Published on Sep 19, 2005
Of all the discs I’ve had to re-listen to in this ongoing
retrospective of Frank Zappa, I will be honest with you: I was
least looking forward to
Thing-Fish, the “original cast recording” of a Broadway play
that Zappa never got around to producing.
You see, this is easily the most challenging, most demanding
disc of Zappa’s entire discography, and apparently is still subject
to a lot of scrutiny and confusion. When I first heard it, I was
disturbed and disgusted by the whole picture painted out in the
music (and, in case you missed it, in the lyrics printed with the
CD), and filed it away for what I thought would be forever.
Now it is a decade later – and while I can’t say I’ve become a
fan of this set, I do understand some of what Zappa was trying to
accomplish a little bit more. Still, this is a disc that, if you’re
not ready for it, will piss you off.
After all, who else but Zappa could take on the stereotypical
appearance of Broadway by creating a musical in which the main
character, the potato-headed, duck-billed creature Thing-Fish, was
African-American and spoke like a character from
Amos ‘N’ Andy? (In all fairness, Ike Willis, who is
African-American, voices the character – if this had truly been a
racist script, Willis would have undoubtedly said something.) But
not only Broadway and its white majority are taken on, but also
religion (with the characters of the Mammy Nuns), modern (for 1984)
social views (in terms of skewering Yuppies and the women’s
liberation movement) and the government (all but accusing them of
creating diseases to rid the world of “unwanted” aspects of
society). Offended yet? Believe me, you have to have skin made of
Kevlar not to be offended by something in this.
Had Zappa stuck with one particular theme – such as the slam
against how blacks were viewed in the world of Broadway, or the
attack on social statuses of the day – then
Thing-Fish would have been a more cohesive and approachable
package. But with several different subplots floating around the
story like so much smoke at a concert, it’s easy to get lost in the
haze – which, unfortunately, does happen to the story.
Interesting to note the performances of Terry and Dale Bozzio
(as Harry and Rhonda, two theater-goers who are unwillingly made
part of the action on-stage), and the tension that come up between
them as Harry falls in love with a rubber Mammy doll and Rhonda
gets into, aah, “intimate contact” with her briefcase and fountain
pen. (Sometimes it feels like the tension from Dale Bozzio is real;
the real-life husband and wife divorced about two years later.)
As much as I dreaded listening to
Thing-Fish again, I will admit that the first disc proved to
be rather enjoyable, although I did find the dialect of Willis’s
character to be insulting at times (and I’m a white male – go
figure). Musically, this is not so much as a “greatest hits” as
these are re-workings of some of Zappa’s catalog, especially
pulling from more recent times, as heard on “You Are What You Is”
and “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing”. The newer music often serves
as background filler, though “The Mammy Nuns” proves to be
unforgettble (though I still prefer the live version known as “The
Mammy Anthem” on
You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Volume 1).
The second act is where the listener’s patience is challenged
the most, as Terry Bozzio becomes a leather fetishist – his
character Harry had become gay “for business purposes” – and Dale
Bozzio’s Rhonda tries to get Harry’s attention by showing off her
body (one can almost imagine this happening live in the studio –
what the hell, since Dale Bozzio once was a Playboy Playmate) and
screwing her briefcase. Listeners who have young children are
strongly encouraged to invest in a good set of headphones for this
album, as it is most definitely not for little ears. Musically,
it’s also the weaker of the two halves, rehashing “No Not Now”
(and, as the finale, playing it backwards as “Won Ton On”) and
mixing it in with more originals that try to move the plot along a
little bit.
Thing-Fish is still a very difficult set to get through –
don’t try to do it in one sitting – but I will admit it’s not the
absolute train wreck I had experienced a decade earlier and was
anticipating. That’s not to say it’s a masterpiece – indeed, far
from it. Zappa’s indignance at so many groups is spread so thinly
that the whole attack is weakened; Zappa could have made a real
powerful statement by honing down the plotlines a bit and directing
his venom at one or two institutions.
I’m not going to say that
Thing-Fish isn’t worth your time – indeed, my feelings about
this one are a lot more mixed than when I sat down to listen to it
again. But I will say that newbies to Zappa’s catalog can save this
one to almost the end of their shopping sprees.
2005 Christopher Thelen and “The Daily Vault.” All rights
reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without
written permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of the
Zappa Family Trust / record label, and is used for informational
purposes only.