History Music / CivilizationPhazeIII

* RepurposedPopSong: Several soundbites appeared earlier on ''Music/LumpyGravy'', but are often heard in full unedited versions. The instrumental "Amnerika" was heard before as background music during "That Evil Prince" and "The White Boy Troubles" on ''Music/ThingFish'' (1984).

''Civilization Phaze III'' is the 36th and final album by Music/FrankZappa, posthumously released on Halloween 1994. Much like ''Music/LumpyGravy'' (1968), to which ''Civilization'' is a sequel, the album switches back and forth between instrumental music and dialogues between people. The storyline, like that of ''Lumpy Gravy'', follows a group of people living inside a piano talking about the outside world. The dialogue was mostly recorded during the same sessions as the ''Lumpy Gravy'' dialogue (some additional dialogue was recorded in 1991) and even contains some of the same portions. The main musical difference between the albums are that the music here is (mostly) performed on Synclavier here and [[EpicRocking tends to be longer]] than the musical intermezzos on "Lumpy Gravy".

# "This Ain't Creator/{{CNN}}" (3:20)

* OverlyLongTitle: "N-Lite: Negative Light/Venice Submerged/New World Order/The Lifestyle You Deserve/Creationism/He Is Risen" .

* ExcitedShowTitle: "Dark Water!" and "You're Just Insultin' Me, Aren't You!"

* NeoClassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: During "Dio fa" Tuvan throat singing can be heard.

* "Spider" Barbour, "All-Night John", Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood, Roy Estrada, Louis "the Turkey" Cuneo, Monica, Gilly Townley, two anonymous girls, Moon Unit and Dweezil Zappa, Creator/MichaelRapaport, Ali N. Askin, Catherine Milliken, Walt Fowler, Todd Yvega, Michael Svoboda, Michael Gross, William Forman, Uwe Dierksen, Stefan Dohr, Daryl Smith, Franck Ollu and Hermann Kretzschmar, Artis the Spoon Man, Kaigal-ool Khovalyg [[note]] These latter two aren't credited in the liner notes [[/note]]: voices.

* GodIsNotGood: "Dio fa" is Italian for "God is a liar".

!!!Acd Two

* ProductPlacement: "A Very Nice Body" and "Religious Superstitions" mention a Steinway piano. During the latter track a "Baldwin" and "Wurlitzer" are mentioned too. "This Ain't CNN" mentions CNN and ''Creator/{{MTV}} Raps''.

* TwoPartTrilogy: A strange variant. It's the final part of a trilogy, with the first two parts being ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'' and ''Music/LumpyGravy''. However, those two were released more than twenty-five years before ''Civilization'' was, and they are also, combined, barely over half the running time of ''Civilization''.

''Civilization Phaze III'' the 36th and final album by Music/FrankZappa, posthumously released in 1994. Much like ''Music/LumpyGravy'' (1968), to which ''Civilization'' is a sequel, the album switches back and forth between instrumental music and dialogues between people. The storyline, like that of ''Lumpy Gravy'', follows a group of people living inside a piano talking about the outside world. The dialogue was mostly recorded during the same sessions as the ''Lumpy Gravy'' dialogue (some additional dialogue was recorded in 1991) and even contains some of the same portions. The main musical difference between the albums are that the music here is (mostly) performed on Synclavier here and [[EpicRocking tends to be longer]] than the musical intermezzos on "Lumpy Gravy".

Sadly, Zappa passed away before the album's completion, having spent the final years of his life putting it together. It was released ten months after his death, solely as a mail order album. It is seen as one of his best works and a crowning achievement in his entire career.

''Civilization Phaze III'' is a 1994 album by Music/FrankZappa, the 36th in his catalogue and the album he worked on during the final years of his life. Much like ''Music/LumpyGravy'' (1968), to which ''Civilization'' is a sequel, the album switches back and forth between instrumental music and dialogues between people. The storyline, like that of ''Lumpy Gravy'', follows a group of people living inside a piano talking about the outside world. The dialogue was mostly recorded during the same sessions as the ''Lumpy Gravy'' dialogue (some additional dialogue was recorded in 1991) and even contains some of the same portions. The main musical difference between the albums are that the music here is (mostly) performed on Synclavier here and [[EpicRocking tends to be longer]] than the musical intermezzos on "Lumpy Gravy".

Sadly, Zappa passed away before the album's completion. It was released ten months after his death, solely as a mail order album. It is seen as one of his best works and a crowning achievement in his entire career.

!!!Disc One

!!!Disc Two

Sadly Zappa passed away before the album's completion. It was released ten months after his death, solely as a mail order album. It is seen as one of his best works and a crowning achievement in his entire career.

'''Personnel'''
* Music/FrankZappa: composer, conductor, producer, editor, voice in recording booth.
* The Ensemble Modern: orchestra
* "Spider" Barbour, "All-Night John", Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood, Roy Estrada, Louis "the Turkey" Cuneo, Monica, Gilly Townley, two anonymous girls, Moon Unit and Dweezil Zappa, Creator/MichaelRapaport, Ali N. Askin, Catherine Milliken, Walt Fowler, Todd Yvega, Michael Svoboda, Michael Gross, William Forman, Uwe Dierksen, Stefan Dohr, Daryl Smith, Franck Ollu and Hermann Kretzschmar, Artis the Spoon Man, Kaigal-ool Khovalyg [[note]] These latter two aren't credited in the liner notes [[/note]]: voices.

'''Tracklist'''

[[AC:Disc One]]

[[AC:Disc Two]]

* WhereTheWhiteWomenAt: One of the subplots on disc two implies that Moon Unit's boyfriend, played by actor Creator/MichaelRapaport, is African-American; Rapaport's character speaks in African-American Vernacular English, and some of the dialogue implies they're dealing with tensions caused by being in an interracial relationship. Oddly, this is a racial variant of CrossDressingVoices, because Rapaport is actually of Russian, Polish, Italian, and Jewish descent.

''Civilization Phaze III'' is a 1994 album by Music/FrankZappa, the 36th in his catalogue and the album he worked on during the final years of his life. Much like ''Music/LumpyGravy'' (1968), to which ''Civilization'' is a sequel, the album switches back and forth between instrumental music and dialogues between people. The storyline, like that of ''Lumpy Gravy'', follows a group of people living inside a piano talking about the outside world. The dialogue was mostly recorded during the same sessions as the ''Lumpy Gravy'' dialogue (some additional dialogue was recorded in 1991) and even contains some of the same portions. The main musical difference between the albums is that the music here is (mostly) performed on Synclavier here and [[EpicRocking tends to be longer]] than the musical intermezzos on "Lumpy Gravy".

* AlliterativeTitle: "'''A'''ttack! '''A'''ttack!" '''A'''ttack!"

** "A Pig With Wings" and "How the Pigs' Music Works" are a call back to "Very Distraughtening" and "Just One More Time" on ''Music/LumpyGravy''.

* DownerEnding: "Waffenspiel", the last track on the album, consists mostly of sound effects (rain, a barking dog, gunfire). It's generally considered to reflect Zappa's awareness of his own imminent mortality, and the final dialogue (found in "That Would Be the End of That") seems to reflect his final thoughts on the process of artistic creation. Zappa's widow Gail reports that he said of his work on the album, "I've done everything that I can."

* GrowingWings: "A Pig With Wings"

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: {{Discussed|Trope}} InUniverse. "That Would Be the End of That" serves as Zappa's final thoughts on the process of artistic creation and concludes that if creators understood what they were doing, they'd get bored with it; it's the excitement of the unknown that lends vitality to art.

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: DiscussedTrope InUniverse. "That Would Be the End of That" serves as Zappa's final thoughts on the process of artistic creation and concludes that if creators understood what they were doing, they'd get bored with it; it's the excitement of the unknown that lends vitality to art.
-->Spider: We can get our strength up by making some music.
-->John: That's right.
-->Monica: Yeah... yeah.
-->John: But the thing is, you know what?
-->Spider: What?
-->John: We don't even understand our own music.
-->Spider: It doesn't, does it matter whether we understand it? At least it'll give us... strength.
-->John: I know, but maybe we could get into it more if we understood it.
-->Spider: We'd get more strength from it if we understood it?
-->John: Yeah.
-->Spider: No, I don't think so, because - see, I think, I think our strength comes from our uncertainty. If we understood it, we'd be bored with it, and then we couldn't gather any strength from it.
-->John: Like if we knew about our music, one of us might talk, and then that would be the end of that.

* DistinctDoubleAlbum: Contrary to ''Lumpy Gravy'', this album is a double album.

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: DiscussedTrope. "That Would Be the End of That" serves as Zappa's final thoughts on the process of artistic creation and concludes that if creators understood what they were doing, they'd get bored with it; it's the excitement of the unknown that lends vitality to art.

* DownerEnding: "Waffenspiel", the last track on the album, consists mostly of sound effects (rain, a barking dog, gunfire). It's generally considered to reflect Zappa's awareness of his own imminent mortality, and the final dialogue (found in "That Would Be the End of That") seems to reflect his final thoughts on the process of artistic creation. After Zappa finished the album, he is reported as having said, "I've done everything that I can."

* DistinctDoubleAlbum: Contrary to ''Lumpy Gravy'' this album is a double album.

* GratuitousDutch: Heard during "This Ain't CNN", both a line in Flemish dialect, "Ik kan geen woord verstaan", and Dutch, "Die spreekt toch geen normale taal."
* GratuitousForeignLanguage: During "This Ain't CNN", "This Is All Wrong" and "You're Just Insultin' Me, Aren't You!" and "Cold Light Generation" we hear, apart from occasional English, French, Dutch, German and Italian also occasional Turkish.

* GratuitousItalian: "Dio fa", a profanity curse used in Piedmont, Italy. Some Italian can also be heard during "This Ain't CNN".

-> ''Listening to it, it feels like Frank was trying to cram as many musical ideas as possible, one after the other, into this piece. It's very thick and dense and overpowering as a listening experience. Even if you think you know Music/FrankZappa's music, I don't think anybody could be sufficiently prepared for the powerhouse that this thing represents. This music should finally get Zappa taken truly seriously as a composer.''

-> Creator/MattGroening.

** "This Ain't CNN" namedrops Music/{{NWA}}, ''Yo MTV Raps'', Music/PublicEnemy, Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart, the "Mondschein Sonate" by Music/LudwigVanBeethoven, Music/BrandNubian and Music/BigDaddyKane.

* TimeMarchesOn: Some of the dialogue during "This Ain't CNN" and "This Is All Wrong" mentions stuff that was prevalent during the early 1990s, but nowadays sounds very dated, like pay phones, ''Film/JungleFever'', Music/{{NWA}}, ''Series/YoMTVRaps'', Music/PublicEnemy, Music/BrandNubian and Music/BigDaddyKane.

'''Civilization Phaze III''' is a 1994 album by Music/FrankZappa, the 36th in his catalogue and the album he worked on during the final years of his life. Much like ''Music/LumpyGravy'' (1968), to which ''Civilization'' is a sequel, the album switches back and forth between instrumental music and dialogues between people. The storyline, like that of ''Lumpy Gravy'', follows a group of people living inside a piano talking about the outside world. The dialogue was mostly recorded during the same sessions as the ''Lumpy Gravy'' dialogue (some additional dialogue was recorded in 1991) and even contains some of the same portions. The main musical difference between the albums is that the music here is (mostly) performed on Synclavier here and [[EpicRocking tends to be longer]] than the musical intermezzos on "Lumpy Gravy".

Sadly Zappa passed away before the album's completion. It was released ten months after his death, solely as a mail order album. It is seen as one of his best works and a crowning MagnumOpus to his entire career.

# "You're Just Insultin' Me, Aren't You?" (2:13)

* BilingualBonus: "This Ain't CNN", "This Is All Wrong" and "You're Just Insultin' Me, Aren't You?"

** The album uses some dialogue quotes from ''Music/LumpyGravy''. Pigs and ponies are mentioned during "A Very Nice Body", "Dark Water!", "I Wish Motorhead Would Come Back", "This Is All Wrong", "Pigs and Ponies", "This Ain't CNN", "The Pigs' Music", "You're Just Insultin' Me Aren't You?".

* GratuitousForeignLanguage: During "This Ain't CNN", "This Is All Wrong" and "You're Just Insultin' Me, Aren't You" and "Cold Light Generation" we hear, apart from occasional English, French, Dutch, German and Italian also occasional Turkish.

* QuestioningTitle: "Have You Heard Their Band?", "Why Not?" and "You're Just Insultin' Me, Aren't You?"

'''Civilization Phaze III''' is a 1994 album by Music/FrankZappa, the 36th in his catalogue and the album he worked on during the final years of his life. Much like ''Music/LumpyGravy'' (1968) the album switches back and forth between instrumental music and dialogues between people. The storyline also follows a group of people living inside a piano talking about the outside world. The main difference is that the music is performed on Synclavier here and [[EpicRocking tends to be longer]] than the musical intermezzo's on "Lumpy Gravy".

# "Put A Motor In Yourself" (5:13)

# "How The Pigs' Music Works" (1:49)

# "Get A Life" (2:20)
# "A Kayak (On Snow)" (0:28)

# "I Was In A Drum" (3:38)

# "I Had A Dream About That" (0:27)

# "Put A Little Motor In 'Em" (0:50)

# "Dio Fa" (8:18)
# "That Would Be The End Of That" (0:35)

* BilingualBonus: "This Ain't CNN", "This Is All Wrong" and "You're Just Insultin' Me, Aren't You"

** The album uses some dialogue quotes from ''Music/LumpyGravy''. Pigs and ponies are mentioned during "A Very Nice Body", "Dark Water!", "I Wish Motorhead Would Come Back", "This Is All Wrong", "Pigs And Ponies", "This Ain't CNN", "The Pigs' Music", "You're Just Insultin' Me Aren't You?".
** Motors are mentioned during "This Is Phaze III", "I Wish Motorhead Would Come Back" and "Put A Little Motor In 'Em"
** "A Pig With Wings" and "How The Pigs' Music Works" are a call back to "Very Distraughtening" and "Just One More Time" on ''Music/LumpyGravy''.

** "Flowing Inside-Out" mentions the phrase "so that it envelops the bathtub", which was mentioned earlier during "Kangaroos" and "Envelops The Bathtub" on ''Music/LumpyGravy''.

* DeathSong: "Beat The Reaper" and "Waffenspiel" are the closing tracks and seem to address Zappa's own death prognosis.

* EpicRocking: The 18:01 "N-Lite" and 15:23 "Beat The Reaper".
* GodIsNotGood: "Dio Fa" is Italian for "God is a liar".

* GratuitousItalian: "Dio Fa", a profanity curse used in Piedmont, Italy. Some Italian can also be heard during "This Ain't CNN".

* MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting: In "How The Pigs' Music Works" Zappa provides a TakeThat towards the traditional morning flag salute in American schools.

* NeoClassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: During "Dio Fa" Tuvan throat singing can be heard.

** "Reagan At Bitburg" is a reference to UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan's controversial 1985 visit to Bitburg, Germany, where he lay down a laurel wreath on the graves of fallen SS soldiers.
** "Beat The Reaper" and "Waffenspiel" echo Zappa being at death's door when this album was composed and recorded.

** Zappa revealed during an interview that he quoted "In The Navy" by Music/VillagePeople during "N-Lite":
--> ''It was put together out of two unrelated sequences. There's a group of notes in front of this one sequence that just happens to sound like "In the Navy", from that The Music/VillagePeople song. You don't realise it until it's gone by, and then- that's "In The Navy"! So that's the "N" and the "Lite" part is this sequence that was basically a bunch of very fast and short synthesizer pockets that had the computer title, "Thousand Points of Light'' [[note]] Quoted from Neil Slaven's "Electric Don Quixote: The Story of Frank Zappa", Omnibus Press, 1995, page 325. [[/note]]

* StockSoundEffects: "Beat The Reaper" and "Waffenspiel" use sound effects of pouring rain, a barking dog, gun shots and a plane flying over, a car starting up and whistling birds, sounds which become more prominent after the music ends.

* SynthPop: All music was composed on Synclavier.