Although not released until 1998 on drummer Morgan Ågren's Ultimate Audio Entertainment label, Radio Da Da was recorded by Mats/Morgan at the facilities of Stockholm's Swedish Radio in 1992, the year after Frank Zappa fans Ågren and his duo partner, keyboardist Mats Öberg, had been part of the Zappa's Universe live ensemble. Frank's influence looms over the proceedings, notably in how the tracks jump from one stylistic influence and experimental approach to the next while hanging together like a fractured collage or suite. ...
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Although not released until 1998 on drummer Morgan Ågren's Ultimate Audio Entertainment label, Radio Da Da was recorded by Mats/Morgan at the facilities of Stockholm's Swedish Radio in 1992, the year after Frank Zappa fans Ågren and his duo partner, keyboardist Mats Öberg, had been part of the Zappa's Universe live ensemble. Frank's influence looms over the proceedings, notably in how the tracks jump from one stylistic influence and experimental approach to the next while hanging together like a fractured collage or suite. Aside from a few scattered guest appearances, Öberg and Ågren multi-tracked nearly everything themselves, and a few Öberg vocals have a rather Zappa-esque sensibility (and a bit of Stevie Wonder too), although rather than sardonic observational humor, listeners get a rather different kind of craziness, namely "Forest Man" ("I am a forest man/I'm hiding in a forest"), "Djungle Man" ("I'm a jungle man"), and Öberg's amusingly over the top performance of "Moon Dog" ("My dog is a moon dog/She can act real strange!"), with the wildness of the keyboardist's vocal delivery in the latter taken at least one level beyond what most listeners might expect. "Darling Darling..." ("...please come home!") begins with enough bizarre effects to perch its "vocal" refrain midway between human and nonhuman, while the ripping solo (from guest bassist Johan Granström?) that overtakes the concluding tribal section of "Täljes Logan" seems part musical instrument and part bodily function. But Radio Da Da is mainly a first-rate set of synth-heavy instrumental avant-prog and fusion, with Ågren's clean and powerful drumming and both men's creative keyboard explorations staking out unique territory while also recalling -- in addition to Zappa -- the music of Bruford (the opening eight-and-a-half-minute "Här Kommer Bodd," nearly regal in its theme but slammin' in its improvisational break), National Health ("Fialka's House," including a midsection of drummerless alien chamber music, searching in its mood but never aimless), and even voicings suggesting Joe Zawinul/Weather Report (the aforementioned "Darling Darling..." and "Beside the Swamp"). Radio Da Da provides strong evidence as to why Zappa was so impressed by the young duo, and points the way toward Mats/Morgan's other UAE albums of the '90s, 1996's Trends and Other Diseases and 1997's The Music or the Money..., which, somewhat confusingly, were recorded later but released earlier. [Providing some additional welcome confusion, in 2013 Cuneiform Records compiled Radio Da Da and another 1998 Mats/Morgan album recorded even earlier, The Teenage Tapes, into a remastered double-disc set, adding two tracks to the former and expanding the latter from 28 to 36 tracks, resulting in Radio Da Da/The Teenage Tapes, a 54-track compendium of the duo's music stretching from 1981 to 2008.] ~ Dave Lynch, Rovi
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Add this copy of Radio Da Da to cart. $20.92, like new condition, Sold by Streetlight_Records rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Cruz, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2007.
Add this copy of Radio Da Da / the Teenage Tapes to cart. $27.72, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by CUNEIFORM.
![Trends and Other Diseases [Bonus Track]](https://www2.alibris-static.com/trends-and-other-diseases-bonus-track/cover/s66393kgj36.jpg)
