Tinsel Town Rebellion

Artist: Frank Zappa
Label: Zappa Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Live
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 014431053221
EAN: 0014431053221
ASIN: B0000009T1

Release Date: 1995-05-02

Tinsel Town Rebellion

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Tracks:

Fine Girl
Easy Meat
For The Young Sophisticate
Love Of My Life
I Ain't Got No heart
Panty Rap
Tell Me You Love Me
Now You See It - Now You Don't
Dance Contest
The Blue Light
Tinseltown Rebellion
Pick Me, I'm Clean
Bamboozled By Love
Brown Shoes Don't Make It
Peaches III

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Customer Reviews:

One Heck Of A Good Album Of New & Old Delights!!!.......2006-03-24

This 1981 album has old FZ classics but they are all performed completely different from their originals.

"Peaches III" is Peaches En Regalia played marvelously on electric guitar.

"I ain't got no heart" is played at a very fast speed as opposed to the original downbeat version on "Freak Out" and you can hear Zappa sing it this time...finally!

You get Zappa also singing "Tell me you love me" instead of Flo & Eddie (a BIG PLUS to the fans who detest Flo & Eddie).

Zappa also sings "Love of my life" instead of the original Ray Collins version from "Ruben & The Jets."

All of these versions may be inferior or superior to the originals...that is not the point. The point is that they are all done very differently than the originals and, to some, sound like totally new songs.

The new delights include: "Fine Girl" - a tribute to the hard-working women of the past.

"Easy meat" has an awesome keyboard solo performed by the talented Thomas "Tommy" Mars.

"For the young sophisticate" makes its premiere here but it is not as good as the version found on the "Lather" album.

"The Blue Light" is a half-sung half-spoken MELT-DOWN track similar to "The Dangerous Kitchen" but not as good.

"Pick Me, I'm Clean" is NOT really about a groupie of the band but about an interracial relationship involving a woman who is just learning to speak English. This song also examines the different sexual preferences of the band (going "bare back" is gay; going "wet-back" is dating a mexican; going "way back" is dating older women; "should get back" is not dating anyone).

The previous song and the blues-influenced "Bambbozled by love" perfectly capture the activity and attitude of polar-opposite sexual relationships.

This album is not a disappointment.

Easily among Zappa's worst efforts.......2005-12-09

The most disposable and forgettable of Zappa's efforts. Even the recycled material from earlier - and much better albums - comes off very weakly against even weaker new material. Don't bother.

Weak.......2005-06-09

You see, all reviews on this page are positive, but I gotta warn you: this album isn't generally very high-rated among Zappa fans! It sounds a little bit messy (especially "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" - really horrible version of that song), synths are horrible-sounding , there is a lot of filler (spoken tracks or some boring melodies like Easy Meat or Fine Girl), and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta is nowhere as great as on Joe's Garage or Shut Up and Play... Yes, there are a few good (not great) songs - for example the title track, one of a few really tight songs here, but most of this album sounds like an half-mess or very minimalistic on Zappa standards. And I also could live without new versions of some oldies - they're mostly OK, but originals are better, or MUCH better (Peaches III, Brown Shoes).

Flawless.......2004-07-04

This record includes some of my favorite Zappa pieces played by a band that is anything but under-rehearsed. The production is clear and rich. Vinnie Caliauta's playing is electric and drives these big bands with power and precision. He shows us why Zappa considered him the best drummer he ever worked with (and Zappa worked with some damned fine drummers.)

I enjoy most era's and aspects of Frank's music, but I have a special appreciation for some of the live recordings from this period through the eighties. (Granted, some of them are sterile and some are down-right goofy. This is not one of those.) Let's not forget that Zappa's music is difficult and that he was a very demanding band leader. As his career progressed, he had his pick of more and better musicians who were capable of things that former band memebers just could not do.

A solid album.......2003-12-25

Tinsle-Town Rebellion is a pretty solid album that hints at some of the excesses of Zappa's tours in the early 80s -- a proclivity toward podestrian reggae beats, a little heavy on broad extended synth lines, and humor overpowering attention to the music. What saves this album is the material and the band which, frankly, had chops. Vinnie Colaiuta makes this album worthwhile -- and while the effect of his textured playing doesn't create quite the same explosive combination with FZ as it did on Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar, his playing was incomparable, even in FZ's catalogue. Arthur Barrow on bass is another plus -- his slap technique and funk lines adds a lot of energy to some of the tracks. Steve Vai provides some stunt guitar for those who are interested in Vai (not me, certainly).

The album, somewhat awkwardly, begins with a studio track, FINE GIRL -- a rather harmless, catchy piece of misogyny. The rest of the album is live -- starting with a rousing, full performance of EASY MEAT. Some run throughs of songs from Zappa's early catalogue are pretty wasteful. There's really nothing extraordinary about them, save maybe a cute new edition of TELL ME YOU LOVE ME, and the first release of the Leather song FOR THE YOUNG SOPHISTICATE, which is a bluesy little ditty not without merit. NOW YOU SEE IT - NOW YOU DON'T is a reggae-backed grinder of a solo by FZ that meanders a bit, but comes off nicely, comparable to the lesser tracks on Shut Up. There's two tracks of stage theatrics which are funny, but a lot less musically charged than the stunts pulled by the Roxy Band (Be-Bop Tango) or even, dare I say it, the Flo'n'Eddie lineup.

The second half of this album is what makes it for me. Most of the material is original, and the two oldies are both worthwhile. THE BLUE LIGHT is one of my favorite FZ songs -- a funky monster of a track that contains some rather esoteric lyrics. TINSLETOWN REBELLION, the title track, is a venemous shot at the Punk movement with a ton of hooks that ape musical style. PICK ME, I'M CLEAN (like EASY MEAT, I think this was also, curiously, a Flo'n'Eddie number) is a lively song with a great solo. The punch-gut blues of BAMBOOZLED BY LOVE is a charm, if you can look past the rather morbid lyrics. BROWN SHOES DON'T MAKE IT and PEACHES III (Peaches En Regalia) are great closers. Two of the best songs from FZ's early career, in my opinion. This is actually my preferred version of Brown Shoes, and Peaches is always magnificient.

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