Frank Zappa's QuAUDIOPHILIAc: experiments in multichannel music
By Todd Whitesel
Depending on your perspective, Frank Zappa was always ahead, or just way outside, the rest of the popular music world. For a musician who played electric guitar, loved doo-wop and wrote complex pieces of computer-based classical music with equal verve, it's not surprising that Zappa was also plunging into the world of multichannel music; that he was doing it on his own as early as 1970 speaks volumes about his always forward thinking.
Before quadraphonic recordings came onto the scene in the early 1970s and just as quickly vanished due to multi-format incompatabilities, Zappa was mapping out music in four channels. Apparently no one knew until recently when Zappa's son Dweezil came across a box of recordings in Frank's infamous basement studio, The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen (UMRK). One box, labeled "Frank Zappa & 'Dweezil'," was dated March 1, 1970. Frank had subtitled the package, "4-Track Stereo/Basement," with the four tracks delineated "1-left; 2-center, front; 3-right; 4-rear."
When Dweezil and UMRK studio vault man Joe Travers tried to play the tape, the tape machine balked. When the machine was manually "forced" to play, the true nature of the tape's contents became apparent. These weren't ordinary two-channel stereo mixes, and this wasn't the only such tape Frank had mixed. The two uncovered several other tapes containing multichannel mixes, and the seeds for QuAUDlOPHIUAc – a 5.1 DTS DVD-Audio disc – were sown.
To accomodate current technology, the analog tapes were first transferred to digital and then put through a recorder at 96 kHz/24-bit resolution. The single rear channel was used to feed the left and right surrounds, except on two tracks, "Chunga Basement" and "Waka/Jawaka," whereon the center speaker is eliminated and the rear speakers have their own distinct content.
The disc serves as a document of Zappa's multichannel recordings from 1970-78, and as such, it's really just a sampler of his music. There's Zappa the "serious" composer ("Naval Aviation In Art?" and "Lumpy Gravy"); Zappa the funny guy ("Wild Love"); Zappa the guitarist ("Ship Ahoy"); and Zappa as jazzer ("Waka/Jawaka"). We also get an intimate peek at a tune in the making ("Chunga Basement") and the previously unreleased ("Rollo"). There's also Zappa the discontented on "Drooling Midrange Accountants On Easter Hay," which features a rant about the music industry's failure to nurture artists capped over an alternate arrangement of "Easter Hay." Throw in "Venusian Time Bandits" and "Basement Music #2" and you get a fair idea of all the musical pies Zappa had his thumbs in during the 1970s. The chance to hear them as surround pieces in very good surround mixes is icing on a rich cake.
Although difficult listening such as «Naval Aviation In Art?" and "Lumpy Gravy" will likely not bring new fans to the Zappa camp, they are excellent examples of how to spread an orchestra across the listening field. "Waka/Jawaka," on the other hand, is one of Zappa's most accessible and enduring compositions. In surround, it's 13:23 of perfection. As Dweezil says in the liners, "'Rollo' is f*#king bitchen!'' [sic] It's rare and a treat to hear an umeleased track in such a way.
Listening to "Chunga Basement" is as close to being in the recording room with a band as it gets. The song was recorded live to four tracks and miked to quad; it is also the earliest tune represented on QuAUDlOPHJUAc.
The band, consisting of Zappa on guitar, Ian Underwood on keyboards, Max Bennett on bass, and Aynsley Dunbar on drums, play through the then-unfinished tune. It has something of a jam atmosphere – running 11:48 – but it's indicative of the precision that a Zappa-led band could bring to a tune, even during its infancy. Three things in particular stand out on "Chunga": 1) the sound is remarkably good, and the song works very well in today's updated surround format 2) the drums actually sound like drums, not processed into the lifeless cans or overblown cannons that befall so many rerordings 3) there is also a warmth here that is missing on some of the other surround mixes, which have that characteristic Zappa reverb-y sheen.
Its a shame Zappa died before surround sound found new life on SACD, DVD-Video and DVD-Audio. So much of his music could blossom again if remixed for surround. What I wouldn't give to hear complete albums such as The Grand Wazoo or One Size Fits All this way. (Sigh.)