Frank Zappa's SOFA (4 Versions Mixed)

Four versions of Frank Zappa's song "Sofa" synchronized and mixed for the first time ever, with an original animation. Best viewed in 720p. CC AVAILABLE: German, English, English-German simultaneous, Hungarian, Russian, French, Italian, Spanish, Portugese, Japanese, Russian, Finnish.

As with the "Strictly Genteel" track, I did this because I wanted to hear it this way - specifically the combination of the 1971 arrangements, with Flo & Eddie's career-highlight soaring harmonies and Don/George's great organ arpeggios, plus the soulful sax ornamentation and amazing guitar flourishes on that live version, against the backdrop of the studio version which is the most well-known but most conservative arrangement. OF COURSE this is done purely as an experiment and for my own amusement in the spirit of Frank's own enthusiasm for combining and remixing, so to canon purists who find themselves offended I understand and apologize.

Audio sources:
1. "Sofa Suite" from "Swiss Cheese / Fire !" [hereinafter referred to as SCF] (originally a bootleg of the Montreux Casino gig, later released by FZ in the Beat the Boots II box set), recorded Dec. 4th, 1971
2. "Sofa #1" from "You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore Vol. I" [YCDTOSA] recorded just six days later, Rainbow Theatre, London
3. "Sofa #2" from "One Size Fits All" [OSFA] recorded sometime between Dec 1974-Apr 1975, most likely in Los Angeles
4. "Sofa" from "Zappa in New York" [ZINY], recorded 26th - 29th Dec. 1976, The Palladium, New York City

I proceeded by choosing OSFA to be the master track for tempo, key, and arrangement. The 3 others were synchronized measure by measure, beat by beat when necessary. The actual key differed significantly only on one track but all three needed at least microtuning, and of course each were at different tempos. The 1971 versions' arrangement differed only in that they had a truncated "Ich bin alle Tage und Nächte" section, for which I took the appropriate instrumental break and looped it. The tracks were all treated with EQ and stereo field processed, and other super secret massaging that wouldn't you like to know how it's done...
The animation, such as it is, was done in Vegas Pro 8, and features two collages of the 1971 and the 1975 bands and the only known footage of the actual Montreux Casino fire.

If you have the CC turned on, you have your choice of 10 languages which I translated as meaningfully and carefully as I could, though it ultimately doesn't really matter as the lyrics are absolute nonsense.

Yes, there are other versions of "Sofa" I didn't use :
1. the "Sofa #1" instrumental from OSFA which is nothing more than the "Sofa #2" track minus vocals
2. a 1982 live version recorded in Italy that closes YCDTOSA1 and has a lot of FZ guitar noodling but is slow, in the wrong key, and very synthy
3. a 1988 live version from "Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life," which besides having crowd noise is a weird mix with punchy dynamics that don't play nice with the others
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Interesting side note: accounts vary as to what actually started the fire that afternoon in Montreux - most sources claim it was a flare-gun - Zappa, in his autobiography, says it was a bottle rocket or roman candle - Don Preston, who was playing this crazy long rising note at the very moment the fire broke out, has insisted it was a firecracker - and one other web-published eyewitness account (under the headline "I was the last to escape !") insists that it was nothing more than a lit match flicked at the low-hanging ceiling - personally, I believe it was a fondue pot accident waiting to happen.

Oh, yeah... I'd be remiss if I didn't address the conspicuous lack of the "YA-HA YA-HAHAHA" at the end, the one we're all used to from OSFA. I feel this song is a lovely sacred hymn, as dada and ridiculous as the lyrics are, and that yokel cackling yelp just takes this awesome majestic conclusion and craps on it, so I took it out and instead brought up Frank's deadpan line-read from the SCF. Hope that doesn't ruin it for you, superfans.

That's about all I have to say about this except ...

PLEASE SUPPORT THE COMPOSER'S LEGACY BY VISITING ANY OF THESE FINE RECORDINGS :

One Size Fits All
Label: Zappa Records
http://www.amazon.com/Size-Frank-Zappa-Mothers-Invention/dp/B0000009SM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1303234869&sr=8-2

Zappa in New York
Label: Zappa Records
http://www.amazon.com/Zappa-New-York-Frank/dp/B0000009SS/ref=pd_sim_m_17

You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore - Vol. 1
Label: Zappa Records
http://www.amazon.com/You-Cant-That-Stage-Anymore/dp/B0000009TN/ref=pd_sim_m_1

Swiss Cheese/fire!
Label: Zappa Records (mp3 download only)
http://www.amazon.com/Swiss-Cheese-fire/dp/B001CBKMVI/ref=tmm_msc_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1303235212&sr=1-1

Thanks for listening
_boomaga 19 April 2011

Видео Frank Zappa's SOFA (4 Versions Mixed) канала boomaga