Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play

Rating:
Summary: A dense but decent read (for hardcore Zappaphiles only)
Review: An engaging tome if you're either a hardcore Zappa fanatic or tweed-wearing dweeb in a university English department somewhere. The book offers an often insightful analysis of Zappa's macro-output and hits the nail on the head with one of its theses: that Zappa, forging ahead along paths established by Stravinsky and Varese, manages like no other composer to create an oeuvre that defies all attempts at genre-classification. Be warned, however: Watson's Marxist-Freudian bent leaves him frequently guilty of reductive thinking. Though I doubt Watson intends them as humorous, some of the shaky links he creates between FZ and literary figures from Joyce to Ruskin are absolutely hilarious (it's a little telling that, according to Watson's own account, FZ and his wife, Gail, were in stitches when reading the section of the book comparing Zappa's "Apostrophe(')" album to Shakespeare's "King Lear"). While this is the first "academic" Zappa book to come along, I'm sure it won't be the last--or the best.

Rating:
Summary: Psuedo-intellectual tripe
Review: God, how I hated this book. I'm been a huge FZ fan since the '60s; have everything he's ever put out (& then some); but if I had read this book first I would never have even given him a listen. This book is more about Mr. Watson showing off his psuedo-intellectual prowess than it is about Frank Zappa. Mr. Watson attempts to psycho-analyze every word FZ wrote when FZ himself said that on most songs his lyrics existed solely to highlight the music. FZ would spend weeks writing the music then dash out the lyrics in a half hour. Mr. Watson has certainly researched FZ's music but he has researched it to death, attributing the lyrics with all sorts of hidden meaning. Come on! 'Sometimes a banana is just a banana'.

Rating:
Summary: a brillian work - worthy op a great musician
Review: I am a Zappa fan with no special interest in postmodernism, Theodor Adorno, or Marxism - but Ben Watson has written an extraordinary book that enhanced my appreciation and enjoyment of every Zappa album. Every page is crammed with ideas, some silly and fanciful and others perceptive and engaging. He never lets up. If you ever enjoyed a single Zappa album, you must buy this book and find out more.

Rating:
Summary: Benign Fabrications
Review: I have read the following books by or about Frank Zappa. In addition, this list constitutes a ranking of my assessment of the quality of these books.

1. THE REAL FRANK ZAPPA BOOK by Frank Zappa and Peter Occhioigrosso
2. MOTHER! THE FRANK ZAPPA STORY by Michael Gray
3. FRANK ZAPPA: THE NEGATIVE DIALECTICS OF POODLE PLAY
4. ELECTRIC DON QUIXOTE: THE DEFINITIVE STORY OF FRANK ZAPPA by Neil Slaven
5. NECESSITY IS... THE EARLY YEARS OF FRANK ZAPPA AND THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION by Billy James
6. COSMIK DEBRIS: THE COLLECTIVE HISTORY AND IMPROVISATIONS OF FRANK ZAPPA by Greg Russo
7. NO COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL: THE SAGA OF FRANK ZAPPA by David Walley
8. THEM OR US by Frank Zappa
9. UNDER THE SAME MOON by Suzannah Thana Harris
10. BEING FRANK: MY TIME WITH FRANK ZAPPA by Nigery Lennon

When I started reading FRANK ZAPPA: THE NEGATIVE DIALECTICS OF POODLE PLAY, I found myself having flashbacks to the days of my doctoral studies and to the philosophical debates emerging from the 60's liberation movement. While a Ph.D. student I studied Postmodernism, Feminism, Liberation Philosophers, etc. You know, all the stuff you'd think would have no application outside of graduate study. As a result, I was fascinated because reading this book was the first time I had to actually reflect back to the philosophies I studied. I actually found myself reading POODLE PLAY in the manner that I read my required readings as a Ph.D student. I checked and read some of the citations; I searched for more information on topics for which I was unfamiliar (i.e.," Situational International"); I discussed major themes and ideas with colleagues who were professors of economics, philosophy, sociology and political science. After reading the several chapters, my first impression was that Watson's book was intellectually challenging - more challenging than any recent research I have been reading.

Two critical points can be made. First, I was profoundly struck by Watson' critique of Feminist Theory within Zappa's work. I never read such an analysis and found it refreshing. I saw Zappa much more of a deep thinker and an intellectual giant. Second, some of Watson's later analysis of Zappa's work seemed to be pushing the envelop to absurdity. I began to see Watson as a pseudo intellectual particularly when he equated KING LEAR with Zappa's APOSTROPHE('). Watson writes: "In 'Nanook Rubs It' Nonook blinds the fur trapper by rubbing his eyes with snow discoloured with ... [you know]. Blindness is also central to King Lear." (page 243). I almost stopped reading.

Somehow I managed to continue to read and I'm glad that I did. When I reached the epilogue, the entire book was made clear. Here, Watson describes his meeting with Zappa and his wife, Gail, after they read the prepublished manuscript of POODLE PLAY. At that time, Zappa had terminal cancer and the book made him laugh! Clearly, this was Watson's intent for his book. I finally got it! In an attempt to define the humor found within, I spoke with Dr. Bowman who specializes in the study of humor and recreation. Currently, there seems to be no formal label for Watson's brand of humor. Bowman came to the conclusion that Watson's work can best be described as hyperbolic or benign fabrications - descriptive terms that were derived from the work of Erving Goffman. Essentially, through a series of intellectual gyration, Watson takes classical literature (throughout the ages) and draws parallels with Zappa's work. In many cases the linkages are fascinating, but other times they are absurd. It is like a very good April Fools joke. It is like tugging a barely fitting rubber band over the head of a jar.

The big question is how was Watson able to pull this off? First, it is obvious that he studied philosophy and knows the subject matter. Second, he intimately knows Zappa's work. Third, Watson discovered reoccurring themes in the history of humanity. Thus, the blindness we find in APOSTROPHE(') can be defined with the same symbolic value we see in King Lear. Did Zappa create this deep symbolism in his lyrics? Of course not! Is there some kind of collective unconsciousness within humanity in which general themes for the understanding of the meaning of life continues to surface in a unique manner for each generation? Well, that sounds like a theme for Watson's next book.

Rating:
Summary: Watch out Ben! The poodle bites.
Review: I hope no one will ever read this and take it seriously. Somehow I have a hard time thinkin Frank would be impressed with this self-indulgent intellectual nonsense. I will give Ben credit for be slightly amusing. Anyone who has read this book should visit Mike Keneally's web site. He has carefully pointed out all of the misinformation contained within this pompous tome. Good job Mike!

Rating:
Summary: exactly what frank was talking about
Review: If there was one thing that FZ hated, it was critics. Frank hated them because they didn't understand what he was doing. Frank hated them for not understanding music in general. But mostly frank hated them because as the old adage says: those who can, do; those who can't, teach; and those who can't teach, criticize.

While this is a wonderfully written book, it is a critics view of Zappa. It expounds on the meanings Frank might have intended in his work, yet many of its quotations can be found in "The Real Frank Zappa Book." If you want to know what Zappa was really about, get that book, not "The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play." Better to get information from the man himself, instead of through the eyes of a critic.

Rating:
Summary: Bottom line- if you're a fan , get this
Review: It's amazing that so much different music came from one man, the genius Frank Zappa. Also amazing is Ben Watson's knowledge of Philosophy, Psychology, recorded music and literature. and politics.and history.and etc. This book is a combination of Frank Zappa and Ben Watson. Ben using loads of intellectual,materialist arguments to analyse FZ's music (well, mostly his lyrics). The method of negative dialectics brings low culture and high culture together and ridicules the class system, or something like that. It's quite difficult, one moment you can be reading the lyrics to Easy Meat, and suddenly you're plunged into the intellectual reduction of Beethoven's music to orgasm. It's heavy stuff, and it isn't helped by the long-windedness of the writing.

The chapters on the early stuff, from freak out to 1972, are pretty damn good.He draws a lot of his information from other books (Michael Gray Mother!The story of Frank Zappa - loads of quotes from this book; also david walley 'no commercial potential'), but he gives us loads of his own insights too, loads of Karl Marx and Freud. For example, the uncle meat analysis is brilliant.(When he reads it to Frank in the epilogue section, frank leans over to shake his hand). Ben uses a lot of quotes from a philosopher guy called Theodore Adorno, these are used to illustrate certain points but sometimes are incredibly difficult to understand( to non-philosophy readers like me).

Then things get really insane. Overnite sensation and apostrophe are analysed almost to death, and this is where he starts bringing in Shakespeare and Plato and James Joyce and other things. He doesn't talk a great deal about the 'music' in these albums, it's all poetry. Some of his conclusions are amazing eg montana is about masturbation because you can extract the word 'onan' from it (onanism). One size fits all is also given a hefty workout.

Things get more down to earth after these albums, but still plenty of great speculation ('fine girl' for example). 'Lather' is given a super treatment, a great blend of information and 'are you serious Ben?' analysis. For albums like 'shut up' and 'guitar' he can't really say much except that they're great albums, and refers to the solos as either 'pungent' or 'devastating'. The book then gets into a dullish album by album ,track by track analysis, which is great if you want to look up a single album (but not so great if you're reading the book through). For example, if you buy 'thing-fish' and are wondering what it's all about, Check out this book for some excellent tips. (jwcurry is mentioned as an important zappaphile here). He also goes through the 'stage ' series , some useful stuff . Great chapter when he finally meets Frank, and some funny barbs to the critics in the postscript.

Overall, i would only recommend this book to Frank Zappa fans who have a lot of the stuff, or who are on their way to 'a higher plane of Zappa appreciation'. It's certainly the only book of its kind. Thank you

Rating:
Summary: The Best Companion for FZ fans
Review: OK, it's a shame this book is out of print. I bought it years ago, and still come back to it time and again. The writing at times becomes laden with theory and reference, but the concepts are clearly outlined (kind of like Frank's music actually!)

So what was the Rhino Records guy complaining about? Ben Watson is obviously a huge fan of Zappa's, and if you love FZ you will appreciate this effort. I agree with Mr. Watson's assessment that Frank's music connects with and further develops the heaviest and oldest themes in art. Most unlucky people will never get past FZ's satire to hear the infinite layers above and below the belt... read the chapter on "Thing-Fish"!

Rating:
Summary: Wordy and says very little .5 stars.
Review: This book is guilty of trying to put FZ in clothing I am not sure he would wear.

I understand that FZ thought the book was 'good' but you can bet he never read this big paperwieght cover to cover.

Bird cage lining.

If this book was a singer it would be THE BEST OF GOLDENTHROAT.

A lot of words, and most of them for PHD's to muck about through. This book could have been about the space shuttle tragedy with the word Zappa put in here and there and nobody would have known the difference.

Rating:
Summary: This has to be the necessary course book in university
Review: This one is very very funny!!
If you have basic knowledge about culture, literature, music, political and western history and philosophy, this is even funnier.
I have read this about ten times and it is more funnier every time.
WARNING! This is hard one to play!