Civilization Phase III
| Civilization Phaze III | ||||
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| Studio album by Frank Zappa | ||||
| Released | October 31, 1994 | |||
| Recorded | 1967, 1991 and 1992 at Apostolic Studio, NYC (1967), UMRK and "Joe's Garage", Hollywood (1991/1992) | |||
| Genre | 20th-century classical, electronic | |||
| Length | 113:40 | |||
| Label | Barking Pumpkin | |||
| Producer | Frank Zappa | |||
| Frank Zappa chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Rolling Stone | |
Civilization Phaze III is the sixty-third album by Frank Zappa, released posthumously as a double album on October 31, 1994. It was the first studio album of new material from Zappa since 1986's Jazz from Hell.
The album marks the third part of a conceptual continuity that started with We're Only in It for the Money (1968), with the second part being a re-edited version of Zappa's 1967 album Lumpy Gravy. The storyline of Civilization Phaze III involves a group of people living inside a piano, and the menacing reality of the outside world. The album's themes include personal isolation and nationalism.
Much of the album's improvised dialogue was originally recorded as part of sessions which produced We're Only in It for the Money and Uncle Meat, which contained some dialogue by the same speakers, and some of the dialogue on this album previously appeared on the re-edited version of Lumpy Gravy released in 1968. New dialogue was recorded by Zappa in 1991, and includes similarly improvised dialogue by members of the Ensemble Modern orchestra, Zappa's daughter Moon Unit and actor Michael Rapaport.
Civilization Phaze III has been acclaimed as one of Zappa's best works, and has been appraised for its challenging, complex music, largely composed and performed on a Synclavier.
In 1967, while recording We're Only in It for the Money with the Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa discovered that the strings of Apostolic Studios' grand piano would resonate if a person spoke near those strings. The "piano people" experiment involved Zappa having various speakers improvise dialogue using topics offered by Zappa. Various people contributed to these sessions, including Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and Tim Buckley. The "piano people" voices primarily consisted of Mothers of Invention bandmembers Motorhead Sherwood and Roy Estrada, Spider Barbour (leader of the rock band Chrysalis), All-Night John (the manager of the studio) and Louis Cuneo, who was noted for his laugh, which sounded like a "psychotic turkey".
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