Music Life

 Japan

 
ミュージック・ライフ

Probably the BEST music magazine ever published in Japan and actually one of collectors' all time favorites. Since 1950 (!). Always has incredible color photos, tons of useful information including exclusive interviews. Issues from 70's look more like books than magazines. All of them are worth finding and fortunately are not that hard to find as this was the best selling music magazine in Japan at that time.  (Yasuhiro Shiga)
The final issue of Music Life was printed in December 1998.
 
  

1969 July

Vol. 19 Issue 247

 


Translation by TAN Mitsugu:

p.30 The Mothers Of Invention
"Frank Zappa & the Mothers Of Invention going in their own way with ever new, cutting-edge challenges. Making the most of this electric age, they are devoting themselves to the pursuit of sound. With their Japanese fan base growing day by day, this band is a true flagship of art rock."

p.36 The Sound of Frank Zappa
"Frank Zappa, the leader of the Mothers - is he a genius, or a mad man? He has his own world where something beyond our comprehension is whirling around. A mysterious mad man - that's him."

Source: slime.oofytv.set

 

1969 August

Vol. 19 Issue 249

 


The full-page Mothers Of Invention picture, Frank Zappa with Bunk and Buzz Gardner, is from unknown concert. The small picture (#9) is Zappa at the London School of Economics in May 28, 1969. This event is mentioned several times:
  Frank Zappa: The Mother of Us All
  Zappa - The Great Satirist.

Source: slime.oofytv.set 

 

1969 December

Vol. 19 Issue 253


TAN Mitsugu:

p 12 Color gravure Frank Zappa
pp 101-102 "News A La Carte" reports "The Mothers Disbanded".

Source: slime.oofytv.set  

 

1970 August

Vol. 20 Issue 262


TAN Mitsugu:

p 43 B&W photo of FZ and Hoshika Rumiko In
p 42, Hoshika wrote: "Frank Zappa - philosopher in the rock world - is a kind man in contrast to his unique staging".
pp 75-77 Interview with Frank Zappa (Part of Hoshika's UK report)
Photographer: Hasebe Yoshihiro (now Hasebe Koh)
Note: Hoshika wrote that the press conference took place on June 24, 1970.
p 104 "News a la Carte", mentioning FZ & the Mothers appeared in the Bath Festival.
p 165 Hot Rats on the top 20 LP charts at number 18
p 181 "ML Readers Square", with a caricature of FZ (which also appears in the next issue).

Source: slime.oofytv.set  

 

1970 September

Vol. 20 Issue 263


TAN Mitsugu:

p 15 b&w photo of the Mothers at the Bath Music Festival, England
p 30-31 Color photos of the Mothers & FZ (taken at the 1970/6/24 press conference by Hasebe)
p 54 "Like lips like lettuce: Which is which?" Frank Zappa, Al Cooper & Daniel Seraphine
p 61-65 "Bath Music Festival: Live Broadcast on Paper" by John Halsall
p 182 "ML Readers Square", with a caricature of FZ (which also appears in the last issue)

Source: slime.oofytv.set

 

1971 March

No. 3


Full-page B&W photo of FZ. No other Zappa-related content in this issue.

 

 

1976 March

No. 3

Frank Zappa Interview
By Hideaki Okada, 2 pp


The title of this interview can be translated as "Taking a glimpse of the true face of Zappa the giant".

 

 

1982 June

No. 6

Frank Zappa Interview
By Sylvie Simmons, 3 pp 


Following comments by TAN Mitsugu:

The title of this interview can be translated as "Mad-academic lecture from Music Life: Genius is only one step from mania".

The same interview also appeared in Musik Express (July 1982). There're a bit of differences between the two versions; some topics only appeared in Musik Express, and vice versa. For example, the Music Life version has a question about taking a vacation:

- Don't you take any vacation?
FZ: No, I don't. I took it once. Back in 1973, on my way from the Australian tour, I thought I needed a vacation, so I reserved a hotel in Hawaii for two weeks and brought my wife and children in. But a week went by, I cut short the vacation and came home, because I got so bored that it nearly drove me crazy.