#ricky lancelotti

[mychameleondays]

Frank Zappa: Over-Nite Sensation

Discreet DIS 41 000, 19??

Originally released: September 7, 1973

[somethingvinyl]

Zappa’s first album after the dissolution of the third Mothers is his closest yet to a true solo album: most of the tracks feature only Terry Bozzio on drums and various background vocalists, with all guitars, bass, synths and keyboards overdubbed by FZ himself. On the back cover you’ll see his next core group, but two of the four didn’t play on the album. And the solo-ness of the effort is central to this album: it’s only Frank’s lead vocal and mostly Frank’s instrumental contributions. There’s none of the synergy and interplay vital to the sound of the records in the first half of the decade, just Zappa’s unadulterated vision. It’s good, but it’s lacking something. The most timeless track, Black Napkins, is a great example: it’s a wonderful melody, and an all-time great Zappa performance, but that’s ALL it is, just a Zappa guitar showcase. It’s the only song on the album where he’s backed by a full band instead of just himself overdubbed, and yet it’s still just him really. So this will never be in my pantheon of favorite Zappa records—I love the bands too much!

Of the other songs, we’ve got some really good ones with great melodies and good lyrics. Disco Boy is fun, his ‘60s hippie critiques updated for ‘70s culture, and Wonderful Wino is a good rendition of a song that had been around since at least 1970–it’s in lots of Flo & Eddie sets, appears on the debut album of Jeff Simmons, and was recorded around the time of Over-Nite Sensation with Ricky Lancelotti on vocals (later released on The Lost Episodes). And then there’s The Torture Never Stops, which is a pretty good song that I usually put on my Halloween mixes. It’s got two things going against it. 1, the fake orgasming is only not annoying the first time you hear it. 2, he played it in his live set for, like, every show he ever played after this point, with not a lot of changes between bands and years—and it’s always 10-15 minutes long. So every time they release a new complete Zappa show, you’ve gotta sit through this song again… so yeah, I don’t hate the song, but I am sick of it.

This album came out on Warner Brothers, the major label who had been distributing Frank’s Discreet Records. Frank got into a protracted legal battle with his (now former) manager Herb Cohen, so this wound up Frank’s first album since the early Verve days to come out directly on a major label instead of something he operated. The legal battle stretches on and complicates Zappa’s ability to release music. After a decade of releasing multiple albums per year, FZ releases only this in 1976, nothing in 1977, and two albums released by Cohen against Zappa’s wishes in 1978. In 1979 he will strike back with a vengeance, because his music was sure not standing still in all that time…

Possibly in part due to it being released by Warner Bros, this is one of the easiest to find original Zappa records—if your local record store has two Zappas in the bins, it’ll be this and Over-Nite Sensation. (If they have three, the third will be Ship Arriving Too Late…)

[longliverockback]

Frank Zappa Läther 1996 Rykodisc ————————————————— Tracks CD One: 01. Re-Gyptian Strut 02. Naval Aviation in Art? 03. A Little Green Rosetta 04. Duck Duck Goose 05. Down in de Dew 06. For the Young Sophisticate 07. Tryin’ to Grow a Chin 08. Broken Hearts Are for Assholes 09. The Legend of the Illinois Enema Bandit 10. Lemme Take You to the Beach 11. Revised Music for Guitar & Low Budget Orchestra 12. RDNZL

Tracks CD Two: 01. Honey, Don't You Want a Man Like Me? 02. The Black Page #1 03. Big Leg Emma 04. Punky’s Whips 05. Flambé 06. The Purple Lagoon 07. Pedro’s Dowry 08. Läther 09. Spider of Destiny 10. Duke of Orchestral Prune

Tracks CD Three: 01. Filthy Habits 02. Titties ‘n Beer 03. The Ocean Is the Ultimate Solution 04. The Adventures of Greggery Peccary 05. Regyptian Strut (1993) 06. Leather Goods 07. Revenge of the Knick Knack People 08. Time Is Money —————————————————

Terry Bozzio

Michael Brecker

Randy Brecker

Don Brewer

Ronnie Cuber

George Duke

Roy Estrada

Bruce Fowler

Tom Fowler

Jim Gordon

Paul Humphrey

Ralph Humphrey

Eddie Jobson

Ricky Lancelotti

Andre Lewis

Tom Malone

Lou Marini

Patrick O’Hearn

Don Pardo

Emil Richards

Dave Samuels

Chester Thompson

Ruth Underwood

Chad Wakerman

Ray White

Frank Zappa

* Long Live Rock Archive

[myraelvira]

Who Was Ricky Lancelotti?

Ricky Lancelotti was a musician that was featured on many songs in Frank Zappa’s band. He is most notably known (in my opinion) as the voice of the Zomby Woof on the song of the same name.

Ricky was born in New Jersey, on August 25th, 1944 (though some records state that he was born on August 23rd)  as Anthony Richard Lancelotti. Not much seem to be known of his early life. Between 1965-66, he went by the name ‘Ricky Lancelot’, and released several singles for RCA Records, unsuccessfully. During this time, he also appeared on the show ‘Shindig’, a music series on ABC-TV; he was the in-house singer. Ricky also sang on the show ‘The Banana Splits’ (a late 60’s early 70’s kid’s show), as one of the unaccredited lead vocalists, he also appeared on the album released in 1968 for the show.

With Zappa, Lancelotti is featured on the albums, ‘Over-nite Sensation’, ‘The Lost Episodes’, and ‘Lather’. As stated before, Lancelotti was on the song ‘Zomby Woof’. He also features on ‘Fifty-Fifty’, ‘Wonderful Wino’ on the lost tapes (the original version of the song? The final version is on Zoot Allures. I prefer Lancelotti’s vocals better honestly.) 

On April 7th, 1980, Lancelotti passed away at the age of 35. Wikipedia doesn’t list a cause of death. It barely touches on the time that he spent with Zappa. Wiki Jawaka almost doesn’t talk about him all.

[Anecdotal] When I first got into Zappa in my teens, ‘Zomby Woof’ was one of the songs that I played constantly, especially on trips to other high schools on my debate trips. Lancelotti had a voice that was very distinct, and I noticed that it was missing in the later albums by Zappa. Since I knew that Zappa had a plethora of musicians that worked with him, I figured that this unique voice had perhaps went on to do other things. It wasn’t until many years later, that I read he had passed away. The saddest part to me, is that with such a unique and strong voice, Lancelotti has relatively little known about him. Yes, 1980 is almost 40 years ago now, but he was also on one of Zappa’s most famous albums. It always interested me how there was relatively nothing said about him, even in 2019 internet. Thankfully, through the power of the internet, I found some information earlier this year that talks a bit more about what happened to him. [/Anecdotal]

On this google group link ( https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.fan.frank-zappa/Ix71sn_dEEo ), a person asked about Lancelotti, curious about him much like I was. Interestingly, this question was first post in 1995… I didn’t realize that google groups were that old. The initial question was posted in 1995, 15 years after Ricky’s death. A person responded, saying that Lancelotti “auditioned, passed, was in the band for a couple weeks, and flunked out.” under what is presumed to have been drug or alcohol use. Unfortunately, the user said that Lancelotti OD’s sometime later in the 70’s or 80’s (I’m assuming they didn’t know his exact date of death). 

Way over a decade later, really, almost 20 years later, a person replied to the google group message, and stated that they were Lancelotti’s only son, having been born in 1965. They claimed that their mother was his girlfriend, and Lancelotti crashed his car in 1980 after having overdosing on drugs, on Mulhulland Road. They also posted that Ricky was a great artist, had eating disorders and substance abuse problems, and was sidelined instead of getting an intervention that he needed, and that Zappa actually cared for Ricky. Three years after that a person replied to the alleged son of Lancelotti, stating the poster was a poser-not really Lancelotti’s son. The final person stated that Ricky was their cousin, and he passed away way too soon. The final poster goes on to say that Ricky was in their parents’ wedding, and while he does have a son, the previous person was not them.

On the United Mutations website, it talks a bit more about Lancelotti. He recorded with Zappa in 1973, on the albums mentioned above. It also talks a little about the liner notes of The Lost Episode’s version of ‘Wonderful Wino’, which said, “The version of this song is especially notable for the presence of one of the most powerful and disctinctive singers to perform with any Zappa band, the late Ricky Lancelotti.” 

Frank himself had said, “"He auditioned for the band, passed, went home and got ripped, and broke his arm. I said 'Rick, you're not going to make the tour.' He used to carry a .45. He had a cassette in which he imitated 100 cartoon voices in 60 seconds. I thought he was really talented. He wanted to get work as a cartoon voice guy, but never did. O.D.'d. An old New Jersey tough guy." In the final paragraph, it talked about a time in 1972 at the Hollywood Palladium MOI concert, where Ricky and Frank did a bit where Frank would move his hand like a mouth, and Lancelotti would magically appear on stage and begin “bellowing”.

At the bottom of the page, there are recollections of Ricky, where people who either played with him, lived with him, or were related to him, talked about his life. In the end, Ricky Lancelotti seemed to be a happy and fun person, who may have overindulged himself a bit. It is extremely unfortunate that he passed away that he did, and that it is still so hard to find much more about him. He had many friends and family that seemed to love him, and enjoy being around him . It honestly saddens me that he passed away the way he did. I respect his music greatly, and am now finding myself listening to The Banana Splits music, just to hear him. While I know no-one will read this, I just personally want to thank the people out there who took the time to talk about him in the past. It keeps his memory alive.

Photo Courtesy of Find of Grave Ricky Lancelotti is buried in San Fernando Mission Cemetery, in Mission Hills, California. video: https://youtu.be/ejWD5-Dszkg

  [SOURCES] united mutations wikipedia wiki jawaka

[sofakingmanyrecords]

For some reason this specific version of "Wino Man" popped into my head this morning. Ricky Lancelotti was such an awesomely absurd vocalist. The guy had some pipes!

[somethingvinyl]

Zappa’s next album is a doozy—one of my favorite albums of all time, and the first album by the best iteration of the Mothers. His bedridden albums and tours with the Grand and Petit Wazoos shifted something in FZ. After disbanding the Petit Wazoo, Zappa spent early 1973 touring with a combo including George Duke, Ian & Ruth Underwood, some of the horns from the Grand Wazoo, and the jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. You can hear this band on Piquantique from Beat the Boots, and there’s a full concert by them on YouTube, they’re quite a group. On this tour he started to hone his new sound, which integrated his bizarro jazz compositions more fully with traditional rock song structures. This tour also marked most lead vocal work Zappa had done up to that point. He had never been super comfortable singing, but he was writing vocal songs and wasn’t employing a lead vocalist for the first time in his career—he started the tour mostly instrumental, then became a lead vocalist by necessity. So he developed the Sprechgesang talk-singing style he would use for the rest of his career.

The core of this band went into the studio to make Over-Nite Sensation. Jean-Luc Ponty contributed some, but he was far too successful in his own right to stay long as just a member of a band. The result is unlike any Zappa record before it. This might be a silly thing to say about a band that put a shaving-cream-spraying stuffed giraffe on stage, but I feel like every album/tour before this has a sort of frustrated seriousness, a desperate need to prove that this music is Important even through the ridiculous humor. This album just feels fun. The music is still as complex and serious as ever, but FZ and the band just sound like they’re enjoying themselves throughout. The lyrics are deeply absurdist, delivered by Zappa in his half-sung monologue voice or sung by his “ringer” vocalist Ricky Lancelotti. Lancelotti didn’t last long, but the formula did: FZ takes vocals unless the song needs someone with chops to belt it out, and there’s always at least one person in the band whose job that is. This album also features some unlikely contributions of background vocals by Tina Turner and the Ikettes—the collaboration happened because FZ was recording in the Turners’ studio, but when Ike heard the songs, he hated them and insisted that Tina and the Ikettes not be credited in the liner notes.

Over-Nite sensation is a great listen all the way through, and a good Zappa starting point for anyone looking. And his next few albums are with largely the same band and cut from the same cloth—1973-1975 is the second golden age of Zappa.

This album also kicks off a new record label: FZ and his longtime manager Herb Cohen cofounded Discreet records, distributed by Warner Bros, the parent company of Reprise who distributed Bizarre. The name is a pun on the discrete channel method of creating quadraphonic records, because Zappa figured quadraphonic was the way of the future (he even says in the first verse of the first song “she said her stereo was 4-way”). He did prepare quadraphonic releases of both this and Apostrophe, but the label did not develop into the quadraphonic powerhouse he envisioned for, perhaps, obvious reasons. My copy is an original on Discreet, which are extremely plentiful in record stores. I’m looking forward to the eminent release of the 50th anniversary box set—the bonus discs promise to be chock full of amazing material!