Essential Frank Zappa

[DrRy]

I currently have two very good Zappa "best of" albums. One is a collection of songs chosen by Larry LaLonde of Primus, and the other is called Strickly Commercial. As far as CD's go, what else would you guys recommend I pick up?

Thanks in advance.

[DrRy]

I had Hot Rats recommended to me a while back. That's a DVD as well, right?

[Viva]

Scroll down a little...multiple threads with great recommendations...or just PM Buster.

[Buster Highmen]

It depends on what you like.

I'd recommend:
Hot Rats (you __have__ to have this one, the CD)
Imaginary Diseases (some great orchestation and the best capture of his live guitar work I think).
Chunga's Revenge (also great live stuff).
Overnite Sensation (Best plopular appeal, killer guitar, funny lyrics)
Grand Wazoo (big band/brass orchestrations).
Burnt Weenie Sandwich (really lovely and ornate rockestra)
Uncle Meat (lots of weird noise fartling, but neat pieces and hidden guitar).
You Are What You Is (broad compendium)
Shiek Yerbouti (something to offend lots, sweet guitar in Rat Tomago).

Apostrophe is good too, as is Bongo Fury which has Beefheart as does Hot Rats.

For the vintage era, you can't go wrong with 'Absolutely Free'. 'Freak Out' is really good (first rap tune I ever heard), as is 'We're Only In It For The Money', but all of these require something other than a TeeVee mindset.

[DrRy]

Nice, man. I appreciate the descriptions. It's hard to know what's what when it comes to Zappa. I bought the albumn Thing Fish a while back, and that shit was funny but not a lot music as I'm sure you know.

[Deep Days]

Bump to ask: what is most similar to Apostrophe? I liked the jazziness and lively xylophone of Cosmik Debris, and I like the more conventional "couple instruments and a lyricist" style, as opposed to the more erratic instrumental stuff. Some guy at Albums on the Hill (which had an impressive Zappa collection) recommended an album to me similar to Apostrophe, but none of the ones Buster recommended sound familiar.

I just downloaded Hot Rats, so I'll give that a listen in a bit.

Thanks.

[cdlv]

ONe Size Fits All, Joe's Garage, Just Another band From LA, All the You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore series, FZ:OZ, Buffalo

[Buster Highmen]

I just downloaded Hot Rats, so I'll give that a listen in a bit.

Downloading Zappa's music is not the same as downloading other music owned by Sony or some other giant corporation.

The rights to Zappa's music belong to the Zappa family. FZ won them back from Warner Brothers years ago.

Maybe you paid for the download. If not, you're stealing from a family.

Anyway, if you liked Apostrophe, give Overnite Sensation a listen. They're both in a similar vein, crafted for a wider appeal.

[MOHSHSIHd]

Bongo Fury
Sheik Yerbouti
ONE SIZE FITS ALL
Baby Snakes
Best Band You Never Heard
Roxy & Elsewhere
You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore (all volumes)

The Dub Room Special DVD

[Deep Days]

Buster: my b. I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks for the suggestions. Hot Rats is pretty rad.

Having new music and some good headphones really does make life that much better. Particularly when it's GOOD new music.

[fomofo]

Bongo Fury
Sheik Yerbouti
ONE SIZE FITS ALL
Baby Snakes
Best Band You Never Heard
Roxy & Elsewhere
You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore (all volumes)

The Dub Room Special DVD

Yup. And this / this

[Bunion 2020]

Joe's Garage 1 & 2. Especially the solo on Watermelon. So simple, so good.

[EWG]

Joe's Garage 1 & 2. Especially the solo on Watermelon. So simple, so good.

Yup.

[buckethead]

baby snakes is a great and very funny live recording and features the superb drumming of mister ted terry bozzio. belew is in there too.

lumpy gravy, hot rats, absolutely free, freak out, zoot allures, lumpy gravy...and look around for the live shows.

a very prescient observer of american political culture, and where it was headed on-stage and off.

[refried]

I'm surprised The Mothers album Fillmore East Hasn't been mentioned yet, it's kind of a concept album (like Joes Garage) telling the story of a rock band and a couple groupies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQGNUGbziBg

[fomofo]

Mud Sh-Sh-Sharkkkk. Flo and Eddie - heh heh!

This was a pretty good read...

https://www.amazon.com/Shell-Shocked.../dp/1617808466

[boltonoutlaw]

Inca Roads (of course) is a must-have in any FZ playlist, though IMO DZ and ZPZ perform the best ever version of it here. DZ's solo is magnificent

[Buster Highmen]

FZ Guitar
________________________

Willie the Pimp Raw (from Hot Rats Sessions, not to be confused with Waka Jawaka)*


D.C. Boogies (from posthumous Imaginary Diseases CD)


My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama (Weasels Ripped My Flesh)*


Orange County Lumber Truck (Weasels Ripped My Flesh)*


Rat Tomago (Sheik Yerbouti)


Transylvania Boogie (Chunga's Revenge)*


Montreal (Imaginary Diseases)


Montana (Overnite Sensation, plus this live video, his live guitar was mindblowing, fresh, new and never duplicated)*


FZ Compositional/orchestral
________________________


Little House I Used To Live In (Burnt Weenie Sandwich)


King Kong Variations (Uncle Meat)


The Nancy and Mary Music (Chunga's Revenge)


All of Grand Wazoo*


* - this is the shit that was the crucible of my musical experience, burned into me among Led Zep 1&2, Grand Funk, Vanilla Fudge, Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver, etc and stood out. I saw him a bunch in 1969 (first rock concert), the early seventies through 1985, my all time favorite.

[boltonoutlaw]

Surprised no one has mentioned the holy trinity of

Black Napkins
Watermelon in Easter Hay
Zoot Allures








And this stupendous nugget, Stevie's Spanking:

[Buster Highmen]

Killer wah wah Zoot Allues excerpt

[fomofo]

I always loved the guitar work on this gem...



Background

From the January 1977 issue of Guitar Player magazine

Q: Do you ever play slide guitar?

FZ: No, but I do have a fretless guitar, and I'm pretty good on that. At one time Acoustic manufactured a fretless guitar; they made a prototype and tried to interest people in it, but nobody wanted it. So the prototype ended up at Guitar Center [7402 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90046]. I walked in there one day and asked them if they had anything new, and they said, "Have we got one for you!" And they brought out this thing, and it was really neat, so I bought it for $75. The only restriction was they had to take a chisel and some black paint and scratch off the word "Acoustic" on the headpiece, because Acoustic didn't want anybody to know that they had made such a grievous error as to make a fretless guitar. I've put a Barcus-Berry on that, too, and I send the magnetic pickup to the left and the Barcus on the right. The thing that sounds like a slide guitar on "The Torture Never Stops" is actually a fretless. It's also on "San Ber'dino" and "Can't Afford No Shoes" [both from One Size Fits All]. It's different than a regular guitar; you don't push the strings to bend them, you move them back and forth like violin-type vibrato, which is a funny movement to get used to. But you can play barre chords on it – it's fun.

[ticketchecker]

If you want to just feast on FZ guitar it's hard to go wrong with the Shut Up and Play Your Guitar box set