Frank Zappa started a label of his own and had his greatest commercial success with this double album of 'booty-shakin'' live performances enhanced with xenochronous studio overdubs. In 1976, he had terminated his partnership with his manager Herb Cohen over financial disagreements and the label that they formed together DiscReet Records (on distribution with Warner Brothers) was dismantled as well. The next year he formed Zappa Records with distribution by Phonogram Records. The first release on his new label was 'Sheik Yerbouti' which was culled from shows at the Hammersmith Odeon in London and The Palladium in New York. The album credits Frank Zappa on lead guitar, vocals, arrangements, composition, producer, and remixing; Adrian Belew on rhythm guitar, vocals, and Bob Dylan impersonation; Patrick O'Hearn on bass and vocals; Terry Bozzio on drums and vocals; Davey Moire on vocals and engineering; Ed Mann on percussion and vocals; Tommy Mars and Andre Lewis on keyboards and backing vocals; Peter Wolf on keyboards, butter, and Flora margarine; David Ocker on clarinet; and Napoleon Murphy Brock and Randy Thornton on backing vocals; with Bob Stone on digital remastering; Joe Chiccarelli on remixing and overdub engineering; Lynn Goldsmith on photography anc cover photo; Peter Henderson and Kerry McNabb as engineers; Bob Ludwig as mastering engineer; John Williams on art direction; Gail Zappa on photography; Amy Bernstein on artwork and layout design; and Barbara Isaak as assistant.
Zappa would expound at the time: “Americans are so stupid. They think that it’s impossible to do anything creative without without some sort of chemical assistance. They've been brainwashed into that, because see Americans don't know anything about art. They don't know anything about creativity. Everything that passes for art and creativity in the United States is so mediocre that if they ever come in contact with the real thing, they can't believe. They can't believe that somebody can just sit down and do something without being ripped out of their mind...You don’t need to be ripped to do something creative. All you need to do it sit down and do it. You say to yourself 'there's nobody in the world that can stop me; there's no way they can keep me from what i'm going to do', and then you do it. You don't get wasted. You just do it. And if somebody doesn't like it you tell them to cram it and keep doing it ... All you can do is say 'I'll play it myself' and a lot of times that's what I end up doing. When a guy has a certain amount of musical skill, he can't always see that the thing that matters is the song. That's the net result, the completed thing the audience wants to hear. They're not so impressed that you can play your instrument fast or loud...There are plenty of other groups to entertain people who need reinforcements of their lifestyle. They're all out there, freeze-dried and shit, who wear space masks and cat whiskers, groups who play like a typewriter hooked up to a pentatonic scale generator. There's plenty of those, plenty of everything for everybody. I just do mine for me and people who happen to like it."
'Sheik Yerbouti' went to number twenty-one on the US album chart and became the best selling album of Zappa's career, with over two million copies moved to date.
http://www.zappa.com/
"City of Tiny Lites" animation video made by Bruce Bickford and featured on the Old Grey Whistle Test.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZRNPUmwAOY
"Bobby Brown" was a hit in clubs in Scandinavia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KWW_-qDVdA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUq_T_Bhau8
'Sheik Yerbouti'
http://www.last.fm/music/Frank+Zappa/Sheik+Yerbouti
full album:
1 - I Have Been in You 00:00
2 - Flakes 3:34
3 - Broken Hearts Are for Assholes 10:15
4 - I'm So Cute 13:57
5 - Jones Crusher 17:06
6 - What Ever Happened to All the Fun in the World 19:55
7 - Rat Tomago 20:29
8 - Wait a Minute 25:46
9 - Bobby Brown (Goes Down) 26:18
10 - The Sheik Yerbouti Tango 29:07
11 - Baby Snakes 33:08
12 - Tryin' to Grow a Chin 34:58
13 - City of Tiny Lites 38:31
14 - Dancin' Fool 44:03
15 - Jewish Princess 47:44
16 - Wild Love 51:02
17 - Yo' Mama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U38_buPdNiI
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