Necessity Is...: The Early Years of Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention - Softcover

Billy James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0946719519 ISBN 13: 9780946719518

Publisher: S A F Pub Ltd, 2002

Synopsis

"Billy James’s book about Frank Zappa and his early entourage is flat-out wonderful."—Booklist

"What makes James’s book such a delight is, this time the story gets told by the original group members, who give a clearer insight into the natural history of The Mothers, their music, their hidden talents, and Zappa’s tightly disciplined, drug-free working methods and demands. To give away too many of the truly freaky anecdotes sprinkled throughout the text would spoil the fun."—The Wire

About this title

From Booklist

James' book about Frank Zappa and his early band mates is flat-out wonderful. For starters (well, enders, actually), its discography covers Zappa, the Mothers of Invention, and each individual Mother--not only Jimmy Carl Black's entire oeuvre, but those of Ian Underwood and Motorhead Sherwood, too. Yow! Meanwhile, among the crucial bits of Zappa lore James assembles are the other Mothers' perspectives on ex-Turtles Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan joining the band during the videotaping of 200 Motels. At the time, the legal backwash from the Turtles' breakup precluded the two singers from recording under their real names. So on Chunga's Revenge, Zappa billed them as Flo & Eddie, aka the Phlorescent Leech and Eddie, monikers appropriated from two Turtles roadies but which Volman and Kaylan use to this day. With so many great details, the lack of an index is disappointing, but it mustn't dissuade pop music collections from acquiring this vital look back at late '60s L.A and its pop music scene--a retrospection delightfully skewed by Zappa's genius and his and the other Mothers' perspectives. Certainly, no self-respecting Zappa-tista will snub the book for having no index. After all, these musicians are the guys who pretty much created alternative rock. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: S A F Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0946719519
• ISBN 13: 9780946719518
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 223