{"id":5441,"date":"2013-11-04T13:53:35","date_gmt":"2013-11-04T12:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/?p=5441"},"modified":"2013-11-04T13:56:16","modified_gmt":"2013-11-04T12:56:16","slug":"touring-can-make-you-crazy-steve-graney-reviews-frank-zappas-200-motels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2013\/11\/04\/touring-can-make-you-crazy-steve-graney-reviews-frank-zappas-200-motels\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Touring can make you crazy:’ Steve Graney reviews Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week saw the (delayed) premi\u00e8re <\/a>of Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels<\/em>; Drama graduate and former member of Chamber Choir, Steve Graney<\/strong>, was in the audience…<\/p>\n

BBC Concert Orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia, London Voices Conductor: Jurjen Hempel, Soprano: Claron McFadden Royal Festival Hall, Tuesday 29th October, 2013<\/p>\n

\"BBC
BBC Concert Orchestra and soloists at the Royal Festival Hall. Image: Steve Graney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTouring can make you crazy, Ladies and Gentlemen.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the case of Frank Zappa, touring can make you so crazy that you write a musical film in which you are played by Ringo Starr, Ringo\u2019s chauffeur plays your ex-bassist and your former-saxophonist plays a Newt Rancher who falls in love with an Industrial Vacuum Cleaner.<\/p>\n

Welcome to 200 Motels<\/em>, a \u2018surrealistic documentary\u2019 of life on the road for Zappa and his band The Mothers of Invention; a musical satire of the tensions, groupies, chemical experimentations and absurdities that come with a rock & roll tour.<\/p>\n

The orchestral concert version,\u00a0forty-two years after its performance at the Royal Albert Hall was cancelled on grounds of obscenity, was finally unveiled to the UK in the Southbank\u2019s \u2018The Rest is Noise\u2019 festival of\u00a0 twentieth-century music. It was a joyous spectacle (witnessing the London Voices wave light-up, rubber \u2013 how can I put this? \u2013 \u2018recreational aids\u2019 during a suite entitled \u2018Penis Dimension\u2019 is surely a once-in-a-lifetime experience). It also cemented Zappa\u2019s status as a key\u00a0 twentieth-century composer.<\/p>\n

Zappa\u2019s versatility spans achingly beautiful string lines, challenging free jazz-reminiscent choral arrangements and even a majestic Bolero. The influence of Frank\u2019s idols Stravinsky and Var\u00e8se is evident in the piece\u2019s suspenseful harmonic dissonance and polyrhythmic, percussive atonality, but this in no way detracts from his individuality and unique approach to composition; I for one would pay good money just to glimpse a score that orders the horn players to jump on the spot.<\/p>\n

The onstage rock band played second fiddle to the orchestra on this \u2018Strictly Genteel\u2019 classical occasion, although guitarist Leo Abrahams did treat us to a few tasty electric licks and there were some impressive Don Preston-style synth-keyboard skills to be heard.<\/p>\n

Vocals and dialogue from the film also featured. These were stronger in some areas than others. Ian Shaw and Brendan Reilly, while vocally solid, didn\u2019t recapture the raucous showmanship of Mothers frontmen and former-Turtles Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan. However, Tony Guilfoyle, in FZ wig and moustache, brought Zappa\u2019s surreal, self-parodying sense of humour to the fore magnificently. His accompaniment of the \u2018I Have Seen the Pleated Gazelle\u2019 segment (concerning the Girl-Newt Rancher-Industrial Vacuum Cleaner love triangle) with its composer\u2019s justification that this was \u201ca love story people could relate to\u201d was dry, bizarre and hilarious.<\/p>\n

I have nothing but admiration for soprano Claron McFadden\u2019s breath-taking melodic and lyrical clarity. Any trained soprano who can sing, unfazed, lines like \u201cIf there\u2019s one thing I really get off on it\u2019s a nun suit painted on some old boxes\u201d has my undying respect.<\/p>\n

As the packed Royal Festival Hall leapt into standing ovation, we half-hoped our cries of \u201cMore!\u201d might prompt an encore of \u2018Peaches En Regalia\u2019 or similar. But we were content with Jurjen Hempel lifting the mammoth conductor\u2019s score triumphantly aloft, finally performed in full.<\/p>\n

Would Frank\u2019s words have been words of pride? \u201cAbout f***ing time\u201d might be nearer the mark.<\/p>\n

Who knows. He was Only In It For The Money anyway.<\/p>\n

Steve Graney<\/strong><\/p>\n