Frank Zappa ???
batmon
27,574 Posts
Back in the dayz, my buddy introduced me to some Zappa. The THINGFISH cassette iz what I mostly remember. I always wanted to venture into the Zappa catalog.Any recommondations?
Comments
Chunga's Revenge
Zappa takes a piss (in the snow!) on the notion that you need to be high on drugs to be crazy creative.
At his best, but at his worst his music is damn near unbearable. And I say this as someone who enjoys a lot of his music.
"What's the ugliest part of your body?"
That's why threads like these are important. I, for one, haven't delved too deep into Zappa's catalog. I have only heard maybe three of his records, the first of which was Apostrophe which was great.
But where does one start with a guy who has put out more than 50 records? At the beginning? I need some guidance!
In my opinion you can cut down on the number of Zappa albums you need to hear by first avoiding all of his synth-based orchestral later work from the 80's on. I guess everything up to Joe's Garage is a lot of hits and some misses...If I had to choose my other favorites:
Freak Out!
We're Only In it For the Money
Absolutely Free
Hot Rats
One Size Fits All
And as far as Zappa-produced classics:
Captain Beefheart-Trout Mask Replica
GTO's
Are there any other classics on Bizarre Records (I think Alice Cooper's early shit is on Bizarre)?
I like the Persuasions' Acapella album on Bizarre's sister label, Straight. Like the title sorta indicates, this is acapella soul (NOT doo-wop)...a lot more "normal" than what Bizarre or Straight normally put out. Poorly recorded, but with a heart of gold.
Incidentally, we had a Zappa thread this summer if you wanna look into this topic further ("Let's Talk Frank Zappa," 8/8/05).
Thing Fish is probably the worst(weirdest)place to start with Zappa.
and everytime i see that weasels ripped my flesh cover i just wanna kick myself for not picking up basically a zappa discography ot a thrift store once (fuck being cashless and too stupid to hide records you want to come back for)
I'm also partial to 200 Motels. "Mystery Roach" is my shit.
Get a Little from "Weasels..." is sounding real good right now (sorry non-Mac users, m4a only)
Both Buckley lps, both beefheart lps, Jeff Simmons: "Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up", all 4 Alice Cooper records (though they were all reished on Warner), Tim Dawe: "Penrod"
Yes. Stay the fuck away from Thing-Fish.
Start out with their first LP, Freak Out! ("Trouble Every Day" is quality), and move on to stuff like Apostrophe (*), Hot Rats, and Chunga's Revenge. Those albums are more uniform (meaning less messy & scatterbrained) than the rest of his work. Like someone said - these albums are nice jumping-off points. Then, try stuff like Weasels Ripped My Flesh ("Directly From My Heart To You"), Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Uncle Meat, We're Only In It For The Money, Over-Nite Sensation, Zoot Allures (underrated), and even (overdubs, content and all) Sheik Yerbouti.
Try to avoid the 80s stuff until you've at least wrapped your head around the 70s and late 60s.
Zappa has nutty fans who collect his live sets nearly as fervently as Deadheads. I'm not up on any of these live boot sessions or weird DJ MONO-ONLY EXTRA MIX shit, but I'm telling you: don't spend more than $15-20 on any of his albums - especially when starting out - they're ubiquitous enough that patience (and buddies at the local store) will provide.
Don't forget this thread too.
I missed that, thanks. Zappa is so onpoint.