In a message dated 12/11/2008 3:45:14 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Milhouse wrote: > "You'll have the mono — which is > actually a DiscReet [Records] mono mix (which is different) — the '84 > mix of Money, and the unreleased '84 remix of Lumpy Gravy that no one > has ever heard." > Text in bold was the little nugget that grabbed my attention. Yeah, I noticed that too. That said, what the article says might not be what Joe Travers was intending to say. While it says "DiscReet" in print, he could have been saying "discreet" -- as in a mix done specifically more mono, rather than just a reduction of the stereo mix. I thought about this for a bit after sending the other message last night, but didn't really feel like elaborating on it :P As someone pointed out on AFFZ, it seems a little bit unlikely that in the midst of all the other projects FZ had going on that came out on DiscReet (from Overnite Sensation to Bongo Fury plus Zappa in New York and the material that wound up on Zoot Allures and also Studio Tan / Sleep Dirt / Orchestral Favorites, which Warner Bros released via DiscReet without FZ's approval and I guess during this period of time he was also working on the stuff that was released on Imaginary Diseases) that would also make time for a brand new mono remix of WOIIFTM for some queer reason. When would he have even done that? He spent a ridiculous amount of time on the road in 1974, for one thing, compared to other years when he toured. Two other things that came to mind: - Looks like the ZFT is getting lots of press with this release, more than with previous ones I agree, and think this is mostly a good thing. - The '84 bass and drums overdubs will be on Lumpy Money too... Judging from the comments on various forums most people had been expecting this, but I had hoped they wouldn't include them. I don't consider the remix of We're Only In It... to be one of FZ's best decisions as far as re-releasing his own material is concerned. Especially since we know now that the story he told us back then, about the reasons for doing it, was not 100% true... Well, I'm Ok with the new-bass-and-drums version of Money, in part because I became familiar with it a good 4 or 5 years before I ever heard the original version via the Rykodisc reissue (which I actually bought on vinyl with a money order through the mail, and still don't actually own on cd) and listened to it many, many times. As for what FZ said about his reasons for doing the remix, I believe he stated on more than one occasion that he didn't just do it because of the condition of the two-track masters. He mostly did it because he just felt like it, remarking that "what qualified as an 'acceptable' drum sound in 1968 is laughable today". I think he was honest about it in the accounts that I've read, it's just that there was also the issue of the master tapes he finally won legal ownership of in the early 80s being in worse-than-laughable condition, and people tend to confuse or conflate those two notions. As for the remix of Ruben and the Jets, he seems to have done it only because he just felt like it (and personally, I find that remix a bit harder to stomach than the WOIIFTM one. And I would really like to see the ZFT via Zappa Records see to a reissue of the original.) --Milhouse **************Make your life easier with all your friends, email, and favorite sites in one place. Try it now. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000010)
