I took Frank Zappa’s advice


I’ve never actually heard this album but apparently Frank and I have the same taste. I listen to everything that way. 

Zappa - Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch:

"This album has been engineered to sound correct on JBL 4311 speakers or an equivalent. Best results will be achieved if you set your pre-amp tone controls to the flat position with the loudness control in the off position. Before adding any treble or bass to the sound of the album, it would be advisable to check it out this way first. F.Z."

mashif

Please play Rat Tomago  off shiek.

Well I was pissed off when I missed the pair of 4350 cabinets from the Zappa auction years ago.

In a similar but less serious vein, the liner notes from Jeff Becks Truth album contain a few gems like, “ This must be played at maximum volume whatever phonograph you use”,  and “Probably the rudest sounds ever recorded. Intended for listening to whilst angry or stoned”. 
 

But will it make that Dinah-mo Hum?

 

I whipped off her bloomers 'n stiffened my thumb
And applied rotation on her sugar plum
I poked 'n stroked till my wrist got numb
But I still didn't hear no Dinah-Moe Humm
Dinah-Moe Humm

Favorite audiophile liner notes, Steely Dan, Katy Lied:

Read the booklet that comes with "Jazz At The Pawnshop 30th Anniversary" SACD box.  

It could almost be a sound engineer's Master's Thesis.

I have Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch (and more than 10 others) and I find the sound harsh and fatiguing in a way like no other record. Does it lose some of its' bite using Zappa's recommended speakers?

"Trouble Every Day" was written by Frank in 1965 as he watched the Watts riots.

It would still be relevant if it was written today.

Well, I'm about to get sick
From watchin' my TV
Been checkin' out the news until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean to say that every day is just another rotten mess
And when it's gonna change, my friends, is anybody's guess

So I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay that trouble comin' every day
No way to delay that trouble comin' every day

Wednesday I watched the riot, I seen the cops out on the street
Watched 'em throwin' rocks and stuff and chokin' in the heat
Listened to reports about the whisky passin' 'round
Seen the smoke and fire and the market burnin' down
Watched while everybody on his street would take a turn
To stomp and smash and bash and crash and slash and bust and burn

And I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay that trouble comin' every day
No way to delay that trouble comin' every day

Well, you can cool it you can heat it
'Cause, baby, I don't need it
Take your TV tube and eat it
And all that phony stuff on sports and all the unconfirmed reports
You know I watched that rotten box until my head began to hurt
From checkin' out the way the newsmen say they get the dirt
Before the guys on channel so-and-so, further they assert
That any show they'll interrupt
To bring you news if it comes up
They say that if the place blows up
They'll be the first to tell
Because the boys they got downtown are workin' hard and doin' swell
And if anybody gets the news
Before it hits the street they say that no one blabs it faster
Their coverage can't be beat
And if another woman driver
Gets machine-gunned from her seat
They'll send some joker with a brownie and you'll see it all complete

So I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay that trouble comin' every day
No way to delay that trouble comin' every day

Hey, you know something people?
I'm not black but there's a whole lots a times I wish I could say I'm not white

Well, I seen the fires burnin' and the local people turnin'
On the merchants and the shops who used to sell their brooms and mops
And every other household item
Watched the mob just turn and bite 'em
And they say it served 'em right
Because a few of them are white
And it's the same across the nation, black and white discrimination
Yellin' "you can't understand me!"
And all that other jazz they hand me
In the papers and TV and all that mass stupidity
That seems to grow more every day
Each time you hear some nitwit say
He wants to go and do you in
'Cause the color of your skin
Just don't appeal to him
No matter if it's black or white because he's out for blood tonight

You know we gotta sit around at home and watch this thing begin
But I bet there won't be many left to see it really end
'Cause the fire in the street ain't like the fire in the heart
And in the eyes of all these people don't you know that this could start?
On any street, in any town, in any state if any clown
Decides that now's the time to fight
For some ideal he thinks is right
And if a million more agree, there ain't no great society
As it applies to you and me
Our country isn't free
And the law refuse to see if all that you can ever be
Is just a lousy janitor
Unless your uncle owns a store
You know that five in every four
Just won't amount to nothin' more
Than watchin' rats go across the floor
And make up songs about being poor
Blow your harmonica, son!

@yesiam_a_pirate Lol

@jfd11 No.

Great! googely moogely 🤩…

What a fun thread ❤️…

I can’t remember who turned me on to it or how I discovered it, but I scored a copy of Apostrophe my sophomore year of high school so I suppose you could say I sorta cut my audiophile teeth on it. 

@nerdken 

After all these responses, I listened to it. I didn't care for the sound. I'm not sure any speakers could remedy that. 

I thought that no EQ was a very popular notion in audiophilia.  My previous integrated amp had a button to defeat the treble and bass settings and my present IA does not have EQ knobs at all.  Isn't this common?

also,

What can I say about this elixir?

I thought that no EQ was a very popular notion in audiophilia. My previous integrated amp had a button to defeat the treble and bass settings and my present IA does not have EQ knobs at all. Isn’t this common?

@tostadosunidos , I was out of it for a while, but once upon a time I believe that this was the popular audiophile opinion. But the popular audiophile opinion, related to just about everything,  seems to be a shifting landscape.

 Frank Zappa was a musical genius. There's no one on the planet that could contradict this sentiment. He demonstrated this fact by excelling at all types of music from rock to pop to jazz to classical. Open your mind to the cynical, and humorous paths he explored. Music doesn't always have to be serious. He had no equal. It's a damn shame that the tar in cigarettes killed him, not the nicotine. If you consider yourself a music aficionado, try one of his many flavors. First heard The Mothers Of Invention in 1966 as a freshman in high school and attempted to purchase any and all releases from then on. I have lost track of how many LPs of his I have purchased. You don't have to agree with his politics or religious views, just listen to the music.