa playing a killer solo, Ruth Underwood is the Marimba Queen, Ralph Humphrey playing incredible fills, and Tina Turner and the Ikettes singing background vocals. So much talent, so much fun.

Of the Ikettes' harmonies, Zappa later said:

”It was so difficult, that one part in the middle of the song "Montana", that the three girls rehearsed it for a couple of days. Just that one section. You know the part that goes "I'm pluckin' the ol' dennil floss..."? Right in the middle there. And one of the harmony singers got it first. She came out and sang her part and the other girls had to follow her track. Tina was so pleased that she was able to sing this that she went into the next studio where Ike was working and dragged him into the studio to hear the result of her labor. He listened to the tape and he goes, ‘What is this shit?’ and walked out".

Related, they paid Ike $10,000 to stay out of the studio when Tina recorded "Mountain Deep, River High".

What's not to love? Zappa playing a killer solo, Ruth Underwood is the Marimba Queen, Ralph Humphrey playing incredible fills, and Tina Turner and the Ikettes singing background vocals. So much talent, so much fun. Of the Ikettes' harmonies, Zappa later said: ”It was so difficult, that one part in the middle of the song "Montana", that the three girls rehearsed it for a couple of days. Just that one section. You know the part that goes "I'm pluckin' the ol' dennil floss..."? Right in the middle there. And one of the harmony singers got it first. She came out and sang her part and the other girls had to follow her track. Tina was so pleased that she was able to sing this that she went into the next studio where Ike was working and dragged him into the studio to hear the result of her labor. He listened to the tape and he goes, ‘What is this shit?’ and walked out". Related, they paid Ike $10,000 to stay out of the studio when Tina recorded "Mountain Deep, River High".

(post is archived)

[–] • 1 pt

Zappa was an extremely talented composer/musician. Few people took him seriously and it paid, so whatever. Fuck YT but I suspect someplace else there is an old recording of him on the Tonight Show, perhaps with Steve Allen (another bright fellow), where Zappa plays music on a bicycle.

[–] • 1 pt

I remember that, but had forgotten until you mentioned it. Because of his cynical views on the society he was in few people didn't think he could be serious as a musician. Oh how time showed them. He always picked the most talented people around to play with, whether they had a "name" yet or not. His jazz background gave him the ability to construct beautifully complicated pieces and his sense of wry insight took some listening to understand how intelligent he was. He spared no one, as in Plastic People:

Take a day and walk around Watch the Nazis run your town Then go home and check yourself You think we're singing 'bout someone else