Civilization, Phaze III

Civilization, Phaze III
Studio album by Frank Zappa
Released	December 1994
Recorded	1967, 1991 and 1992
Genre	Electronic
Length	Disc 1: 56:?? Disc 2: 57:??
Label	Barking Pumpkin Records
Producer(s)	Frank Zappa
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Frank Zappa chronology
Yellow Shark (1993)	Civilization, Phaze III (1994)	Strictly Commercial (1995)

Civilization, Phaze III is a double CD by Frank Zappa. It was the last album he completed before his death in 1993, and was released posthumously in December 1994 by The Zappa Family Trust on Barking Pumpkin Records.

Much of the material was composed in the style of musique concrète, similar to Zappa's 1967 album Lumpy Gravy. Categorized by Zappa as an "opera-pantomime", the project began as a vocal recording experiment in 1967, which Zappa describes in the liner notes (written in 1993):

"...I decided to stuff a pair of U-87s in the piano, cover it with a heavy drape, put a sand bag on the sustain pedal, and invite anybody in the vicinity to stick their head inside and ramble incoherently about the various topics I would suggest to them..."

These ramblings were transformed into a vague plot involving pigs, ponies and other characters who live inside a piano. In 1991, additional dialog by Moon Unit Zappa, actor Michael Rapaport and others was added. The musical score was almost entirely composed upon and performed by the Synclavier.

Track listing

All songs by Frank Zappa.

Disc one

1. "This Is Phaze lll" – 0:47
2. "Put a Motor in Yourself" – 5:13
3. "Oh-Umm" – 0:50
4. "They Made Me Eat It" – 1:48
5. "Reagan at Bitburg" – 5:39
6. "A Very Nice Body" – 1:00
7. "Navanax" – 1:40
8. "How the Pigs' Music Works" – 1:49
9. "Xmas Values" – 5:31
10. "Dark Water!" – 0:23
11. "Amnerika" – 3:03
12. "Have You Heard Their Band?" – 0:38
13. "Religious Superstition" – 0:43
14. "Saliva Can Only Take So Much" – 0:27
15. "Buffalo Voice" – 5:12
16. "Someplace Else Right Now" – 0:32
17. "Get a Life" – 2:20
18. "A Kayak (On Snow)" – 0:28
19. "N-Lite" – 18:00

Disc two

1. "I Wish Motorhead Would Come Back" – 0:14
2. "Secular Humanism" – 2:41
3. "Attack! Attack! Attack!" – 1:24
4. "I Was in a Drum" – 3:38
5. "A Different Octave" – 0:57
6. "This Ain't CNN" – 3:20
7. "The Pigs' Music" – 1:17
8. "A Pig With Wings" – 2:52
9. "This Is All Wrong" – 1:42
10. "Hot & Putrid" – 0:29
11. "Flowing Inside-Out" – 0:46
12. "I Had a Dream About That" – 0:27
13. "Gross Man" – 2:54
14. "A Tunnel into Muck" – 0:21
15. "Why Not?" – 2:18
16. "Put a Little Motor in 'Em" – 0:50
17. "You're Just Insultin' Me, Aren't You!" – 2:13
18. "Cold Light Generation" – 0:44
19. "Dio Fa" – 8:18
20. "That Would Be the End of That" – 0:35
21. "Beat the Reaper" – 15:23
22. "Waffenspiel" – 4:05

Personnel

• Frank Zappa – producer, compiler, editor, composer, performer, conductor, liner notes
• Ensemble Modern – orchestra
• Dick Kunc – engineer (1967)
• David Dondorf – engineer (1991)
• Todd Yvega – engineer (1991)
• Spencer Chrislu – engineer (1991)
• Uri Balashov – cover design
• Command A Studios – art direction

1967 voices

• Spider Barbour
• All-Night John
• Frank Zappa
• Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood
• Roy Estrada
• Louis "The Turkey" Cuneo
• Monica
• Gilly Townley
• Unknown Girl #1
• Unknown Girl #2

1991 voices

• Moon Unit Zappa
• Michael Rapaport
• Ali N. Askin
• Catherine Milliken
• Walt Fowler
• Todd Yvega
• Michael Svoboda
• Michael Gross
• William Formann
• Uwe Dierksen
• Stefan Dohr
• Daryl Smith
• Franck Ollu
• Hermann Kretzschmar
• Dweezil Zappa

External links

• Lyrics and information
• Release details
• Review 1
• Review 2

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