December 07, 2010

Zappadan 3

I love the short-lived Flo and Eddie band from 1970-71. This song from 200 Motels is a fine example of how Frank used their great voices to create some fantastic arrangements. He always loved having a high tenor in the band and here he has two.



I wanted to show why Frank loved those high tenors but YouTube let me down so here, for a limited time is one of the doo-wop masterpieces Luigi and The Wiseguys for your listening or downloading pleasure. This song has the best lyrics EVER!

3 comments:

Brady Bonk said...

Ray Collins was one of Frank's favorites. I've got a post about Ray coming up at KIAV. Interesting, before he started working with the Mothers, Ray had a fledgling career going as a doo-wop singer. For reals.

irisclara said...

I'm looking forward to reading that. According to Wikipedia he did the tenor parts on Cruising With Ruben & the Jets which I love. Maybe I'll try to track down some of his non-Zappa doo-wop stuff.

Brady Bonk said...

Well, from what I have read, you'll be looking pretty hard. I said it was a "fledgling" career. As in, one song. And then the lead singer got thrown in the pokey. From what I could tell, Collins' career then picked up after he hooked up with the Soul Giants, later to become the Mothers, or when he started writing with Frank, not sure which. Stay tuned.