Frank Zappa (& The Mothers of Invention)

[CaptainWaits]

I don't ever remember seeing a Zappa thread in R&M for quite a while, so here's to him!

I'm looking around for some Zappa these days ever since I bought Captian Beefhart's "Trout Mask Replica", and listened to Zappa's first album "Freak Out!" on vinyl. So I have a couple questions...

Is "Weasels Ripped My Flesh" any good?

Is "Sheik Yerbouti" any good?

Is "Apostrophe (')" any good?

And In general, what are some great Zappa albums?


I'm asking about "Weasels Ripped My Flesh", "Sheik Yerbouti", and "Apostrophe (')" because they're at my local used CD store...Thanks for the help! :)

Discuss Zappa in general as well!

[halfdeadhippo]

Weasels Ripped My Flesh is very good. It's one of the more avant-garde of the Mothers stuff that I've heard.

Also, I feel obligated to recommend to you Bongo Fury. It's a live album featuring Zappa, his band, and Captain Beefheart, and it's damn good.

[robo2448]

Get Hot Rats. It's the typical starting album. Fantastic fusion. Zappa was a great guitarist.

[CaptainWaits]

Also, I feel obligated to recommend to you Bongo Fury. It's a live album featuring Zappa, his band, and Captain Beefheart, and it's damn good.
I love the sound of that. I hope it won't be all to hard to find, but I'll keep my eye out for it :)

And Robo, yeh....I've heard from many "Hot Rats" is his primary starting album. If I ever find it for a reasonable price, I'll be sure to get it...

[Bazarov]

Apostrophe is pretty good, especially if you like kind of wierd songs.

[JonG]

I have most of his 72 albums. I'm missing a couple.

My favorite Zappa albums:
Hot Rats
Freak Out!
Cruising With Ruben & Jets
Civilization Phaze III
The Grand Wazoo

[snailboy]

Apostrophe totally rules. Its home to my favorite zappa song, Camarillo Brillo

[Bazarov]

Camarillo Brillo is on Over-Nite Sensations not Apostrophe.

[Grant]

Be sure to check out Civilization Phaze III, it's a phenomenal album.

[The Fonz]

frank zappa meets the mothers of prevention( i'm aware that its prevention) is good, it also has audio recordings from the whole senate hearings, but remixed. its a little boring though, and also not one of the albums you were asking about.

edit: if you are interested in guitar as well, buy frank zappa * Guitar. its really good, all intsrumental, 2 Cds.

[CaptainWaits]

I ended up buying a compilation collection album of his.....the "Apostrophe'/Over-Nite Sensation" CD, where both the albums are put into one. It's very, very good so far....

So one more question I need to ask, is "Uncle Meat" worthy?

[DanD]

I love Frank Zappa, he's one of my all time favorite artists. As for which albums to get, I say get what ever you can get you hands on.

[CaptainWaits]

Surprised there isn't more discussion on Zappa....Bump
So one more question I need to ask, is "Uncle Meat" worthy?
I'd like to refresh this quote as well :)

[BigTrav415]

I need some Zappa badly, he sounds like my kind of artist in so many ways.

[Deconstruction]

His records (vinyl) are very hard to find around me..so are Dylan's.
I only have "One Size Fits All" on vinyl. It kind of bugs me.

[jazzfromhell]

Zappa is one of the greatest geniuses of rock, in my opinion, as well as one of my favorite guitarists. My favorite albums have all been mentioned. I haven't listened to my copy of Uncle Meat in a while, so I can't really remember how good the first disc is. The second disc, which is basically all taken up by the "King Kong" sequence, is awesome.

[PinkFreud]

All three that you asked about are excellent. Especially Sheik Yerbouti and Apostrophe. The latter has one of the most killer bass solos in the title track.

Joe's Garage is an incredible album as well. But that's pretty pricey as it's three discs for the whole thing.

[MBS]

Listen to Allen, he has the entire Zappa discography. :eek:

[PinkFreud]

I'm actually missing a few. And my hard drive crashed. But his widow said that they have enough material to release a new album every month for 3 straight years. Not even including all of the bootleg stuff they could release too.

[MBS]

I'm actually missing a few. And my hard drive crashed. But his widow said that they have enough material to release a new album every month for 3 straight years. Not even including all of the bootleg stuff they could release too.

Christ.

[jazzfromhell]

Long live the Zappa legacy, I suppose. :)


Listening to Disc 1 of Uncle Meat now, good stuff.

[temporary]

Nice to see a Zappa thread up. Lets try to keep this one around.

[Deconstruction]

Freal, my Zappa thread died I think on page 3.

[The Fonz]

Freal, my Zappa thread died I think on page 3.


zappa and GnR threads don't seem to stick around very long. :/


I love zappas quotes and such, they're great.

I even read the senate hearing transcripts, just cause.

[Woodstock]

My favorites:

Hot Rats
Grand Wazoo
We're Only In It For The Money
Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar

and maybe Apostrophe, but sometimes it really drives me away

[CaptainWaits]

Long live the Zappa legacy, I suppose. :)


Listening to Disc 1 of Uncle Meat now, good stuff.
So Uncle Meat overall is a good one then??

Also, I heard he named his daughter "Moon-Unit", and his son "Dweasel".....this true :confused:

[PinkFreud]

Dweezil and Ahmet are his sons. Diva Muffin and Moon Unit are his daughters. He was so awesome. Haha.

[robo2448]

I can't believe Zappa never did any drugs. He's like the wierdest guy ever. And apparently all he did was smoke cigarettes and drink a lot of cofffee.

[PinkFreud]

Yeah. He tried pot like twice and hated it. He didn't need drugs to be weird.

[CaptainWaits]

Dweezil and Ahmet are his sons. Diva Muffin and Moon Unit are his daughters. He was so awesome. Haha.
heh, that's awesome. And Zappa never did drugs?? Surprises me. I wonder if Beefhart was the same.....but I doubt it. I'm sure he and his "magic band" were doing crack while recording...

[CaptainWaits]

One last Bump for Zappa's thread...

[halfdeadhippo]

heh, that's awesome. And Zappa never did drugs?? Surprises me. I wonder if Beefhart was the same.....but I doubt it. I'm sure he and his "magic band" were doing crack while recording...
Beefheart claims neither he or his band did drugs in an interview with Rolling Stone, but his guitarist claims otherwise (whether this means that the band was on drugs or Beefheart was, I don't know).

[munky_magik]

Dweezil and Ahmet are his sons. Diva Muffin and Moon Unit are his daughters. He was so awesome. Haha.
Dweezil's solo stuff is pretty good. Not as good as Frank's but still pretty good.

One of my favourite Frank Quotes:

Interviewer: "So Frank, you have long hair. Does that make you a woman?"
FZ: "You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table?"

[¡Phil!]

heh, that's awesome. And Zappa never did drugs?? Surprises me. I wonder if Beefhart was the same.....but I doubt it. I'm sure he and his "magic band" were doing crack while recording...

Nope, Zappa had a strict agreement with anyone in his band where he allowed no illegal drug use whatsoever. John Frusciante came very close to being a guitarist in his band (like final 5 I think) but dropped out due to Frank's restrictions.

As for favorite albums Joe's Garage is probably my favorite one due to one of the greatest instrumentals ever, Watermelon in Easter Hay, but I still have a lot of his discography left to listen to.

And hopefully this Zappa thread can last awhile.

[DanD]

Joe's Garage has some great songs on it, but the whole Central Scrutinizer thing is really annoying. It kind of kills the album for me.

[Prince of Darkness]

I just got Hot Rats and I'm loving it. He certainly was the Mike Patton of his time

[Jude]

Zappa is weird as hell. My dad wants me to go to a concert of his kid (the ashole actually named his kid Dweezil? What a dick) playing Frank's songs. Should be pretty interesting.

[CaptainWaits]

I bought Uncle Meat yesterday. I'm sort of finding it hard to get into. I don't quite understand its concept....is it a soundtrack, or what exactly is it :confused:

[Cocaine]

Zappa is weird as hell. My dad wants me to go to a concert of his kid (the ashole actually named his kid Dweezil? What a dick) playing Frank's songs. Should be pretty interesting.
Dweezil isnt even the weirdest. Seriously, MOON UNIT?

Ah well. Zappa was a genius, albeit a ****ing weird one. I've only got Freak Out!,Absolutely Free, Apostrophe, and Cheap Thrills, which is a comp album. I hope to get Sheik Yerbouti or Hot Rats next.

Anyone see the vids of him on Crossfire? Those are priceless.

[Iai]

I think We're Only In It For The Money is far and away his best to be honest. But obviously he has other great albums.

Freak Out seems pretty over-rated to me.
I just got Hot Rats and I'm loving it. He certainly was the Mike Patton of his time
Jesus, what did Zappa do to earn that kind of insult?!

[Grant]

Anyone here a fan of his Synclavier work?

[Cocaine]

I think he's comparible to Patton in weirdness and work-ethic. They're both strange and prolific, but that's where the comparison ends. Freak Out! is more praised for it's cultural significance, I always though. I've never really known what it's cultural significance was though.

Anyone here a fan of his Synclavier work?
Never heard it

[CaptainWaits]

I bought "Weasels Ripped My Flesh" a coupel days ago, and I'm loving it. The album got to me right away, it didn't take time to grow on me, which was the case for "Uncle Meat". At the moment, my favorite song from the albums "My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama", and I'm aware that it's probably the albums hit, but it is for good reason :)

[Uberman]

Anyone like Lumpy Gravy? I do.

[Nicholas Sutton]

Frank Zappa is one of my heroes, I only got into him like early this year but man, what a guy he was. I haven't really even scratched the surface as far as getting his albums go, and I don't feel comfortable downloading Zappa, Zappa is the only artist who compells me to buy his CDs as opposed to downloading.

Of what I have so far I think Joe's Garage is my favorite. Like someone else said before me, Watermelon in Easter Hay is mother heffing classic. Zappa is the only person who can even get me interested in classical music. I can't get enough of him.

[PinkFreud]

Freak Out! is significant because it's a satire on the hippy culture and the goings on around him. Odd too because much of his audience were freaks.

He's not really very comparable to Patton. Yeah, Patton's versatile but it's like yeah there's a doo-wop-ish song on California, some Beach Boys influence on some songs, and other stuff. Zappa's produced entire volumes of diverse music. Patton's like a poor-man's Zappa. Plus, he's not nearly as accomplished a writer or musician as Zappa.

[The Door Mouse]

the only zappa song ive ever heard was vally girl and it was wierd but good wierd. i like it

[CaptainWaits]

I bought "Joe's Garage: Acts I, II, and III" a couple of days ago. Awesome double-disc set. I've also recently bought "Roxy & Elsewhere".