Christmas '99 in Japan
On December 22 1999, Videoarts Music (licensing from Rykodisc) released six Zappa compilations (not cover albums) on the theme of letting various Japanese rock stars put together their own Frank Zappa compilation (and pose with Zappa moustache on the cover):
- Panta from Zunokeisatsu Meets Frank Zappa (Ryko VACK 1175, Japan, December 22 1999)
- El-Malo Meets Frank Zappa (Ryko VACK 1176, Japan, December 22 1999)
- Yamamoto S, ATR & Hilah from Boredoms Meets Frank Zappa (Ryko VACK 1177, Japan, December 22 1999)
- Shimoyama J, Ex-the Roosters, Meets Frank Zappa (Ryko VACK 1178, Japan, December 22 1999)
- Tanaka A. from Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra meets Frank Zappa (Ryko VACK 1179, Japan, December 22 1999)
- Sugizo meets Frank Zappa (Ryko VACK 1180, Japan, December 22 1999)
Note: These albums were never officially called "the Christmas 1999 compilations"; that's just a convenient way to describe them here.
- Read blurb & titles in Japanese on our Chinese/Japanese page (requires Japanese language support)
Panta from Zunokeisatsu Meets Frank Zappa
Unique
material: None
1. Who Are the Brain Police?
2. Motherly Love
3. Trouble Every Day
4. I'm not Satisfied
5. Why Don'tcha Do Me right?
6. Dog Breath, in the Year of the Plague
7. Directly from My Heart to You [Penniman]
8. Toads of the Short Forest
9. Tell Me You Love Me
10. Wind up Workin' in a Gas Station
11. The Torture Never Stops
12. I Have Been in You
13. Broken Hearts are for Assholes
14. Jewish Princess
Note that these albums are all Zappa compilations, not cover albums.
El-Malo meets Frank Zappa
Unique
material: None
1. Absolutely Free
2. Big Leg Emma
3. Would You Go All the Way?
4. Village of the Sun
5. Lemme Take You to the Beach
6. Oh No
7. He's So Gay
8. Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy
9. Zomby Woof
10. Disco Boy
11. Peaches en Regalia
12. Brown Shoes Don't Make It
13. My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama
14. The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet
15. Sofa #2
El-Malo is the duo of Ryuichiro Yunoki & Shigekazu Aida. Note that these albums are all Zappa compilations, not cover albums.
Webmaster's aside: I actually own several El-Malo albums, and they're generally pretty excellent, ranging from "acid jazz" (Starship in Worship) to analogue sample-funk (New Paradigm). The guys are fond of inserting Zappa quotes into various songs.
Yamamoto S, ATR & Hilah from Boredoms Meets Frank Zappa
Unique
material: none
1. Nasal-Retentive Calliope Music
2. Flower Punk
3. Hot Poop
4. Nine Types of Industrial Pollution
5. Down in de Dew
6. Inca Roads
7. St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast
8. Father O'Blivion
9. Cheepnis
10. I'm So Cute
11. Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance
12. Village of the Sun
13. Wait a Minute
14. Theme from Burnt Weeny Sandwich
15. Aerobics in Bondage
Note that these albums are all Zappa compilations, not cover albums.
Shimoyama J, Ex-the Roosters, Meets Frank Zappa
Unique
material: none
1. Easy Meat
2. Friendly Little Finger
3. Drafted Again
4. The Sheik Yerbouti Tango
5. Cocaine Decisions
6. Ship Ahoy
7. Cosmik Debris
8. Wait a Minute
9. The Black Page #2
10. Shall We Take Ourselves Seriously?
11. "Let's Move to Cleveland" Solos
12. Catholic Girls
13. Po-Jama People
14. Trecherous Cretins
Note that these albums are all Zappa compilations, not cover albums.
Tanaka A from Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra Meets Frank Zappa
Unique
material: none
1. G-Spot Tornado
2. Whatever Happened to All the Fun in the World?
3. Royal March from "L'Histoire du Soldat" [Stravinsky]
4. Stick It Out
5. Theme from Lumpy Gravy
6. Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?
7. Oh No
8. The Orange County Lumber Truck
9. Twenty Small Cigars
10. Would You Like a Snack?
11. Overture to a Holiday in Berlin
12. How Could I Be Such a Fool?
13. Happy Together [Bonner/Gordon]
14. Sleep Dirt
15. America Drinks & Goes Home
Note that these albums are all Zappa compilations, not cover albums.
Sugizo Meets Frank Zappa
Unique
material: none
1. Are You Hung Up?
2. Five-Five-FIVE
3. Valley Girl
4. The Black Page #2
5. Sleep Dirt
6. I'm So Cute
7. Rubber Shirt [Zappa/Bozzio/O'Hearn]
8. The Sheik Yerbouti Tango
9. The Torture Never Stops
10. I Come from Nowhere
11. Shut Up & Play Yer Guitar
12. Little Beige Sambo
13. Alien Orifice
14. Jumbo, Go Away
15. Blessed Relief
Note that these albums are all Zappa compilations, not cover albums.
Informant
- Mikael Agardsson