Joe's Garage
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| Joe's Garage: Acts I, II & III | ||
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| Studio album by Frank Zappa | ||
| Released | September 1979 (Act I) November 19, 1979 (Acts II & III) |
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| Recorded | April-June 1979 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 115:21 | |
| Label | Zappa Records Rykodisc (reissue) |
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| Producer(s) | Frank Zappa | |
| Professional reviews | ||
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| Frank Zappa chronology | ||
| Orchestral Favorites (1979) |
Joe's Garage: Acts I, II & III (1979) |
Tinsel Town Rebellion (1981) |
| Joe's Garage: Acts I, II & III | ||
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| Photo used as the cover for Joe's Garage: Acts II & III. | ||
Joe's Garage: Acts I, II & III is a 1979 rock opera by Frank Zappa. The album features Ike Willis as the voice of "Joe", a stereotypical garage band youth who unwittingly journeys through the miasma of the music business. Zappa provides the voice of the "Central Scrutinizer" character —a mechanical voice which narrates the story and haunts Joe's psyche with McCarthyistic 50s-era discouragement and "scrutiny."
The album was originally issued in two parts, the first part being a single LP of Act I, and the second part being a double-LP set of Acts II & III. All three acts were later issued together as a box set, and on compact disc as a double-CD. The major themes of the story include groupie migration, mockery of Scientology, appliance fetishism, garage bands, and above all censorship of music as an artform (eerily predicting the formation of the PMRC).
Contents |
[edit] Story
[edit] Act I
Joe used to be a nice boy who would cut his neighbors' grass until he discovered rock music, then he would spend all his time playing loud music in his garage, where the neighbors would often call the cops on him. He loses his girlfriend, Mary, a Catholic girl, to a band called "Toad-O" with whom she goes on the road, sleeping with the band's roadies. Eventually, they abandon her in Miami when she is too tired to do anything.
Mary enters a wet t-shirt contest to try to make enough money to get back home. Joe hears of her exploits, and in retaliation, has sex with a girl who works at the Jack-In-The-Box named Lucille who gives him an unpronounceable disease though he claims it came from a toilet seat.
[edit] Act II
Joe turns to religion for help, and "pays a lot of money to L. Ron Hoover at the First Church of Appliantology." He is identified as a "latent appliance fetishist" and instructed to "go into the closet" to achieve "sexual gratification through the use of machines". In this instance, "The Closet" is the name of a club where humans can interact with appliances.
Joe ends up destroying an expensive model with a golden shower, and is thrown in prison where he is repeatedly gang raped by former music executives.
[edit] Act III
When Joe is released from prison, music has become illegal. He loses his sanity, and begins imagining all the guitar notes he cannot play. Eventually, he comes to terms with the fact that music is gone, and gets a job at the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, frosting muffins.
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[edit] Cast
- Central Scrutinizer, Larry, L. Ron Hoover, Father Riley & Buddy Jones – Frank Zappa
- Joe – Ike Willis
- Mary – Dale Bozzio
- Mrs. Borg – Denny Walley
- Officer Butzis – Al Malkin
- Sy Borg – Warren Cuccurullo & Ed Mann
- Bald-Headed John – Terry Bozzio
- The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen Chorus – AL MALKIN, WARREN CUCURULLO, DALE BOZZIO, GEORDIE HORMEL, BARBARA ISSAK & most of the people who work at Village Recorders (circa 1979).
[edit] Track listing
All songs written, arranged, and conducted by Frank Zappa.
[edit] Act I
- "Central Scrutinizer" – 3:28
- "Joe's Garage" – 6:10
- "Catholic Girls" – 4:26
- "Crew Slut" – 6:31
- "Fembot in a Wet T-Shirt" – 4:45
- "On the Bus" – 4:19
- "Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?" – 2:36
- "Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up" – 5:43
- "Scrutinizer Postlude" – 1:35
[edit] Act II
- "A Token of My Extreme" – 5:30
- "Stick It Out" – 4:34
- "Sy Borg" – 8:56
- "Dong Work for Yuda" – 5:03
- "Keep It Greasey" – 8:22
- "Outside Now" – 5:50
[edit] Act III
- "He Used to Cut the Grass" – 8:35
- "Packard Goose" – 11:34
- "Watermelon in Easter Hay" – 9:09
- "A Little Green Rosetta" – 8:15
[edit] Personnel
- Frank Zappa – Arranger, Conductor, Keyboards, Vocals, Producer, Main Performer, Guitar
- Al Malkin – Vocals
- Arthur Barrow – Vocals, Bass
- Barbara Isaak – Choir, Chorus, Assistant
- Craig Twister Steward – Harmonica
- Dale Bozzio – Vocals
- Denny Walley – Vocals, Slide Guitar, Guitar
- Ed Mann – Vocals, Percussion
- Ferenc Dobronyi – Cover Design
- Geordie Hormel – Choir, Chorus
- Ike Willis – Vocals
- Jack Hunt – Mastering
- Jeff – Sax (Tenor)
- Jimmy Carl Black – Drums, Percussion
- Joe Chiccarelli – Engineer, Mixing, Recording
- John Williams – Artwork
- Marginal Chagrin – Sax (Baritone)
- Mick Glossop – Remixing
- Norman Seeff – Photography, Cover Photo
- Patrick O'Hearn – Wind, Bass
- Peter Wolf – Keyboards
- Stan Ricker – Mastering
- Steve Alsberg – Project Coordinator
- Steve Nye – Remixing
- Stumuk – Sax (Baritone), Sax (Bass)
- Terry Bozzio – Guest Vocals
- Thomas Nordegg – Assistant
- Tom Cummings – Assistant
- Tommy Mars – Keyboards
- Vinnie Colaiuta – Drums, Percussion
- Warren Cuccurullo – Guitar (Rhythm), Vocals, Choir, Chorus, Organ, Guitar
[edit] See also
- Telefunken, for the U-47 microphone cited in songs "Crew Slut" and "Sy Borg"
- Dystopia
- Scientology
- Catholic Youth Organization
