Description

Dutch pressing with printed innersleeve

This album presents a mix of studio tracks and altered live recordings from Frank Zappa’s hard rock period. The tone is definitely less rock-oriented than on Them or Us, only “Stick Together” and “Cocaine Decisions” qualifying as such. The most noticeable trend here is the half-spoken half-sung free-form numbers “The Radio Is Broken,” “The Dangerous Kitchen,” and “The Jazz Discharge Party Hats.” They all feature Zappa performing a written text or improvising one on the spot, speech-singing while the band wallops around, reacting to his words. A few instrumental tunes round out the set, including the superb “Moggio” and “Tink Walks Amok,” with Arthur Barrow playing multiple bass parts. The album’s title comes from a ’50s song, included (“The Man From Utopia Meets Mary Lou [Medley]”), while the cover artwork alludes to an infamous Italian tour in 1982 plagued by mosquitoes and riots. Steve Vai are listed on the back cover for the impossible guitar parts. The Man From Utopia retains the cold digital sound of Zappa’s albums around this time but is more varied and engaging than Them or Us.

Track list:
1. Cocaine Decisions
2. The Dangerous Kitchen
3. Tink Walks Amok
4. The Radio Is Broken
5. Moggio
6. The Man From Utopia Meets Mary Lou (Medley)
7. Stick Together
8. Sex
9. The Jazz Discharge Party Hats
10. We Are Not Alone