Frank Zappa - Sleep Dirt (1979) [2002 FZ Papersleeve Edition]

Sleep dirt opens with the melody of "Filthy habits", that has some melismatic Arab effects in it, followed by two feedback guitars soloing. Then follows a sequence of songs from the 1972 musical "Hunchentoot" with Thana Harris singing the lyrics. The original album was instrumental and still is as included in the 1996 "Läther" CD. The use of a contrabass and a piano once again are giving an album a jazzrock character (the album at first appears to have been called "Hot rats III"). "Time is money" gets special attention in the Ludwig study. It's presented as a piece dealing with ongoing metre changes, using many odd numbered ones, "apparently at random the most varied rhythmic-metric sections are combined, making it sound as a collage" (Ludwig, page 104). The title track is a for Zappa unusual solo with Zappa playing over a chord progression. The notes of chords are played in broken patterns till the player after three minutes of doing so finally gets his fingers stuck. Guitar solos are also the main ingredient of the lengthy closing number "The ocean is the ultimate solution".


Tracks:

01. Filthy Habits 7:34
02. Flambay 4:54
03. Spider Of Destiny 2:33
04. Regyptian Strut 4:13
05. Time Is Money 2:49
06. Sleep Dirt 3:21
07. The Ocean Is The Ultimate Solution 13:19

Personnel:

Frank Zappa – guitar, percussion, keyboards, synthesizer
Patrick O'Hearn – bass guitar
Terry Bozzio – drums
George Duke – keyboards, vocals
Bruce Fowler – brass
Stephen Marcussen – mastering, equalization
Gary Panter – art director
Dave Parlato – bass guitar
Bob Stone – mastering, remastering, equalization
Chester Thompson – drums
Ruth Underwood – percussion, keyboards
James "Bird Legs" Youman – bass guitar, rhythm guitar
Thana Harris – vocals (CD remix)
Chad Wackerman – drum overdubs (CD remix)