The Man from Utopia

The Man from Utopia
Studio album by Frank Zappa
Released March 28, 1983
Recorded October 1980 - October 1982
Genre Hard rock, progressive rock, art rock, comedy rock
Length 36:34 (original version)
Label Barking Pumpkin
Producer Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa chronology
Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch
(1982)		 The Man from Utopia
(1983)		 Baby Snakes
(1983)
Singles from The Man from Utopia
  1. "The Man from Utopia Meets Mary Lou"
    Released: 1983
  2. "Cocaine Decisions"
    Released: 1983
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

The Man from Utopia is a 1983 album by Frank Zappa. The album is named after a 1950s song, written by Donald and Doris Woods, which Zappa covers as part of "The Man from Utopia Meets Mary Lou".[2] This is Official Release #36.

Production

"The Dangerous Kitchen", "Mōggio" and "The Jazz Discharge Party Hats" were all prepared for Zappa's unreleased album Chalk Pie.

The sleeve art features the work of Tanino Liberatore. It portrays Zappa on stage trying to kill mosquitoes. That is a reference to a concert held in Italy in 1982, the year before the release of the album, on 7 July at Parco Redecesio (which is also referred in a street sign on the album cover) in Segrate, near Milan. While Zappa was playing a huge number of mosquitoes began flying on stage and gave the band a hard time. The back cover shows the audience as seen from the stage during the 1982 concert in Palermo, which ended in a riot. The album was the second of two to credit Steve Vai with "impossible guitar parts" (the first being the preceding album Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch).

Music and lyrics

The album's opening track "Cocaine Decisions", with its groove redolent of skiffle washboards, is an attack on drug-influenced businessmen and features a harmonica. "The Dangerous Kitchen" satirizes dirty, unkempt kitchens.

"Kitchen", "Radio", and "The Jazz Discharge Party Hats" all feature Zappa's "meltdown" style of generally pre-written but sometimes improvised singing/speaking. For "Jazz" and "Kitchen", Zappa had guitarist Steve Vai overdub complex guitar parts for the entire length of the songs, which perfectly copied Zappa's every word and syllable. This unique type of overdub was a one-time experiment that Zappa never repeated. Hungarian composer Péter Eötvös said in an interview:[3]

"Dangerous Kitchen", off the album "The Man From Utopia", grew to become a basic piece for me, especially in later years, after I began working on operas. The technique that he uses in this particular song is very interesting: it's this half-sung, half-spoken performing method that's not quite like Sprechgesang, but what makes it so interesting is that he accompanies it with an instrumental solo. I was very surprised to find out that the guitar part was recorded separately. As it seemed so synchronous, I was convinced that Zappa had sung and played at the same time. Nevertheless the technique itself, the idea of "the singing instrument" comes from "Dangerous Kitchen".

Release history

The album was originally released on vinyl in 1983. An unauthorized CD of this edition (with the exception of a remixed "Moggio") was issued by EMI in the UK in 1986. The album was issued (in remixed and resequenced form with one additional track) on CD in 1993 by Barking Pumpkin. The later 1995 Rykodisc edition and the 2012 Universal Music Group release are identical.

Track listing

All songs written, composed and arranged by Frank Zappa, except where noted.

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Cocaine Decisions"   2:56
2. "The Dangerous Kitchen"   2:51
3. "Tink Walks Amok"   3:40
4. "The Radio is Broken"   5:52
5. "Mōggio"   3:05
Side two
No. Title Length
6. "The Man from Utopia Meets Mary Lou" (Donald and Doris Woods, Obie Jessie) 3:19
7. "Stick Together"   3:50
8. "SEX"   3:00
9. "The Jazz Discharge Party Hats"   4:30
10. "We Are Not Alone"   3:31
CD release
No. Title Length
1. "Cocaine Decisions"   3:53
2. "SEX"   3:44
3. "Tink Walks Amok"   3:39
4. "The Radio is Broken"   5:51
5. "We Are Not Alone"   3:18
6. "The Dangerous Kitchen"   2:51
7. "The Man from Utopia Meets Mary Lou"   3:22
8. "Stick Together"   3:14
9. "The Jazz Discharge Party Hats"   4:29
10. "Luigi & the Wise Guys" (bonus track) 3:25
11. "Mōggio"   2:35

Personnel

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1983 Pop Albums 153[4]

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/The_Man_From_Utopia.html#Utopia
  3. ↑ We share the same background - Peter Eötvös remembers Frank Zappa (zappa.hu)
  4. ↑ "Charts and Awards for The Man from Utopia". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
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