REVIEWS:
Frank Zappa was a weird dude. He made music that confused and offended millions. He would release albums that existed solely to confuse the public - for example, in the middle of a streak of weird sixties avant albums, he released a totally normal Doo Wop album called Cruising With Rubin And The Jets). He was also brilliant. Most of the music he made was really quite good considering how much of it he made. Frank put out tons and tons of records, sometimes up to 3 or 4 in the same year. And they'd all be totally different! To be honest, he made a few records that I just don't "get", but prime Zappa is stuff that is quite worthy of checking out. Zappa had an endlessly rotating backup band, but among the more famous members of his band were Lowell George of Little Feat fame, Steve Vai, and 2 of the Turtles. It's a shame that Frank died back in 93. Who knows what kind of stuff he'd be throwing out now?
--Philip Maddox
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Frank Zappa introduced me to many new words, and as a kid, being able to use the words 'Circumlocute' 'Discoporate' was novel. He had a fine way or twisting language which I found interesting and it is now part of my normal way of thinking.
My first introduction to his music was when I was 11. My brother Carl brought home some albums he'd got from his friend Peter Oosthuisen (PO for short)...the Transparency compilation and Roxy and Elsewhere. Zappa fans will know that the early albums and Roxy sound years apart. The music is so 60's on Freak Out, Absolutely Free etc and the Roxy is so much more modern. But, I found it easy to appreciate the early and late music because I listened to them all in the same afternoon, it was the same bloke...hence it all made sense.
As a guitar player he influenced me enormously. The guitar work on the Roxy and Overnite Sensation was amazing for me as a beginner. Naturally I was also into Hendrix Page etc but the are some phrases I learned off the Roxy album that I still use today (20 ears on!) My favourite Zappa album probably is Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar.
Zappa Gems and Wish list
Gem - Revised music for Guitar and Low Budget Orchestra (Studio Tan) - a beautiful creation. How many teenagers can say they went home after school and listened to Hendrix Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and something like Revised music. It opened my ears and my musical mind.
Wish List - If ever I would learn piano, I would want to learn the intro to Uncle Remus (Apostrophe). The electric piano solo on Roxy which follows the Fowler trombone solo...how brilliant are those.
Gem - Hearing the album and original solo from Inca roads. Understanding Zappa's editing. It opened my ears to other tracks, listening for how he's worked on them with his razor.
Wish List - To be invited into the tape vaults of UMRK.
David Woodman
(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
Frank Zappa's debut (released as The Mothers Of Invention) basically consists of 3 parts - the first part is tracks 1-3, which consists of harder, weirder songs about the government, mind control, the brain police, and... well, you get the idea. All of these songs are great. The opener, 'Hungry Freaks, Daddy', sounds a lot like 'Satisfaction', but with much more bitter, biting lyrics. The third one is really weird. It's called 'Who Are The Brain Police?', it it comes close to melting your head. It constantly slows down and speeds up with weird lyrics that are, well, freaky. The band's producer heard the group playing 'Trouble Every Day' (a more blues based song) and signed them thinking they were a bluesy band. Then the group went into the studio and recorded this. He went nuts! Heh heh heh...
The second part is tracks 4-11. It consists of simple, lightweight pop songs. That's right. Lightweight pop from Frank Zappa. It's all as catchy as all get out. Plus, the lyrics are cool, too - they slyly mock the superficial nature of teenage society circa 1966. An example? "I gave you my high school ring/At the root beer stand/we had a teen-age love, baby!" is one. "I don't even care if you're dad's the heat!/Wowie Zowie!" is another. I could go on. The 11th cut, 'You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here', is the least subtle. It makes sure to point out that no one really cares what Frank is trying to tell them. It's a great song. The 12th cut, 'Trouble Every Day', is closer to the 1st part, with lyrics really bashing the state of affairs in America in a not-too-subtle way. It rules! It's the best song here, and one of the best tunes Frank ever did.
The third part is the actual freak out. It consists of 3 tracks, though that fact doesn't really matter. They're called 'Help! I'm A Rock!', 'It Can't Happen Here', and 'The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet'. The first part is the group chanting the title over and over again over a simple, repetitve background. The second part is a really, really out of tune a capella tune about people who think that freaks get get them where they are. The third part has a really weird drum bit with weird noises and wailing in the background until a voice that says "Creamcheese!" over and over gets sped up and slowed down with a weird piano in the background before it just stops. In all, that part lasts about 20 minutes, and I love every second. It's like 'Revolution #9', but much more involving. Amazingly enough, I listen to every second of it every time and have actually put the record in just to hear it. This isn't quite a 10 because a couple of songs in the second part are TOO generic and can be a bit boring if you're not in the mood, but this is still highly recommended.
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My first introduction to Zappa. Bought this when it first came out on vinyl($3.49--afterall, it was a double album). I wasn't sure what to make of it at first. But it was definitely different then anything out there on the market
I was hooked and became a life long Zappa fan. Still, a 9 might be a little high since it's not one of those that I pull out and listen to much anymore.
The "third part" you wrote about is interesting the first time or two through, but not something I've ever thought I really need to hear again.
(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
This is quite a step down from Freak Out. You see, on this album, Frank just took the 3 parts of Freak Out and melded them all together. It sounds great, but it doesn't work as well as you might expect. The weird tunelessness of tracks like 'Help! I'm A Rock!' is great by itself, but when it's applied to pop songs, it sounds kind of uncomfortable. The weirdness of this style hurts a few songs in particular, especially 'Brown Shoes Don't Make It', which would be better were it a simple sound collage. It isn't bad, but it doesn't flow quite right. That sums up a lot of the songs on here.
The lyrics, on the other hand, are actually better. It ranges from absolute nonsense ("Call any vegetable and the chances are good that a vegetable will respond to you" from 'Call Any Vegetable') to pointed satire (pokes at empty high school culture in 'Status Back Baby') to both ('Brown Shoes Don't Make It'). The lyrics aren't quite as good as they would get on We're Only In It For The Money, but they're still great. I actually like this kind of weird stuff better than his more famous obscenity on albums like Joe's Garage.
There are two bonus tracks, 'Big Leg Emma' and 'Why Dontcha Do Me Right', which are mysteriously inserted in the middle of the albums. They're OK, but they definately don't fit the mood of the album - they sound more like the weaker pop songs on Freak Out. Still, they're decent, and if you play them at the end instead of in the middle, they don't hurt anything. All in all, the music is still good enough and the lyrics rule enough for this to be a recommended purchase for those who are heavily into Zappa. I just wouldn't recommend it right away.
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I also purchased this on vinyl when it first came out($2.49).
I think this is better than Freak Out, maybe because it was a single album and had less filler. "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" was one of the highlights on the album for me, and became one of his concert staples for years to come.
My rating would be a 9 on this one. I agree that the bonus tracks on the CD release, do detract from the original flow.
This album furthered my conviction that this was a group that I would continue to follow for years to come.
(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
If you ask me, this is easily the best album that Zappa ever put out (out of the ones I've heard, that is) and one of the greatest albums of all time. This is the culmination of Zappa's early albums - the sarcasm and experimentation of Freak Out, the strange song structures of Absolutely Free, and the noises and general freaky atmosphere of Lumpy Gravy. Here, though, everything is extremely well though out, compact, and brilliant. For those of you that don't know, this albums is best known for its hippie bashing lyrics, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Zappa doesn't just bash the hippies here - he bashes all of the shallow elements of society in one fell swoop, from trigger happy cops ('Mom And Dad'), people who see the counter culture as a way to escape real work ('Who Needs The Peace Corps?'), and, well, guys with some really weird problems ('Let's Make The Water Turn Black').
The lyrics are absolutely brilliant throughout. Some of my favorites are "People wonder why your daughter looks so sad/It's such a shame to have to love a plastic mom and dad", "Who cares if you're so poor you can't afford to buy a pair of mod-a-go-go stretch elastic pants/There will come when you can even take your clothes off when you dance", and my personal favorite, "What's the ugliest part of your body?/Some say your nose/Some say your toes/But I think it's your mind". It's worth buying for the sake of the lyrics alone. Zappa was way ahead of his time here. These remain the best words Zappa ever wrote.
But wait! This is some of the most amazing music Zappa ever wrote, too! Some people focus only on the words and forget the music. Unlike, say, Absolutely Free, this album would still be great no matter what the words were. This album crams 19 tracks in under 40 minutes, and most are amazingly catchy. There are a couple of noise tracks on here, but they're all very entertaining here, seeing as they're more like the noise on Freak Out than Lumpy Gravy. The first cut, 'Are You Hung Up?', features a lot of noises and creepy whispering from a man saying he is going to erase every tape in the world... starting with Frank Zappa. Eric Clapton even shows up to ask the title question. Finally, Jimmy Carl Black jumps in with one of my favorite quotes ever - "Hi, boys and girls, I'm Jimmy Carl Black and I'm the indian of the group!". The other noise tracks are OK, but not quite as cool. The closing one, 'The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny', is by far the longest track on here at 6 and a half minutes. It's still pretty cool, though. Not amazing, but pretty good.
That leaves the music, which is amazing. From mock psychedelic anthems like 'Who Needs The Peace Corps' to goofy folky songs like 'Let's Make The Water Turn Black' to waltzes with weird effects like 'Absolutely Free' (which bears no resemblance to the album of the same name), this album has it all. Plus, all of the songs all seem to slam to a conclusion before finishing, careening headlong into another song that sounds nothing like the first. It sounds incoherent, but it keeps the album interesting. Plus, it lets Frank cram more ideas on the album. and hey, even if you don't like one song, there are 18 more to jam to. This is easily one of the greatest albums of all time. Pick it up NOW.
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I agree completely with you. A "10" all the way. Great music, sound-bite-montages, spoken sections, and lyrics. No one is sacred on this. As you stated, a fast moving album so if you don't like one of the songs, wait a couple of minutes and another one pops up seamlessly.
The censored parts in "Harry, You're A Beast" and "Mother People" on the original album have been restored on the CD version. They seem mild to some of the stuff that is being said on recordings now, but back in the 60's, the record company execs wouldn't allow it even if there was absolutely no chance of the Mothers being heard on the radio.
It was about this time in my life when my parents(along with my brothers and sisters agreement), bought me my first pair of headphones. They no longer could take these "underground" records blasting forth from my teenage stereo. The Beatles, Beach Boys, Love, Jefferson Airplane, Kinks, etc, they could handle(with varying degrees of tolerance), but Frank and The Mothers were only to be listened to with headphones.
(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
This album and We're Only In It For The Money came out at almost the exact same time, so some people think this came first, while others think Money came first. I'm pretty sure this came first. This album is also credited to Frank Zappa and NOT The Mothers Of Invention. And this is truly a weird album. On this album, Frank just went all out. He combined three different things in approximately equal quantities - short orchestral bits, short dialogue bits, and weird sound effects. It's all divided into two tracks - 'Lumpy Gravy Part One' and... well, you can probably guess the other one. The album's first 5 minutes totally rule - an orchestral segment called 'Duodenim' (the parts have separate names but not tracks) followed by the very first appearance of my favorite Zappa tune - 'Oh No'. It's a cool, snazzy tune in 7/4 time with lots of great hooks, a great melody, and an unforgettable ending. After that, there are about 2 minutes of voices and noises before we break into 'Oh No Again', which features the same song in a totally different arrangement. The ending of this part rules beyond my ability to describe things - it's among the most beautiful music ever.
After that is when the problems arise. After 'Oh No Again' ends, there are almost NO actual pieces of music here. 'King Kong' is just a short version of the full length tune that would eventually end up on Uncle Meat. It doesn't quite work, as it's buried by noises. 'Envelops The Bath Tub' is avant for the sake of being avant, but it is listenable. Finally, the album ends with an instrumental version of 'Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance' which would eventually end up on We're Only In It For The Money. It's OK, but it isn't as good as the full version.
The rest of the album is just noises and voices talking about nonsense ("saluting the smoke", "pigs and ponies", and "white ugliness" get a lot of airtime). It's kind of funny the first time, but it gets really old really fast. It makes me really wish I could skip around this CD, but no such luck. The noises are just noises. They don't create a mood or anything. They're just noises. I have to give this album credit for the bits of 'Oh No'. And like I said, some of the voices can be funny. But you can find 'Oh No' in other places, along with all of the other real songs. And it was creative. There's just no reason to ever listen to it. Then again, a bunch of Zappa fanatics love this album. We can still agree on one thing - this album is basically for diehards only.
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I really dislike this when this first came out. Afterall, part of Frank's charm(at least to me) was his lyrics and biting social comments. It seemed here what we got was some beautiful music interrupted by a bunch of stoned hippies speaking of "pigs and ponies". I've grown to like this album more as time has gone on, and have taken the time to make a "homemade" tape of just the music parts.
Because of the music parts, I'd give this a 7 or 8...with the speaking parts, your 4 isn't too far off.
By the way, We're Only In It For The Money came out in June of '68; Lumpy Gravy came out in Oct. '68.
(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
This album introduced a new style of Zappa. On this album, Frank pushed the parody elements into the background and focused on making weird instrumental music. There are some lyrics here, but they're all either nonsense or inside jokes that no one outside the band would ever get. Most of the tunes here are good, but sometimes the tape manipulation and experimentation gets on my nerves. The weird sounds and sped up sound effects ruin a few decent songs. Plus, this music sounds like it was technically difficult to play, and the original Mothers were not a very technically preoficiant band (except for Frank and all purpose instrumenatlist Ian Underwood), so a lot of the tunes sound clumsy. Plus, there's a bunch of dialogue like on Lumpy Gravy, which is never a good thing. At least it's much more restrained here.
Fortunately, Frank managed to keep the album interesting despite its flaws. There are a couple of groovy doo-wop parodies here ('Electric Aunt Jemima' and 'The Air') that are hilarious and catchy. Plus, this albums contains the extremely catchy track 'Dog Breath In The Year Of The Plague', which has me singing along and grooving right with it every time. There are a bunch of at least fairly interesting jazzy numbers on here, like 'Project X' and 'A Pound For A Brown On The Bus' that are interesting, too. Still, there would be no way this album could be granted a very high grade without 'King Kong', which ate up all of side 4 on the original album. 'King Kong' was Zappa's first foray into extended jazz, and it rules! The main theme is one of the most naggingly catchy sax lines I've ever heard, and the band jams on in an extremely interesting way. It never gets boring or overlong, either. I raised the rating of this album 1, maybe even 2 points just because of this song.
There is one huge problem with the CD, though. This was supposed to be the soundtrack to a movie that was never finished, but Zappa eventually finished it. Therefore, when the album was released on CD, Zappa added 45 minutes of useless crap to it. 41 minutes of it is pointless, endless, stupid dialogue from the film which I will NEVER listen to again as long as I live, and 4 minutes of it is a "song" which sounds straight out of the eighties (and not at all out of 1969) with a man talking in Italian about the size of his penis. Yee-ha. And the thing is, without this crap, this would have all fit on one CD if it got thrown out, but instead it costs twice as much because of that crap. Subtract 2 or 3 points from the score if you consider that actual material or get gypped into paying 30 dollars for this.
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(reviewed by Samuel Fassbinder)
Here it is, seven "songs" sandwiched in between two pieces of doo-wop. The style of these "songs" is esteemed to be Frank's early "classical" style (I haven't heard his renditions of Francesco Zappa, so I'm not going to claim to be an authority on it) but it's inspired by classical music, doubtless the main influence being Frank's unorthodox composer/ percussionist hero Edgard Varese. Also jazz and heavy metal. The Zappa-inspired-by-Varese stuff in this album is what I'll call "Zappa-classical." Released at the very end of '69, on the cusp of the Seventies.
"WPLJ" is short for "white poured lemon juice," a nickname for 200-proof pure ethanol or "everclear" to you and me. Doo-wop ending in some norteño (i.e. Spanish as spoken by folks in the U.S.) gutter slang. "Igor's Boogie, Phase One" is a Zappa-classical interlude, and "Overture To A Holiday In Berlin" is some classical gas of Zappa's trademark. "Theme From Burnt Weeny Sandwich," cut number four, starts with some scratchings against a chalkboard or something, but mostly this piece is Zappa's methodical, expert guitar solo fading off into some very eccentric and wanker xylophone and rhythm section noise. "Igor's Boogie Phase Two" is more interlude, more Zappa-classical.
"Holiday In Berlin, Full Blown" is a really amusing classical/jazz/rock in that it seems to switch between a "children's music" mode and a cabaret-music "adult music" mode, ending in the Zappa/Classical tune being played against this "little boy drummer" drum background, then switching abruptly to a beautifully rocking guitar solo against a patient drum backup that trots like the clop of horse's hooves. "Aybe Sea," cut number seven, goes back into Zappa's main classical theme, with harpsichord and piano backup together at once. The piano wraps it up with a guitar poking its plucked notes and single chords behind, in the end drifiting off into two themes, the left hand going way bass while the right plays the highest notes.
"The Little House I Used To Live In," a tune deserving its own paragraph at least, starts off like Liszt or Debussy or one of those impressionist classical piano composers, then cuts abruptly to a Zappa-classical theme that goes "doo doo doo DOO doo/ doo doo dooo doo doo doo/ doo doo doo DOO doo/ doo doo dooo doo doo ," then slows down for several mood changes, involving swirls of organ and guitar and drums, so rich I can't even describe them to you. A guitar solo winds up, slows to a halt, and then cuts for an electric violin solo, probably Jean-Luc Ponty (tho' I don't remember for sure), first slow and serious, marking each note, then rocking against jazz-rock piano and drums. Piano solo, fades between rock and avant-garde so fast you think it's a combination piano/ strobelight. Drums shift to horse trot, then gallop, as electric violinist fiddles up a virtuoso storm. Rock segment ends in a long, intellectually-interesting fanfare, then a woodwinds-section fanfare, then an organ plus drums fanfare (given the then-existent technology, mostly cute stuff with rapidfire keyboarding). This stuff rocks so bad and so brainy that you feel like applauding along with the audience whose cheers are recorded at the end. Only I never picked up society's applauding habits. You, too, will change after listening to this stuff.
Of course, like the rest of this record, this is no ordinary applause. Frank parades an incident at one of his concerts where some heckler is carted off the stage. His argument with the heckler is the grounds for his statement "Everyone in this room is wearing a uniform, and don't kid yourself." "Valarie," the last tune of this album, is doo-wop, of course. Pull-out-the-stops endearingly stupid. I suppose there's an objection to putting this stuff on an album that otherwise reveals such complexity. But face it, folks, Zappa never meant to reinforce anyone's snobbery about "high art," only to blow everyone else off the stage. And here he did it. C'mon, this is clean Zappa, no excessive guitar masturbation, no crude lyrics, no boring attempts to sound hip. I saw Zappa in the flesh when he was alive and performing, sometime in '84 or thereabouts, he played guitar so fast you couldn't follow it and it was all flashy hard-rock, nothing this good. However, maybe in the enormous Zappa catalogue (with which I can claim only a passing familiarity) there are other albums like this one. I hope. People die, the music lives on.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
Frank's first real solo album (Lumpy Gravy was more of an experiment than an actual album full of music), and it's great. With the exception of one song that contains about a minute of vocals, this album is totally instrumental. If that scares you off, don't worry - the tunes here are so great that you won't even miss them. Six songs, every one of them great. 3 are long, 3 are short. My favorite on here is the opener, the short 'Peaches En Regalia'. Frank created one of the most brilliant jazzy tunes of all time here. It shifts between 6 or 7 musical themes in 3 and a half minutes, but it doesn't seem pieced together at all. If anything, I wish it was longer - it could go on for 20 minutes and not bother me at all. The other 2 short tracks aren't quite as breathtaking, but are still very good. 'Little Umbrellas' is a piano driven number with great horn melody on top. It's very catchy and pleasant. The album closer 'It Must Be A Camel' is probably the least entertaining song on here, but it's still very good. It's very slow and peaceful, concentrating more on atmosphere than melody. It works pretty well as an album closer.
That leaves the 3 long tunes. The first, 'Willie The Pimp', starts as a cool, violin driven bluesy number with really, really rough vocals about pimpin' from Captain Beefheart. After a while, though, the violin and vocals give way to an amazing guitar solo. Frank jams on for over 7 minutes, but it never gets dull or repetitve (even though the Pitchfork Internet Media site listed it as one of the worst guitar solos ever). When you start to think that it's getting too much, the original melody comes back and the song ends. Sweeeet. The second, 'Son Of Mr. Green Genes', is a jazzy remake of 'Mr. Green Genes' from Uncle Meat, but while the original was slow, creepy, short, and had vocals, this version is fast, joyful, long, and instrumental. It just plain blows the original away. It rules! The song throws enough side parts and weird solos at you to keep it interesting for all 9 minutes.
Finally, the album contains the monstrous, 17 minute jam 'The Gumbo Variations'. It's built on a simple bass line, over which various band members solo on their respective instruments. The opening sax solo is good, but not amazing, but then we're treated to an amazing violin and guitar solo that simply rules. It's a bit too long, but just a bit. No real complaints. Despite a couple of slow moments throughout, this is easily one of Zappa's best albums. Even people who hate jazz and/or instrumental music should be very pleased by what they find here.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
Quite a weird little album. You see, Frank was planning to release a 10 album set of live perfornances and studio outtakes. The first was Burnt Weenie Sandwich. This was the second and final one, as the project was never completed. This one seems to focus on avant free jazz compositions performed live on stage with a few studio tracks and oddities tossed on. The avant jazz that makes up the bulk of this album is, well, weird. Really weird. Some of the weirdest music in my collection. If isn't necessarily great, though. The 7 minute long 'Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue' is particular does little to nothing for me. It just sort of rambles on in an energy free environment. The 7 minute opener 'Didja Get Any Onya?' is better, with layers and layers of weird vocals on top of layers of weird operatic singing and rapidly changing time signatures and noises and such. It isn't great, but it is at least interesting. 'Toads Of The Short Forest' starts off as a cool jazz tune like 'Peaches En Regalia', but quickly becomes a weird dissonant jam, during which Frank announces how many different time signatures the band is playing in. The rest of the avant jazz is weirder, and that says a lot.
The normal songs on here are superb, though. The Little Richard cover 'Directly From My Heart To You' is a great blues song, spotlighting an excellent violin solo from Sugar Cane Harris. 'Get A Little' isn't really a song, but a quick chance for Frank to play some funky guitar for a couple of minutes, and it's pretty good. The indisputable highlight of the record, however, is tracks 8-10. The first track, 'My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama', is a funny, clever rocker with lots of excellent guitar and good vocals. Then comes 'Oh No', which is my favorite Zappa song. The version here is short (clocking in at 1:45), but it still rules. The lyrics are definately among the best Frank ever wrote, mocking the whole "peace and love" philosophy. Great lyrics include "You say love is all we need/You say with your love you can change/All of the fools/All of the hate/I think you're probably out to lunch" and the extremely cool closing lyric "And in your dreams you can see yourself as a prophet saving the world/The words from your lips/I just can't believe you are such a fool". The music is amazing, too - you can see my review of Lumpy Gravy for more detail on why I love the track.
It segues directly into 'The Orange County Lumber Truck', and extremely good guitar jam with the drums imitating a big diesel truck chuggin' down the road. The last track is the title one, and it's just 2 minutes of harsh noise, after which Frank thanks you for attending the concert. Weird. All in all, this is a pretty good record, and the highlights are amazing. Even when the music is too weird for basic consumption, the album remains interesting just because it's fun to see where the band is going to veer next. I especially love how the noise track 'Didja Get Any Onya?' segues directly into 'Directly From My Heart To You', which is a normal blues song. The segue is seamless, too. This is a neat little oddity of an album and recommended if you like your music as unpredictable as possible.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
Zappa got atacked by a crazed fan and had to spend a long time in bed, during which he wrote and performed his 2 big band styled jazz albums, Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo. This one was released first and was obviosly intended to be a follow up to Hot Rats, as the phrase "Hot Rats" actually appears on the cover. Unfortunately, this album isn't exactly Hot Rats. Let me give you a little disclaimer before I actually start talking about the album, however - I'm not a huge fan of big band jazz, and as such, the album probably isn't aimed at me. So if you like big band jazz a whole lot, you'll probably like this a lot more than I do. That being said, I think this album is pretty boring, to be honest. The structure is this - 4 songs. 2 really long jazz songs bookend two shorter blues/country songs.
The two songs in the middle, 'Your Mouth' and 'It Just Might Be A One Shot Deal', are OK, but nothing special. They sound OK while they're playing, but I could care less if I ever heard them again. They're obviously filler meant to take up space between the big jazz songs, 'Big Swifty' and the title track. The opener, 'Big Swifty', is 17 minutes long. Boy, is it ever 17 minutes long. I used to like it more than I do now, beacuse now I think it's pretty boring. Sure, it has some neat parts - the opening trumpet and guitar duel is cool, and there are some neat solos there toward the end. Plus, the main bass melody is pretty swingin'. The problem is that nothing really happens during those 17 minutes - boring phrases are repeated ad nauseam. It's well played and all, but it just keeps on going - if it were about 10 minutes shorter, I'd really like it. The title track has the exact same problem, though it's only 11 minutes long. The playing is great throughout, and a couple of parts stand out, but the song is basically one big blur that never really goes anywhere. I rated this album as highly as I did on the basis of the quality of the playing alone - those guys were GOOD. But like I said, if you're a huge fan of big band jazz and don't mind 17 minute song lengths, you'll probably dig this. I just don't. Sorry.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
After recovering fully from his injuries, Frank decided to take a U-turn from the big band jazz sound of his last 2 albums and release a more "normal" rock album, and this was the result. Though it was definitely normal for Frank, "normal" still probably isn't the best word to describe it. Two songs ('Zombie Woof' and '50/50') feature typically weird shifts and solos, and song topics range from sex with poodles ('Dirty Love'), explicit sex narratives ('Dinah Moe Humm'), and growing dental floss at a farm in Montana ('Montana'). Still, a lot of these melodies are pretty tame after the extreme zaniness of albums like Weasels Ripped My Flesh.
This would be a problem if these songs were sunstandard, but the thing is, they're all great! The country-ish opener 'Camarillo Brillo' is a song about a witchy woman from California, with cool vocals and some great guitar licks. 'I'm The Slime' features Frank doing a low, low voice impersonating some vile evil force (I won't reveal what it is) until the songs ends in a hot guitar solo. 'Dirty Love' is a catchy beyond catchy keyboard driven pop song about beastiality. The first half closer, '50/50', is a slightly weirder one, with lots of solos and changes in song structure. One of the solos in the middle sounds a whole lot like the Simpsons theme song (which may not be a coincidence, as Matt Groening is a HUGE Zappa fan and the two were actually good friends later in Frank's life).
'Zombie Woof' sounds like '50/50', only shorter and with funnier lyrics (about werewolves and such). It's as catchy as all get out. Finally, we get the really controversial song 'Dinah Moe Humm', which is EXTREMELY explicit. The song is about a woman who bets a guy that he can't make her have an orgasm. As the woman's sister watches them get it on, she gets hot and wants to have sex with the guy, too, leading to a threesome. The guy eventually wins the bet. I tell you, I laughed so hard the first time I heard this song I almost lost control of my car! Plus, the chuggin' bass line is extremely catchy, and the vocals are perfect throughout. It's my favorite song on this album. Finally, the album closes with 'Montana', which is considered an absolute classic by many, but I think it's merely good. It has some excellent guitar work and backing vocals throughout. All in all, if you like catchy, quality rock music and aren't offended easily, Over-Nite Sensation would make an excellent addition to your rock library. It might be a good album to buy first if you're just getting into Zappa, because he doesn't pull any of the really experimental stuff out that might make some people squirm.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
Frank's follow up to Over-Nite Sensation was very similar in style, and it's almost as good. The main difference here is Frank's vocal style. On this album, rather than singing, Frank just sort of talks and rambles his way through a loose collection of stories that may or may not be related. The first four cuts here make up the famous "yellow snow" suite. The band takes the jazzy elements from Frank's two big band albums and apples them here in a more retrained, appropriate manner. The story talks about an eskimo named Nanook who is advised not to eat the yellow snow where the huskies go. Then, a strictly commercial fur trapper clubs Nanook's favorite baby seal on the head with a lead filled snow shoe, so Nanook takes a handful of the yellow snow and rubs it in the trapper's eyes, blinding him. So the trapper goes down to St. Alphonzo's parish, where there was a pancake breakfast going on and... well, it doesn't make much sense. What matters is that it's funny, catchy, well performed, and unique. Side 1 ends with the bluesier 'Cosmik Debris', where Frank exposes the fraud of gurus in general. It's weird, but it grooves and it works, so I've got no complaints.
Side 2 isn't quite as good. The opening 'Excentrifugal Forz' is a short, fast narrative about god knows what, but it reminds me of the best parts of the yellow snow suite. Unfortunately, this is followed by the title track, a 6 minute instrumental that is well pleyed but doesn't really go anywhere. Jack Bruce of Cream fame playing bass doesn't help things. I docked the album's scoe by one point because of it. I normally wouldn't, but this album is so short that every second counts. 'Uncle Remus' is a smooth, laid back jazzy tune that isn't spectacular, but it is relaxing and catchy. The album ends with 'Stink Foot', another 6 minute track about foot fungus. It's OK, but not as good as the similar sounding 'Cosmik Debris'. All in all, this is a good follow up to Over-Nite Sensation, though not quite as good. If you liked that one, don't be afraid to proceed here. you won't be disappointed.
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COMMENTS
Don't listen to him!!!!!....the title track is the highpoint of this album, Jack Bruces' bass playing is fantastic - this is how bass guitars should sound, none of that godawful fretless crap!!!!
(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
This album was considered a bit of a letdown after a bunch of great Zappa albums and is often disliked by fans. That's totally understandable, if you ask me. I don't like this album at all. It features next to no redeeming qualities. The first big problem here is Frank's voice. I normally don't mind it, but his annoying low growl here is really lame sounding. The songwriting has taken a sharp dip, too. There's nothing as catchy as on Over-Nite Sensation or Apostrophe('). Instead, songs just pound on endlessly until I either (A) skip to the next track or (B) turn the album off. The biggest offender is the endless, 10-minute 'The Torture Never Stops', which pokes along at 2 miles per hour and features exactly NO interesting vocals, riffs, or solos. 'Find Her Finer' and 'Ms. Pinky' create the same effect in a much shorter amound of time. Those songs feature NOTHING that I ever really want to hear again.
'Wonderful Wino' has a guitar riff at least, but it's a slow, uninteresting one. I mean, I normally don't mind if a song has no riffs, but this is supposed to be Frank's version of a ROCK record, and nothing here comes even remotely close to rocking. The opening and closing tracks, 'Wind Up Workin' In A Gas Station' and the semi-hit 'Disco Boy' are only slightly better, both being hurt significantly by lame vocals and uninteresting structures. At least they move a little bit. Not much, but enough to make them stand out. Of course, by the time I get to 'Disco Boy', I'm usually too exhausted to care.
Rounding out the album are three guitar instrumentals, 'Black Napkins', 'Friendly Little Finger', and the title track. They are unquestionably the highlights of the album, and they ain't that special. They're basically guitar solos pulled away from the song they're supposed to be in and, as such, lose a lot of their power. I still never need to hear them ever again. I don't just throw out ratings this low every day, you know. And I listened to this album about 10 times, too, trying to find what some people like about it to no avail. This is really bad. Don't buy it unless you're a complete Zappaphile. With 60 odd albums to choose from, you can do much better.
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COMMENTS
I cannot agree with your assessment of Zoot Allures. The album contents, and lyrical contents in particular, fit in quite well with FZ's "conceptual continuity." Many of the songs were written years before, and were performed under quite different circumstances. "Wonderful Wino," for instance, was performed as early as 1971 by the Mothers with Flo and Eddie. They played the song (along with "Stick It Out") at the hotel in Montreaux on they day the hotel was destroyed by fire (which was memorialized in 'Smoke on the Water').
What i find irksome about your review and rating are your comments about the title song, "Zoot Allures," and "Black Napkins." Contrary to your comments, these instrumentals were not "guitar solos pulled away from the song they're supposed to be in . . ." Both were intended to be instrumentals, and were never wedged between two or more parts of another song.
Black Napkins was first publicly performed on September 18, 1975, at U.C.L.A. -- as a stand-alone instrumental -- and sounded very much the same as it did on the album. In fact, FZ taught the band how to play the song on stage, during the concert. Zoot Allures was first publicly performed as a stand-alone piece on September 27, 1975, in Santa Barbara. It was also an instrumental with no sandwich bread. Get it?
I also find it a little annoying that you would speak for all FZ fans in concluding that the album was often "disliked." It was not disliked. Maybe you didn't like the album, but every other Zappa fan I know (including myself) liked it very much. "Disco Boy" was a rocking little ditty, and funny -- especially considering when it came out and how deadly accurate its lyrics were. "Ms. Pinky" and "WUWIAGS" were also clever bits of satire. Two of the instrumentals you dissed (Zoot Allures and Black Napkins) were (and are) considered "signature" works by fans, Zappa's surviving family, and FZ himself -- not to mention a bevy of guitarists influenced by his work. Zappa sure played them both a lot in all of his subsequent concert tours. So what's there not to like?
I don't know where you got the idea the album was supposed to be a "rock" album. FZ never made an album that fit entirely inside of one musical genre. Nor was he interested in creating audio wall-paper to reinforce a particular life style. He produced and recorded music that HE liked. If you liked it too, he considered that a plus. If you didn't, then, according to FZ, you could blow it out A__. So, if you didn't like the album because it didn't "rock," then maybe you should stick to Angel, Twisted Sister and Ratt. You are wearing a uniform, and you don't even know it.
(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
This album is considered one of Zappa's finest by his fans and one of his worst by his detractors. I can understand where both sides are coming from - on one hand, this album is very musically and lyrically complex, telling a tale of a future when music has been outlawed in order to control the population. The vocals, often delivered by Ike Willis, are excellent. On the other hand, however, this album is unbelievably obscene, with a good third of the album being taken up by gay robot sex (really). Plus, a lot of the songs just keep going and going with no real sense of restraint, as this was origianlly a triple album (released separately as a single and double album originally, but now on 2 CDs). Personally, the obscenity doesn't bother me. Sure, it's immature and crude, but it's also funny as hell. I crack up constantly during this album.
The biggest problem is how long the songs drag on - over the course of 3 albums, Zappa put about a million aimless jams on the record to fill up space (I mean, c'mon, Act II has 4 songs on it, none of which should be longer than 5 minutes (except maybe 'Packard Goose'), but they last over 10). The story of this album is actually involving, even if it is incredibly dirty and gets sidetracked often (Joe, the lead character, certainly has a lot of gay sex). The story is basically this - Joe starts a garage band, but gets arrested for disturbing the peace. He starts dating a catholic girl named Mary who leaves him to be a crew slut. Joe meets a girl who gives him an "unpronounceable disease" that makes it hurt when he pees.
He joins the church of Robotology where the leader tells him to dress like a housemaid and go to a place called "The Closet" to meet German gaybots. He meets one named "Sy Borg", whom Joe "plooks" so hard that he dies. Joe gets arrested and sent to jail, where he is sodomized a lot. When he gets out of jail, music is illegal, so he wanders around and plays a lot of "imaginary guitar solos" (which make up most of Act III) and starts to go insane, before he finally settles down and gets a job making muffins. Yup, that's the story. At least it's entertaining. And it ate up a triple record. Wow. Act II is basically nothing but gay sex. The album is funny throughout, though, so I've got no complaints.
The music is much more inconsistent, as the album alternates between great songs, good songs, bad songs, and horrible songs. The great ones and the good ones generally outweigh the bad and horrible ones - most of Act I is very catchy and diverse - 'Joe's Garage' is entertaining straight up rock, 'Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?' is GREAT hard rock, 'Fembot In A Wet T-Shirt' is catchy disco, and so on. Act I ends, however, with what may be the worst song in the entire Zappa catalogue - 'Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up'. The lyrics are boring and cliched, the tune is as bad or worse than the worst stuff on Zoot Allures, and it almost last for 7 FRIGGIN' MINUTES!!!
Act II isn't as musical as Act I, concentrating more on funny lyrics. Highlights here include 'Stick It Out', during which Zappa chants "Fuck me, you ugly son of a bitch!" over and over and "Sy Borg", which is similar to 'Lucille' except with a catchier melody, and of course, hilarious lyrics (the funniest on the album - quite possibly the most obscene song EVER). As funny as the lyrics are, the music here is rudimentary to say the least. 'Keep It Greasy' is OK, but it lasts for 8 minutes. 'Outside Now' is extremely boring, too. Even the tunes of 'Stick It Out' and 'Sy Borg' aren't that special, but the lyrics do make up for that. Act III picks up a little bit.
The opener, 'He Used To Cut The Grass', is just an extension of 'Outside Now' that lasts for 9 minutes, so it naturally bores me to tears, despite the excellent guitar work. 'Packard Goose' lasts for 12 minutes, but it actually works very well - it's a scathing attack on critics with lots of awesome heavy guitar riffs and solos. 'Watermelon In Easter Hay' is a pure guitar solo that lasts for 9 minutes. The main theme is absolutely beautiful, though it could be cut down to 5 minutes easily as it eventually just starts to repeat. The album ends with the nonsense chant of 'A Little Green Rosetta', which is funny and actually pretty catchy, though a bit too long. Though some parts do drag, the best music here is brilliant, and the lyrics (with the exception of the dumb one on 'Lucille') are funny enough to keep the album interesting even when the music almost grinds to a halt. Good late period Zappa, but if you're interested in late period Zappa, start with You Are What You Is.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
This was a double album (now on one CD) that was basically pieced together from failed concept albums and outtakes and such. It should suck, but it doesn't. In fact, it's one of the best albums Zappa ever did. The tunes here are almost all very interesting, and the lyrics are among the absolute best Frank ever came up with - they're as funny as those on Joe's Garage, but with a pointed message behind them. Also, the lyrics are much much MUCH less dirty, so easily offended people can at least enjoy most of this album. Plus, Zappa performs almost every style of music in existence here, and he performs it all very well, so everyone should at least be able to pick out a few tunes that interest them. Plus, most of these tunes run straight into each other, both musically and lyrically, so it's interesting to see which way Frank's gonna take the music next.
The albums starts with a bang on the excellent 'Teen-Age Wind', about how teenagers want to be free. The teenagers repeatedly declare that they want to be free before stating that "free is when you don't have to pay for nothing or do nothing". After that, Frank goes off into pseudo country ('Harder Than Your Husband'), reggae ('Goblin Girl', which doesn't do too much for me because I never loved Frank's reggae experiments), hard rock ('Doreen'), and classical compostions played on guitar ('Sinister Footwear'). After that track, there's actually a break and the next song suite starts. It consists of mostly hard rock and a set of lyrics that veers from vain, stuck up people to drug abuse and death to Saturday Night Live (on the cute 'Coneheads'). I won't point out any highlights here except 'Any Downers?', which has one of my all time favorite guitar riffs.
Finally, song suite number 3 starts, and it's the best part of the album (which says a lot). It's lyrics bash organized religion, TV preachers, mindless punk rockers, groupies, the American government, and everything in between. The music goes from soul and gospel ('Heavenly Bank Account', 'The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing'), doo-wop ('Suicide Chump'), and a combination of just about everything ('Jumbo Go Away', which is by far the most offensive song here, about a rock star who punches a groupie for being too annoying).
My favorite, though, is the brilliant diatribe against religious hypocracy 'Dumb All Over'. It features an excellent chuggin' bass line over which Frank growls his way through an attack on closed minded religious types. Some sound effects (like that of bombs dropping) add to the effect of the song. My favorite lyric? "God knows what he's doin'/He wrote this book here an' the book says: He made us all to be just like him/So if we're dumb, then God is dumb ('An maybe even a little ugly on the side)". Heh heh heh. Frank always got right to the point, didn't he? Anyway, there are a couple of slightly weaker tunes scattered throughout, but none of 'em are bad and they barely hurt an otherwise excellent collection of songs. Highly recommended.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
A very disappointing follow up to the excellent You Are What You Is. This albums features lots of aimless jamming a la the worst moments on Joe's Garage, but this time there isn't enough good song material or funny lyrics to pull it up. There are some exceptions, of course - Zappa's highest charting single, 'Valley Girl', is included, and it's great. In case you've never heard it, it's a fast, hard rock song with a few actual vocals thrown in every now and then, but it's mostly Frank's daughter Moon Unit making fun of vapid, empty headed teenage girls. The song itself is catchy as hell, but Moon's monologue makes it a classic. I still crack up every time I hear it. If you haven't heard it, try to hear it as soon as possible. I won't spoil it. The other bug highlight here is 'Teen-Age Prostitute' (which was used as the b-side to the 'Valley Girl' single). It features Ron Popeil's daughter Lisa doing operatic vocals about prostitution with occasional male accompaniment. It's hilarious, and it's catchy and unique, too, as hearing opera vocals over twisted heavy metal is certainly entertaining. I love it!
The rest of the material isn't nearly as good, however. The opening rocker 'No Not Now' is pretty good, but nothing special - it's simply a decent rocker, though the lyrics about some old commercial are horribly dated by now. 'I Come From Nowhere' starts out like a decent rocker, but then the vocals start, and let me tell you, the vocals spoil the song 100 percent. They sound super stoned and out of tune and rather than being funny, they just make me cringe. It's a shame, because the actual music isn't too bad. That leaves the length 'Drowning Witch'/'Envelopes' suite (the booklet tells me they're 2 separate songs, but I sure can't tell them apart). And let me tell you, it draaaaaaaags. At 15 minutes in length, it eats up approximately half of the album with endless noodling. There are some decent parts, but it's hardly worth the effort of digging them out. I never feel the need to listen to it - if I want to listen to a 15+ minute Zappa song, I'll listen to 'The Gumbo Variations' on Hot Rats or 'King Kong' on Uncle Meat. This one is pretty much for diehards only.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
This was the last album Frank ever released while he was still alive, and it consists of a live recording of the Ensemble Modern performing some of Frank's orchestral pieces. Now, I'm not a huge fan of modern, dissonant classical, and much of this album is composed of just that, so I'm probably not the best person to tell you the artistic merit of tracks like 'Times Beach II', because it just sounds like endless, tuneless wailing to me. If you're really into modern classical, you'll like this more than me and feel free to add anywhere from 3-5 points to my score. Much like Waka/Jawaka, this style of music just isn't exactly my thing.
With that out of the way, I'll go ahead and tell you that tracks 5-15 don't do much of anything for me. Actually, numbers 7 and 9, 'The Girl In The Magnesium Dress' and 'Ruth Is Sleeping', are pretty interesting piano pieces. Sure, there isn't a whole lot of melody, but they are delightfully complex and interesting, and it still floors me that people can actually play this kind of stuff (I sure as hell can't!). The rest of that material is just endless, tuneless wailing (like I stated above). The songs have different titles, but I can hardly tell them apart at all - it sounds like the orchestra is just doing improv jamming. Tracks 14 and 15 are spoken word pieces, and both bore the pants off of me. The latter, called 'Welcome To The United States', has an interesting premise, with a man reading the incredibly stupid U.S. immigration policy, which says things like "Answer yes or no - do you plan to commit any drug related crimes during your stay in the U.S.?". It could be made quite funny, but the lame pronunciation and lamer sound effects ruin the piece - it lasts for over 6 minutes, too, which is a shame. Oh well.
I actually like the rest of the material on here, however. The opening medley of 'Dog Breath Variations' and 'Uncle Meat' (from the Uncle Meat album) actually improves on the originals, with a much cleaner, better played sound. Track 4, 'Outrage At Valdez', is a superb, creepy tune that was used as part of a soundtrack about the Exxon Valdez spill. It creates the intended mood perfectly. Tracks 16 and 17, 'Pound For A Brown' and 'Exercise #4' (both from Uncle Meat) are great, too. Then comes my favorite, the slow, rumbling, creepy, depressing 'Get Whitey'. It fully deserves its 7 minute length. It's really hypnotic and effective. The closing tune, 'G-Spot Tornado' (from Jazz From Hell) resembles a normal song more than any other tune here, with a fast groove and catchy melody. I'm totally impressed that the band was able to play it (it was originally a piece for the Synclavier, which is a synthesizer that you can program with orchestral sounds). It's great. Like I said, though, I totally dislike a good chunk of this album. Most Zappa fans and critics alike consider this one of Frank's best, but I don't get this style of music. The more traditional songs grab me, but the weird stuff in the middle is not meant for my ears.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
This posthumous collection is baffling. It's supposed to collect all of Frank's most offensive songs, but it fails in 3 respects. First of all, by focusing on his dirtier songs, it makes Frank seem like a novelty artist, which he certainly was not. Second, Frank's most offensive songs and his best songs are often two totally different things. Third, this isn't even the most offensive material Frank put out. Sure, some of it is ('Bobby Brown Goes Down', 'Jewish Princess', 'Dinah-Moe Humm'), but tracks like 'Valley Girl' and 'Disco Boy' aren't nearly as offensive as cuts like 'Stick It Out' and 'The Briefcase Boogie' (which features a girl having explicit, rough sex with a briefcase). Or how about 'The Mud Shark', which features groupies being "rodgered" with live fish? That's way more offensive than a lot of these tracks. Basically, this compilation only serves those who see Frank as a comedy artist and not a musician, and even they could do better than this.
Musically, this album is all over the place. Several songs are good ('Catholic Girls', Jewish Princess', 'Valley Girl'), and a few of them are excellent ('Dinah-Moe Humm' and 'Dumb All Over', which comes in a rocking, no-holds-barred live version with an awesome guitar solo. It's also previously unreleased, so Zappa fanatics will need to get this album; 'Bobby Brown Goes Down'). Really, though, a lot of this material totally sucks. 'Yo Cats' is really insipid and boring, 'Disco Boy' sucks as much as it always did, 'Tinsel Town Rebellion' is basically a musical joke, 'SEX' is idiotic, and so on. If you're in the market for a Zappa compilation, buy Strictly Commercial. It reruns 2 tracks from here ('Valley Girl' and 'Disco Boy'), but the rest of the stuff is almost always way better.
Oh, and for any collectors out there, a lot of the songs on this comp are remixed, but none of the versions are different enough to really matter (though I like the slightly longer 'Dinah-Moe Humm). The album also claims to have 2 previously unreleased live tracks, but that's a half truth. 'Dumb All Over' is previously unreleased, but this version of 'Tinsel Town Rebellion' was on the Does Humor Belong In Music? home video. If you see this really cheap, get it for the totally awesome version of 'Dumb All Over'. This album on the whole gives a sad, false impression of what Zappa was all about.
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