Frank Zappa - Inca Roads (A Token Of His Extreme)

[ping-ping-clicka]

The Claymation is mind-bent-ed-ing yes in deed-i-doo!

 

[Digital Larry]

Inca Roads is among my top 5 favorite songs of all time. Just yesterday I was thinking, as I have several times, that if you gave me my entire life to live over, with the singular goal of writing a song like that, I couldn't do it. Frank released that in 1975 although you can hear bits and pieces going back several years (e.g. there's a bit of it on Burnt Weeny Sandwich).

Mother Mary n Joseph!

 

[Brillig]

One of my all time favorites.

It almost sounds like a studio creation when you hear it, but then here it is being performed flawlessly live.

 

[Brillig]

Btw, believe it or not the solo part in Inca Roads was the inspiration for this jam even though it's a very different feel. I love how that section (to my ear anyway) is just built off of those two chords one step apart, so I wanted to do something similar.

 

[Digital Larry]

Here's my cheezy little attempt to do a piece that sounds a little like Frank. I thank my late friend John Staley for getting it started. There are 5 or 6 specific things about it which are similar to things that Frank did. Can you guess what they are?

https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=1570841

 

[Peegoo]

He was so far outside of what everyone else was doing at the time.

"Ink Erodes." Think about that!

 

[Boreas]

A band honed to perfection. Ruth is incredible.

 

[Brillig]

Here's my cheezy little attempt to do a piece that sounds a little like Frank. I thank my late friend John Staley for getting it started. There are 5 or 6 specific things about it which are similar to things that Frank did. Can you guess what they are?

https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=1570841

It all sounds Frank-like to me. Especially the synths, and the synth/vibes unison parts. And the inscrutable time signature/tempo changes.

Intro sounds vaguely Peaches en Regalia-ish to me.

 

[Digital Larry]

It all sounds Frank-like to me. Especially the synths, and the synth/vibes unison parts. And the inscrutable time signature/tempo changes.

Intro sounds vaguely Peaches en Regalia-ish to me.

Well thank you for listening! The seed of the idea came from an attempt to transcribe "The Orange County Lumber Truck" which, as with the Inca Roads guitar solo, is just two chords a step apart. I think of this piece as "Variations on Orange County".

- The rhythm in the opening is a series of phrases in either 6/8 or 7/8 but the pattern is irregular so it doesn't map easily to 13.
- MIDI trumpet and trombone are playing ridiculous parts without the need to breathe.
- As you mentioned, the unison horn/synth/vibes parts
- A reggae middle section for a guitar solo over two chords
- A spot where there are 6 overdubbed guitars using eBow playing the opening 4 notes of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" (although the rhythm is changed and maybe the notes aren't exactly right, but that was the idea)
- A spot where the electric piano, after the fact, doubles some lines which had originally been improvised on the guitar
- At the end, a small section of frenzied pick tapping on the guitar neck - pretty sloppy but I figured I wasn't going to redo it any better so I left it!

DL

 

[Flaneur]

I used to hate it, when bands did exact copies of their recorded songs, at gigs.

Frank never did that.

 

[PhredE]

One of my all time favorites.

It almost sounds like a studio creation when you hear it, but then here it is being performed flawlessly live.

I was lucky enough to see FZ live a couple times. I had not heard a show before or after when the sound so done so well -- you could everything and no one was drowning out anyone else.

 

[Digital Larry]

I was lucky enough to see FZ live a couple times. I had not heard a show before or after when the sound so done so well -- you could everything and no one was drowning out anyone else.

Which years?

 

[PhredE]

Which years?

IIRC.. 1982-1983 (with Steve Vai the last time!)