Review Summary: Unlike a lot of 80s progressive rock, this album is far from pop. The guitar styles of Steve Vai and the outlandish humor of Zappa help Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch to become another bright moment in a lengthy discography.
Despite coming out in 1981, Frank Zappa's previous masterpiece, You Are What You Is still felt reminiscent of the 1970s. It was evident that it was about time Zappa gave the new 80s rock sound a chance. The album is rather brief (6 tracks, 34 minutes), and doesn't necessarily hold a strong theme, other than being a silly 80s progressive rock album. The first 3 tracks were recorded in the studio, and the last 3 are from live performances. This causes the two sides to seem haphazardly pasted together like a compilation. Despite this, every single track on it is brilliant, so it almost makes up for the poor flow between songs.
The album's mood musically ranges from silly to suspenseful to outright strange. Recently Zappa had hired Steve Vai to play some of the guitar parts on You Are What You Is; for Ship Arriving, Vai took place as lead guitarist. His style added a spice of complexity to the album’s instrumentation - such as the solo in the latter half of "I Come from Nowhere." Other characteristics of the album included heavy yet playful bass lines in nearly every song, overly obnoxious vocals, and in the case of "Teen-Age Prostitute", the use of a professional opera singer. Zappa composed all of the tracks and conducted the music; yes Zappa conducts rock music.
"Teen-Age Prostitute", in specific, is one of the most exciting pieces in Zappa's entire discography. Vai opens up “Teen-Age Prostitute” with a grandiose lead riff; opera singer Lisa Popeil follows by belting out high notes backed by marimba. The marimba crashes all over the place as the synths rush in to pick them back up. Of course this is only describing the first thirty seconds of the song. All six of the tracks are so packed with energy and information, that there isn't a dull moment within Ship Arriving.
Thematically, Zappa employs his typical brand of satire. Most of his targets are made obvious (to a slight fault.) With songs like "Valley Girl" mocking valley girls, and "Teen-Age Prostitute" mocking teenage prostitutes, it's hard to see depth in the lyrics. Some of the songs are outright outrageous lyrically. For instance: in "Drowning Witch" Zappa paints a bizarre and irrational picture while commenting on pollution: "Not even a witch oughta be caught on the bottom of America's spew-infested Waterways/She could get radiation all over her/She could mutate insanely..." Luckily, because the songs are humorous and well instrumented, they're more than just passable, they're essential. Especially When you realize that the lyrics to "Valley Girl" were written by Zappa's 13 year old daughter Moon (who also performs the vocals.)
Overall, the album adds another layer of diversity on the already expansive discography of Frank Zappa, and to no fault. The only problems with the album arise from shallow lyrics, lack of an overall theme, and the 20 seconds of unnecessary applause at the end of "Teen-Age Prostitute." Other than that, the album is humorous and musically packed with catchy and complex parts. With so many 80s prog bands going pop, its nice to see Zappa can put forth an LP that defies the trend. It may not be Zappa's best, but is certainly significantly above average.
Album highlights: "Now Not Now", "Drowning Witch", "Teen-Age Prostitute"
