Any huge fans of that album (like me? ) I really love it so much... I remember the first time I heard it I was like... shocked, but in a good way, I just had never heard any music like that before, and realizing that I loved it so much was a great feeling. I was already familiar with his first 3 albums, but that one sounded so different. Zappa was really a genius, God I have so much fucking respect for that man! A great composer... so original too, and one of the best guitarists I've heard. I plan to get so many more albums by him, I wish I had a dsl connection to download them all very fast, or that I had the money to order them... (sorry for not making a review by the way but that's not my thing, I'm bad at it! There's other people here for that )
I was watching an old episode of Saturday Night Live from the late 70's a couple weeks ago, and it featured Zappa as the musical guest. He performed 'Peaches en Regalia' with his band. Terry Bozzio was on drums and Jean Luc Ponty was on violin. It was very interesting to watch, seeing as that I haven't seen a whole lot of vintage Zappa footage. Hot Rats is a great album!
I remember reading in a drumming magazine awhile ago that Terry Bozzio was scared to death when he tried out for Zappa's lineup, which I thought was pretty interesting. This just makes me respect Zappa even more, for the fact that he would accept only the best musicians for his work. So far, I only have We're Only in it For the Money from Zappa, but I want to get Hot Rats and some other material of his very badly. He was definitely a genius, as Laety said, and a truly remarkable musician. He wrote some hilarious lyrics, too.
It's true he's really funny - I love his humour. Do you know what he named his kids? It's too great: Dwizle and Moon Unit! lol Imagine someone really serious like your uptight boss or a teacher or such calling you, in this very strict voice: "Moon Unit"
Yeah, I did know that. I thought that was really funny too. I told one of my good friends that, and he laughed and said, "I bet 'Moon Unit' is living a good life!"
This album is smashing! I find it quite hard to place it into a genre, and this is one thing I find to be so unique about it. This is jazz-fusion to a degree, but I find the structure for many songs borrows alot from classical as well. It really doesn't have much to do with rock aside from using "rock instruments". My favorite song is maybe Willie The Pimp. But I can't be certain because the album is so strong as a whole. Willie The Pimp starts off with a excellent screeching violin line, and when that searing guitar from Zappa and Beefheart's vocals come in it just cooks. Plus, after the vocals end the rest of the song is cominated by Zappa, who just solos superbly for something like 5 minutes. As for the other songs they're all instrumental. The shortest song, Little Umbrellas has a beautifal melody, embellished with soft pianos and keyboards. The Gumbo Variations is full of first-class solos, Peaches En Regalia and Son Of Mr. Green Genes are gorgeous, flowing pieces and the album ends perfectly on It Must Be A Camel. Hey, you know what's another great Zappa album, by the way? Lumpy Gravy! I listened to it once earlier today. I think it's really underrated, alot of people don't seem to like it just because the music comes in snippets and it's interspersed with dialogue (which is hilarious, anyway).
That's crazy, I was listening to "Willie The Pimp" when I came across this thread. I'm also wearing my Frank Zappa T-shirt. Weird coincidence...
Frank Zappa is the man. His children Dweezil, Moon Unit, Ahmed and Diva have so funny names. I remember listening to Hot Rats for the first time - I liked it as much as I do today. Other LP's grow on me everytime I listen to them like "Roxy & Elsewhere", "200 Motels" or "Uncle Meat". Or take "The Yellow Shark": A masterpiece!
I didn't know about Ahmed and Diva... Diva's pretty original, but I know tons of Ahmed's... it's just an Arabic name
Zappa is the most underratated, overlooked composer of our time! I love to hear people talking Zappa! Sometimes I feel as if his music gets forgotten. How about "One Size Fits All"? I really like this album along with Overnite Sensation and Apostrophe. These works are slick and I mean SLICK. Noone ever recruited such talented musicians onto one stage. These guys were all virtuosos. Chester McLaughlin had to be one of the finest drummers ever. The musicians like....Ray White, Bobby Taylor, George Duke, Steve Vai, Adrian Belew, Terry Bozzio, Chad Wackerman, Ruth Underwood (fabulous!) the list goes on and on....VIVA ZAPPA!
Frank is def. one of my favorites. I just picked up a vinyl set..."Shut up and play your guitar" Killer stuff!
what an awesome album! great compostition on all but "Willie the Pimp", which is still awesome cause it has a badass rif on guitar and violin and has possibly the bets guitar solo ever. Frank Zappa was a master at the art of jamming and composing! Peace and Love --pW--
I'm so glad that there are still Zappa fans out there. He would have to be my #1 Musical Hero!!! He kissed noone's ass, he did whatever the fuck he wanted, he ventured into music that noone had ever dreamed of....I mean this guy had balls the size of Texas. Noone even compares...its just a shame that not many have the patience to really understand his music....that's okay though...more Zappa for me!!!!
Hot Rats is one of the best albums of all time. Amongst the collection I also own Sheik Yerbouti, Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar, Lather, We're Only In It For The Money, Overnite Sensatrion/Apostrophe, Son Of Cheap Thrills, Civilization Phase 3, Clean American Version, Weasels Ripped My Flesh and The Yellow Shark Sessions. Than on video I own The Amazing Mr. Bickford, 200 Motels and Zappa's Universe A Tribute to Frank during his 50th B-Day in 91' w/ Steve Vai, Dweezil, Dale Bozio, The Impressions adn Rockapella. As well as the A&E Biography on him. So much Zappa, so little time and whats more is his music is great both when stoned and sober!
there is a lot of music around i can dig, but there are few musicians around i respect like i respect zappa. i don't have that much music of him, joe's garage and hot rats. my father used to have all kinds of tapes (guess there was a great deal of bootlegs between it) from his work of the seventies. but they were lost before i started to develop the love for music i have nowadays, so i never heared it. gues i have to spend some more money on his work
