This is the first Zappa album I've ever heard and probably my favorite to this day. I first heard this album on a car trip with my friend and his dad. As soon as I heard the first track I thought What the hell is this guy talking about Dont eat the yellow snow? Then I heard the rest of the album and was impressed and was hooked on Zappa. This is Frank Zappa's most commercially accesible album, because it has "Don't eat the yellow snow" which was his biggest single up until "Valley Girl" in the eighties I think. Frank actually cut out parts of Dont eat the yellow snow and Nanook Rubs it to form a single for the radio I believe.
This album is basically a collection of incomplete stories with a very good amount of humor. Some of you won't find Frank's humor funny but hopefully most will after a few listens. The album has some excellent musicians on it, and some great guitar work by Zappa. The xylophone seems to stand out to me the most on this album. Well, let's get on with the track by track review.
1. Don't Eat the Yellow Snow - A great introduction to Frank Zappa's odd humor which will fill the album. It has some great guitar fills and backup vocals and some impressive drum work. One of Zappa's more popular songs.
Rating: 3.5/5
2. Nanook Rubs It - A continuation of the story in the first song. Has some really fast guitar work courtesy of Frank. This is probably the funniest song on the album about the doings of an eskimo. I enjoy the Horn work and the little interlude in the song where he says "I can't see". This is the better part of the Eskimo story.
Rating: 4.5/5
3. St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast - A very short fast paced song. The horn work in this song is excellent. Notice the impressive xylophone solo near the end of the song, :thumb: No one else but Zappa.
Rating: 3.5/5
4. Father O' Blivion - Another fast paced song with Zappa rambling some priceless lyrics. The song has some strange spacy noises in the middle of the song that give a very strange feel to the song. Not one of my favorite songs on the album but not a bad one either.
Rating: 3/5
5. Cosmik Debris - Ah, my favorite song on the album, I love this song so much I named my band after it. This song has the best guitar riff on the album. The vocals on this track are great. The lyrics parody how many musicians would seek the help of gurus back in the 60s and 70s. A very nice guitar solo on this track. Frank's deep baritone voice on this song during the verse is great.
Rating: 5/5
6. Excentrifugal Forz - Another short fast paced song with spacy effects to the guitar. Frank uses lots of strange sound effects in this song. Not really a major track but there really are no minor tracks on this album.
Rating: 3/5
7. Apostrophe' - This is a full all out jam with Frank and Jack Bruce (Cream). The Bass playing is excellent, the bass has this fuzzy tone that is awesome. The guitar playing is outstanding, it has a very twangy tone. Any musician could enjoy this song. You can really feel the power of this song, these guys were really playing with soul that day.
Rating: 5/5
8. Uncle Remus - Great Piano intro that leads into a full smash as the entire band kicks in including some great backing vocals. The first guitar solo is delivered plain and simple but the second one hits the top. This is a great uplifting song.
Rating: 5/5
9. Stink-Foot - A nice bluesy song. The lyrics are pretty funny. Some very good guitar solos with a wah effect on one of the solos. The vocals at the end of the song are very smooth and mellow accompanied by a baritone voice that I believe is Frank with an outro guitar solo. A great ending song for the album.
Rating: 4/5
This is one of my favorite albums and I hope that most of you music lovers will pick it up if you don't already have it. If you don't like the album on the first listen it's fine. Zappa takes a couple listens to appreciate for some people. Well, I hope my review helped some of you.
