Frank Zappa

[Red Baron 0]

I want to get into his music, but I have no idea where to start, and I don't want to start downloading random tracks and be turned off from them.

 

Basically I need some guidance/help in order to get some of the best Zappa music ever created.

 

Any help?

[Copper Feel 0]

Over Nite Sensation seems like the best start from the 6 albums of his I have heard so far:

 

Songs like Camarillo Brillo, I'm The Slime, Dirty Love (great one two three punch) and Dinnah-Moe Humm are extremely good musically, whilst still being funny and the fact that the disc only lasts for 34 minutes makes it more immediately accessible than one of his more challenging works such as We're Only In It For The Money.

[Frosty 0]

Dirty Love is an awesome song, Peaches En Regalia is killer, My Guitar Wants to Kill yer Mama is another great tune, Yellow Snow is very odd yet highly amusing.

[BX 0]

Absolutely Free is great.

[Red Baron 0]

is it better to get albums or just pick off certain tracks?

[Guest Oedipus Rex]

Albums. Get Sheik Yerbouti ASAP. What a fun album.

[Slayer 0]

Get Sheik Yerbouti and Hot Rats together

 

If you like those, follow up with Joe's Garage and We're Only in it for the Money

[Murmuring Beast 0]

I always loved Freak Out best.

[Guest Oedipus Rex]

It's fun and very good, but it's not his best album.

 

Slayer made some good recommendations, but I'd sub out Joe's Garage for Over-Nite Sensation, You Are What You Is, or Absolutely Free. I still think Joe's is too big for its own good. I mean, Zappa as The Central Scrutinizer = Ike Willis as The Thing-Fish, basically. It has its moments: "Catholic Girls," "Crew Slut," "On The Bus," "Watermelon in Easter Hay" (OMG perfect), but I never appreciated it all that much.

 

If you're happy with Hot Rats, gobble up the rest of the jazz, Third Stream, and fusion outings: Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Waka/Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo, Sleep Dirt, and Studio Tan. If you can handle those, you can go for the holy grail, Uncle Meat.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Get the DVD for Baby Snakes. It's mostly Sheik Yerbouti material, features one of his best bands, but still contains his best moment in "Black Napkins."

 

Also, if you hunt and peck for certain songs, you're going to miss the boat entirely.

[Red Baron 0]

So is it better to get live or compilation albums or just go for the albums mentioned above.

[Guest Oedipus Rex]

I just sent you Sheik Yerbouti. I'm a generous son of a gun.

[Special K 0]

Is cheerful subversion, dirty rock, and satire really the same thing as genius?

 

If so, Ween is the second best band ever.

[Copper Feel 0]

If you're happy with Hot Rats, gobble up the rest of the jazz, Third Stream, and fusion outings: Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Waka/Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo, Sleep Dirt, and Studio Tan. If you can handle those, you can go for the holy grail, Uncle Meat.

 

Hey I love Hot Rats, looks like my next few Zappa purchases are obvious.

[Slayer 0]

Slayer made some good recommendations, but I'd sub out Joe's Garage for Over-Nite Sensation, You Are What You Is, or Absolutely Free. I still think Joe's is too big for its own good. I mean, Zappa as The Central Scrutinizer = Ike Willis as The Thing-Fish, basically. It has its moments: "Catholic Girls," "Crew Slut," "On The Bus," "Watermelon in Easter Hay" (OMG perfect), but I never appreciated it all that much.

Bringing up YAWYI is funny because originally my line of recommendations went SY+HR, then JG+YAWYI, but then I questioned whether YAWYI is a good starting point for a Zappa newb (as something Agent knocked me for in the past), plus that's three albums from the same time period and I wanted to introduce some variety, so I subbed in WOIIFTM instead

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

I'm just not big on that album in general. The 80's stuff is growing on me a little bit, though. I can enjoy all of Them or Us, and The Man From Utopia kills me. Most retarded album he ever did.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

My starter shortlist remains Sheik Yerbouti, Freak Out!, and Hot Rats. They're three of my top five, anyway. Over-Nite Sensation is really awesome and all, but for whatever reason lately I've been finding albums from that period that I like more. One Size Fits All is just so awesome, and Zoot Allures is horribly overlooked. For 1-2-3 punches, I adore "Wind Up Working In A Gas Station," "Black Napkins" (best thing he ever did, I tell you), and "The Torture Never Stops."

 

Sheik.. is a great starter because it features the three things Zappa is best at: playing guitar, being a fuckin' surgeon in the studio, and writing dumb funny shit.

[Guest Oedipus Rex]

Agent, do you like the bass sound on the early/mid-80s stuff, like Joe's Garage (not 80s but fits here), FZmeetsMOP, etc.? I don't really care for it.

 

I think one of these days, I need to devise one big Zappa Recommendations flow chart. We've had this thread several times; maybe just laying it all out in graphic form would be sort of neat. I don't know what the hell kind of arrow is going to lead to Francesco Zappa, though. Eek.

 

But to add what I just saw you write, Zoot is very overlooked indeed. Roxy is a good album, but so much of it is rendered obsolete by the Helsinki concert. I never got into One Size Fits All, really. I love "Inca Roads," but the whole album never caught on with me.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

I get the impression you've cooled somewhat on Apostrophe, Gene.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Oh, you're nuts. The tapping section of "Inca Roads" that transitions back to the main melody and vocals gives me a chill. "Can't Afford No Shoes" and "Po-Jama People" have what was probably his best solid rock guitar sound, as well as a forgotten gem of a solo on the latter. Kinda like "Fifty/Fifty" on Over-Nite Sensation. "Sofa" is a great diversion, and the rest of the album were live performance mainstays. The only stinker is "Evelyn.." but it's totally transitional and short.

 

And no, there's not much I like about the production of the early 80's sound. Everything just sounds vaguely early-digital and overproduced. Joe's Garage is an album I'm actually pretty sour on. It could be one pretty good disc, but so much on there is bloated junk. His sense of humor got pretty heavy-handed in there too, I think.

[Guest Oedipus Rex]

I don't like Apostrophe. Should've just had Over-Nite Sensation be a double album. I'm still bitter two years later that I got bent over by Best Buy and paid like $17 or $18 for a 31-minute album that isn't even amazing.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

I get the impression you've cooled somewhat on Apostrophe, Gene.

 

A little bit. It was the first one I ever bought, actually, so I was all about it for a long time. I really don't listen to it often anymore, and nothing on it is really blow-my-mind like it was. That's a great example of Frank The Studio Surgeon, but not really anything else. Honestly, I like the live version of the first half of the album on YCDTOSA Vol 1 more.

 

I WANT A GARDEN!

[Guest Oedipus Rex]

Oh, you're nuts. The tapping section of "Inca Roads" that transitions back to the main melody and vocals gives me a chill. "Can't Afford No Shoes" and "Po-Jama People" have what was probably his best solid rock guitar sound, as well as a forgotten gem of a solo on the latter. Kinda like "Fifty/Fifty" on Over-Nite Sensation. "Sofa" is a great diversion, and the rest of the album were live performance mainstays. The only stinker is "Evelyn.." but it's totally transitional and short.

I don't like "San Ber'dino" or "Andy" very much. I do like "Sofa" as well, and "Florentine Pogen" and "Po-Jama People" are okay. I just never got crazy into it like I have with others.

[Coffin Surfer 0]

I'll second "One Size Fits All" as a great place to start. More straightforward rock but still full of the weird freak outs, great guitar wankery, and sarcasm that makes Zappa special. The solo in "Po-Jama People" scorches.

 

"I don't like "San Ber'dino" or "Andy" very much"

 

Beefhart's intro harmonica rules, as does the faux soul vocals that close. As far "Andy" I thought it was actually the climatic high point of the album, great memorable chorus and vocal freak out. Anyone that wanders where Patton gets some of his stuff should take a listen to that song.

 

"Florentine Pogen"

 

This may be the one song from the album I didn't care too much for, outside of the funny lyrics.

[Slayer 0]

"Black Napkins" (best thing he ever did, I tell you)

funny enough, despite it being somewhat difficult to pick out the best albums, I think my list of his top five songs will never change, namely:

 

Watermelon

Black Napkins

Zoot Allures

Inca Roads

Black Page 2

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Black Napkins

Big Swifty

Watermelon in Easter Hay

Inca Roads

Toads of the Short Forest

[Henry Spencer 0]

Is it in this forum that I once called Zappa an immense turd? If so, I take it back now after falling head over heels in love with Absolutely Free and Hot Rats.

[Guest Oedipus Rex]

redbaron, did you like Sheik Yerbouti?

[Red Baron 0]

I've only got a chance to listen to it once, but I've liked what I've heard so far.

 

I'll give it a spin later on tonight.

[Red Baron 0]

So whats next after Sheik Yerbouti