Them or Us

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Them or Us
Studio album by Frank Zappa

Publication
(s)

December 1984

Label (s) Barking Pumpkin Records , CBS ,
EMI , Rykodisc (CD)

Format (s)

LP vinyl , CD

Genre (s)

Pop music , rock music

Title (number)

14th

running time

70:45

occupation
  • Thana Harris - vocals

Studio (s)

Utility Muffin Research Kitchen

chronology
Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger
(1984) 		Them or Us Thing-Fish
(1984)

Them or Us (dt. You or us ) is a pop-rock album of Frank Zappa , the 1984 on vinyl appeared. The album was produced in Zappa's own studio, Utility Muffin Research Kitchen . In the same year, an album with concertante pieces by Zappa was released, Zappa's first release on the Synclavier, Francesco Zappa and the triple LP Thing-Fish appeared . The recordings benefit from high-profile singers such as blues legend Johnny Guitar Watson and Ike Willis . The pieces Stevie's Spanking and Ya Hozna contain extended guitar solos by Steve Vai . There is also a version of Whipping Post on the album, originally written by Gregg Allman . A visitor to the Helsinki Concert in 1974 wished for this song. Zappa knew this piece at the time. That's why Zappa rehearsed the piece with his band for the tour in 1981. The version included here was recorded on this tour.


Track list

Original album

page 1

  1. The Closer You Are (Earl Lewis, Morgan Bobby Robinson) - 2:55
  2. In France - 3:30
  3. Ya Hozna - 6:26
  4. Sharleena - 4:33

Page 2

  1. Sinister Footwear II - 8:39
  2. Truck Driver Divorce - 8:59

Page 3

  1. Stevie's Spanking - 5:23
  2. Baby, Take Your Teeth Out - 1:54
  3. Marqueson's Chicken - 7:33
  4. Planet of My Dreams - 1:37

page 4

  1. Be in My Video - 3:39
  2. Them or Us - 5:23
  3. Frogs with Dirty Little Lips (Frank Zappa, Ahmet Zappa ) - 2:42
  4. Whippin 'Post ( Gregg Allman ) - 7:32

reception

The album only sold moderately and did not reach any chart position. Kelly Fisher Lowe notes that the album was "not the best album of Zappa's career". It doesn't seem like a single piece, this is due to the fact that Zappa, as the owner of its own studio and good live recording options, was no longer dependent on preparing a certain set of tracks for an album and recording it within a short time.

Ben Watson sees the album as an attempt to build rock as a counterculture to the Christian right.

literature

  • Kelly Fisher Lowe: The Words and Music of Frank Zappa . University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London 2007, ISBN 978-0-8032-6005-4 , Chapter 6, Section The Man from Utopia and Them or Us , pp. 184-188 .
  • Ben Watson: Frank Zappa. The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play . Quarted Books Ltd., London 1996, ISBN 0-7043-0242-X , Chapter 10, Section Them or Us , p. 447-456 .
  • Frank Wonneberg : Grand Zappa - International Frank Zappa Discology . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, 2010, ISBN 978-3-89602-581-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Frank Zappa Album Versions Guide. Them or Us . Retrieved June 26, 2011 .
  2. ↑ Frank Zappa. Texts and background information on Them or Us on globalia.net. Retrieved June 26, 2011 .
  3. ↑ The incident was published on You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 by Zappa.
  4. ↑ http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/Them_Or_Us.html#Whipping
  5. ↑ Kelly Fisher Lowe: The Words and Music of Frank Zappa . University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London 2007, ISBN 978-0-8032-6005-4 , Chapter 6, Section The Man from Utopia and Them or Us , pp. 184-188 .
  6. ↑ Ben Watson: Frank Zappa. The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play . Quarted Books Ltd., London 1996, ISBN 0-7043-0242-X , Chapter 10, Section Them or Us , p. 447-456 .