The
Frank Zappa Review Page
You Are What You
Is (1981)
This album was released in
1981 at the time in his career when Zappa produced some of his most mediocre
and at times very below par recordings, it followed the dissappointing
'Tinseltown Rebellion' and preceded
the notorious 'The Man From Utopia'. The album cover is plain and simple and is
very similiar to the cover of 'Apostrophe'. In terms of style of music and the
lyrics I would compare this album to 'Broadway The Hardway' in that there is
constant political references and scathing attacks on the establishment
especially, yes you guessed it, TV evangelists, who I agree are a thoroughly
worthwhile target. Even so, the quality of music and lyrics is far higher than
on 'Broadway' and the album as a whole is more entertaining and enjoyable. So
at a time when Zappa gave us some poor recordings this was a refreshing and
welcome return to form.Several of the songs on this album featured on 'Have I
Offended Someone' and there are similiarities between these two records as
well, in that the lyrics are the main feature of the set. It is, one might say
another Zappa 'pop' album, all the songs are short and sharp and there are virtually
no extended guitar solo's which is fine by me.There are twenty songs on the
album and every single one is under five minutes in length. Critical opinion of
this album was generally high and it was given a great deal of praise, few
people have said bad things about it and so i was intriqued to give it a good
listen. 'Teen-age Wind' opens the album in style it is a super pop rock tune
with fast paced and fun lyrics. 'Harder Than Your Husband' is a mock country
song with parody style vocals, it is quite a good track. 'Doreen' is one of my
favourite tracks on the album, it is a rock love ballad but it is brilliant the
voclas are great and the melodies are sensational, it is a little long
and the fade out is about three minutes long!! 'Goblin Girl' is a quirky little
which is good fun. 'Society Pages' is a bouncy number with zippy piano's and
cool lyrics. 'Beautiful Guy' is okay it is one of my least favourite tracks on
the record. 'Beauty Knows No Pain' is led by strong guitars from
Steve Vai it has a real 80's feel but is a good track. 'Charlie's Enormous
Mouth' is one to look out for it is definately one of the better tracks on the
album, it is pure Zappa style pop and smut but it is rolls along very nicely,
you'll like this one. 'Any Downers' has a real 1980's rock band feel to it, it
is dominated by the guitar and is a fairly good one. 'You Are What You Is' the
title track and a worthy one, it is a slick and lyric driven track about
pretentious people I think Zappa says be yourself don't be a fraud! A good
track. 'Mudd Club' has an almost reggae beat to it and is a very fun little
tune. 'The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing' bookmark this track, it is
probably best song on the album the lyrics are just pure genius and the tune is
extra catchy, it is about the way people are exploited by religion and how they
are mugging themselves. Check it out!! 'Dumb All Over' is a Zappa concert
favourite with Zappaphiles the world over, it is another of the best songs on
the album the lyrics again are super and the target is religion again.
'Heavenly Bank Account' completes a trio of excellent tracks the theme is
continued and goes on to the wealthy TV evangelists, listen to the words on
this one, it is pure fun. 'If Only She Woulda' is a rip off of a Doors
song although I cannot remember which one. 'Drafted Again' is a great song but
is not nearly as good as the version on 'The Lost Episodes'. All in all a very
consistent album, there are very few poor songs and many very catchy ones which
means that I must class this one as an album to seriously consider buying, it
is certainly better than a lot of other Zappa albums, but it is not a
'classic'. It is easy to listen to catchy and well worthwhile. Check it out.
Rating 78%
