Setting realistic expectations, it is thus important to go into any Funky listening session not expecting it to sound like Return of the Son of Hot Rats. In fact, Funky Nothingness is its own thing betwixt and between, as Zappa was exploring new sounds for what would ultimately lead to the next incarnation of The Mothers of Invention. Frank Zappa remains one of the most fascinating musicians and composers of his generation. Zappa was a rare individual who was equally skilled playing and writing in a number of different genres and styles, Funky Nothingness represents the brief era of a band which deserved to last longer than it did. Early on, Zappa realized the importance of recording whenever possible, as an impromptu studio jam or concert highlight might otherwise be lost for good. Especially after he dissolved his original Mothers of Invention band in 1969, Zappa sought out the best musicians possible. By the time of his death he had amassed a sizable library of unissued studio and concert performances. With the time Zappa spent composing, rehearsing bands and going on the road, it is little wonder that there was insufficient time for him to go through his entire archive to locate hidden treasures for release. The Funky Nothingness sessions — built around the steady groove of drummer Aynsley Dunbar and bassist Max Bennett — catch Zappa in harvesting-ideas mode. The group explores vintage swamp blues (Lightnin’ Slim’s “I’m a Rollin’ Stone”) and early R&B (covers of Hank Ballard’s “Work With Me Annie” and “Annie Had a Baby,” sung by Don “Sugarcane” Harris), as well as whimsical originals built on older styles (the doo-wop send-up “Sharleena”). It’s joyriding, lane-changing music — the atmosphere is loose and easygoing (for a Zappa project). There are few conceptual overlays to manage.

Finally, there’s a few weird odds and ends: “Halos and Arrows,” a fragment where Zappa overdubs himself with layers of guitars (it’s perhaps a cousin to “Nine Types of Industrial Pollution”), “Moldred” which is a slowed-down and overdubbed bit from “Tommy/Vincent,” and “Fast Funky Nothingness” which bookends the set with another bluesy guitar jam.But for Zappa, things moved fast in those days. By May he’d thrown together a group with some of the Mothers and played a few shows in New York, then did a one-time performance with the LA Philharmonic at the end of the month. A month later, he’d hooked up with two-ed Turtles and was on a completely different path, one that’d lead to a movie and a near-death experience. This brief period in his career was maybe just a blip, but it’s nice to finally have more than just a few performances from it. | r milner Ultratop.be – Frank Zappa – Funky Nothingness" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 2, 2023. If you love Frank Zappa’s music and his work around the time of Hot Rats and Chunga’s Revenge, then Funky Nothingness is an absolutely essential spin for you. ’Nuff said. a b "Frank Zappa's Incredibly Rare Recordings, Believed to Have Been Planned for a Potential Sequel to His Iconic Hot Rats Album, Have Been Unearthed from the Vault and Compiled as New Collection, Funky Nothingness". June 30, 2023 . Retrieved August 25, 2023.

Listen closely to these recordings, and you can hear the sound evolving before your very ears, going right from that Hot Rats fusiony vibe to the Chunga feel. Actually, if you listen really closely, you can also feel the embryonic compositional palette Zappa fine-tuned further when Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan of The Turtles (a.k.a. Flo & Eddie) joined the band some months later. In the same vein as "The Clap" are a trio of brief pieces that close out the bonus discs. "Halos and Arrows" is a segment of a freeform, surprisingly relaxed, and gentle piece played by Zappa which was otherwise erased. "Moldred" was assembled by Zappa from the jams with Dunbar; he overdubbed himself on bass. The closing, under-a-minute-long "Fast Funky Nothingness" is just that - another blues-based piece at a faster tempo than the one which opened the first disc of the set. The Clap" (CD3: Zappa/Hot Rats '70 More Session Masters & bonus Nothingness - Unedited Master - part I)

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Let’s Go! – weekly SiriusXM show with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray – makes Season 3 debut on September 4

Reed, Ryan (June 30, 2023). "Frank Zappa's Funky Nothingness Is Full of Meandering, Revelatory Jams". Spin. Funky Nothingness includes numerous extended jams and workouts in the spirit of Hot Rats, but with a different production aesthetic and a feel leaning more towards vintage R&B at times. All that ultimately makes this Funky music lean more toward the underlying vibe that would emerge on Chunga’s Revenge. Offiziellecharts.de – Frank Zappa – Funky Nothingness" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 2, 2023. And then, in the middle of all this output, Zappa assembled another band and carved out time for something that might seem curiously extra: jamming. THREE-DISC EXPANDED DELUXE EDITION CONTAINS OUTTAKES, ALTERNATE EDITS, AND UNEDITED MASTERS FROM LITTLE KNOWN RECORDING SESSIONS

From here, one gets into the meat and bones of this set: two hours of alternates and outtakes. There’s a little bit of everything: unedited takes of “Sharleena” and “Transylvania Boogie” (which originally appeared in 1970’s Chunga’s Revenge), and alternate versions of “Chunga’s Revenge” and “Twinkle Tits.” The alternative version of “Chunga’s” has more heft than the take on disc one with strong soloing from Zappa; it also runs over 16 minutes, which is maybe why it didn’t fit in there. It’s of a piece with “Willie the Pimp” from Hot Rats in showing how Zappa’s guitar playing was growing with leaps and bounds in the late 1960s. With Dunbar’s drumming, it might even top that performance. The version of “Twinkle,” meanwhile, shows a more stripped down take – no overdubs, so it’s like being a fly on the wall at these sessions.