[.ca] London Symphony Orchestra Vol.

mostly excellent:
Frank wrote some mean orchestral stuff in his time, some of it appears on this album.Disc1 is better, sad jane and bob in dacron are great, also the epic mo n herb's vacation, which is a 3 movement 27 minute work.It has some eerie bits, sinister like, a delightful first movement with clarinets etc. I'm not qualified to decribe the music, except that it's as good as any of his other orchestral stuff, although it would be interesting to hear other versions. Disc2 is new versions of previously done stuff. Envelopes from the drowning witch album doesn't sound too good to me. It kind of plods along, loses the energy that the 82 band gave it, and the cartoony, nancarrowy quality. It just sounds tired. Pedro's dowry is fine, a longer version than the one on orchestral favorites/lather, however i prefer the earlier version, it has more vitality. Bogus pomp is good, i haven't heard the orchestral fave version, but some people(eg Ben Watson) say that the shorter, 70s version is better. strictly genteel is a great tune, it's a decent enough version. Overall i would definitely recommend the album, there's some great music on it. Thank you

Too Complex for some (Andy Gill included!):
If you do not like 'classical' music or you have the same tin ear that Andy Gill (who seems to review everything and know little) has, then this may not be your cup of joe but if you are adventurous, like something a little deeper than the music of the million or so 'Divas' that have popped up then buy it.

THIS IS A WAY TO LEARN ABOUT CLASSICAL:
This is the first 'modern classical' disc I ever bought. I like every segment; though 'classical' is not my favorite music- jazz is.

Kind of Suprising that the quality was not really there:
the LSO apparently agreed to forgo their vacation after recording the star wars theme music (I think it was ROTJ)... anyway, after that session they had originally planned to go on a 30 days vacation. That was until the mighty FZ approached them and asked if they would take 400,000 in cash to do his material. Well, if it had been anyone else in Rock music, they most likely would have headed out to vacation. then there were so many bad experiences between FZ and the orchestra. I have read where the musicians didn't understand why FZ took so much time arranging their chairs 'JUST SO'. These folks should have just shut up and let the master of sound and engineering (and rarely anyone rivaled FZ in this arena) do his thing. then the trumpet playing folks during a break in the sessions got loaded on brew at a pub and played flat on some numbers... which FZ obviously had a problem with. Of all the interviews I have read from the folks in the orchestra, they seemed to forget that FZ paid for these sessions and wanted them done his way. but, FZ had very little influence on having these musicians be what they were reported to be, MUSICIANS. FZ stated in many interviews that 'The LSO can play most classical music with their eyes closed, but were not really all that good at reading music they didn't know 'by heart.' which kinda, at the time, really suprised me. After listening to other orchestras play FZ music (try national philharmonic on 'orchestral favorites' and bootleg berkley orchestra doing 'Sinister Footwear') and you will see just how stiff the LSO seems to be on so many of these numbers. Maybe it was the tension between the master and the pupils.... who knows. Now, that is not to say the LSO butchered every number, cause they didn't. They did manage to strike one beautifully, and that is STRICTLY GENTEEL. This is by far my favorite version of this material and WAY WORTH THE PRICE OF THIS SET ALONE. The LSO obviously liked this number a lot, cause they nailed it. And it is terrific. I really was sorta dissapointed in the music, then finally made it to this number and MAN O MAN. So, balance this information.. I would not buy this unless you have bought a good many other FZ recordings, and for his classical releases here is my list of ones to get before this one: 1. Yellow Shark. released early 90s. Ensemble Modern. wow. 2. Perfect Stranger. VERY GOOD, but keep in mind there are also synclavier pieces included. 3. Orchestral Favorites. EXCELLENT. Matter of fact this is the best of the four. Have fun.

"Human Element remains intact" - FZ:
Frank's compositions are hereby treated to an entire orchestra of 102 musicians. This is a world class orchestra playing world class instruments from the 18th and 19th centuries and they had their own 'flavor' which contributed to the final recording.

• Bob in Dacron, First Movement
• Bob in Dacron, Second Movement
• Sad Jane, First Movement
• Sad Jane, Second Movement
• Mo 'n Herb's Vacation, First Movement
• Mo 'n Herb's Vacation, Second Movement
• Mo 'n Herb's Vacation, Third Movement
• Envelopes
• Pedro's Dowry
• Bogus Pomp
• Strictly Genteel