Andy

There are many reasons I dig Frank Zappa. He was an extraordinarily sane person for his profession and generally for our sorry day and age. He was the perfect role model for people who calls themselves professionals. But main reasons are of course connected to his musical legacy. His music is fun, it’s full of emotional drive and, last but far from least, his music is interesting.

“Andy”, the culmination track from “One Size Fits All”, arguably one of Zappa’s best albums ever, is a good example of all those traits. Being a pinnacle of the whole album, it both drives the emotional tension to its maximum and abruptly resolves this tension in the end (flowing into powerful yet peaceful “Sofa No. 2″, a usual way for Zappa to finish his albums). “Andy” sounds very much like an art rock piece, neurotic and ornamental, with ragged machine-gun-tempo rhythms overlapping the main lines (remember, this was written long before IDM).

Structurally, this is sufficiently more elaborate compared to standard jazzy theme-and-variations that it can easily be interpreted as a full-fledged sonata form. Look for yourself: introduction, first theme exposition (”is there anything good inside of you”), bridge built from the intro motive, second theme exposition (”show me a sign”), development section (first theme restatement, motivic variation on the second theme, first solo), first and second theme recapitulation, and, finally, a coda — the second solo that absolutely blows you away.

Clearly, this is not a sonata form as they define it in the textbooks — there are two hooks that really stand out (Haydn would probably disapprove, Beethoven would probably not give a damn). One hook is in first theme exposition — a blues-rock lick heavy as a Hummer. Another hook is the end of second theme recap, where Napoleon Murphy cries “Andy” in his nasty, reedy voice — but the tension is so high by this point and the whole band stops so abruptly that, if your heart doesn’t stop at this cry, you probably don’t have any heart at all.

I love “Andy” probably more than any other track on this magnificent album (including even the “Inca Roads” masterpiece). Enjoy it.

 

 Frank Zappa - Andy [6:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download