Frank Zappa?

I no nothing about Frank Zappa and no none of his music or what he's about but have heard people talking about him in a way that makes me think I am missing something.

Can someone please clue me up briefly into why he any good and if I want to check him out what is the 2 or 3 albums I need to start with

If you have an interest in someone who was an innovative & visionary composer/musician and (actually took the art of music seriously), then Frank Zappa should be checked out.
Also, he one of the very few Music types you could get intelligent conversation out of on a number of subjects (music and beyond).


Where he started...



...Freak Out (1966)


Where he started to stretch compositionally as a solo artist...



...Hot Rats (1969)


Shows a number of his influences...



Roxy & Elsewhere (1974)


What he really wanted to be doing (orchestral)...



...The Yellow Shark (1993)


My personal picks.
There's a ton of good stuff in between.
I'm sure there will be other suggestions.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

If you have an interest in someone who was an innovative & visionary composer/musician and (actually took the art of music seriously), then Frank Zappa should be checked out.
Also, he one of the very few Music types you could get intelligent conversation out of on a number of subjects (music and beyond).


Where he started...



...Freak Out (1966)


Where he started to stretch compositionally as a solo artist...



...Hot Rats (1969)


Shows a number of his influences...



Roxy & Elsewhere (1974)


What he really wanted to be doing (orchestral)...



...The Yellow Shark (1993)


My personal picks.
There's a ton of good stuff in between.
I'm sure there will be other suggestions.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

"you are what you is" and "sheik yabouti" are two really good albums that mix the rock/funny/weird/social satire elements of zappa in a really fun swirl. they may not be considered his "best" albums, but i think they're really accessible, with lots of catchy stuff going on...a good intro.

everything else listed in this thread is fantastic as well.

Thanks guys. I will definately check Frank out. I need to branch out.

savoirfaire said:

That's actually an awesome summary of Frank Zappa, though not necessarily his best or most accessible albums...

As a little kid I grew up with a family member constantly playing Joe's Garage & Uncle Meat.

I think it permanently warped me.

Geelong 2009 AFL PREMIERS!!! http://www.youtube.com/wa...F6y2SOk3DM

theAudience said:

savoirfaire said:

That's actually an awesome summary of Frank Zappa, though not necessarily his best or most accessible albums...

Thanks.


I'm a big believer in perspective.
For someone that knows nothing about an artist, I think it's important to know where they started.
That way you get a sense of their musical progess (or lack of) over time.

That's just my approach with artists I don't know anyway.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

WHY DOES IT HURT WHEN I PEE?

I'm listening to Hot Rats, Jeez, how I have been missing this.

lust said:

I'm listening to Hot Rats, Jeez, how I have been missing this.

Anxiety said:

"It is better to travel well than to arrive."

...

Apostrophe--my introduction! I loved it because for me, it was a great indication of his musicianship and his sense of humor! That made me go back to Hot Rats , then I jumped to Overnite Sensation, and continued back and forth from there,









...
[Edited 5/28/09 6:35am]

PDogz said:

needless to say, looking at my avatar, I´m a huge Zappa fan. I still buy the new releases coming out (like the MOFO cd set, Buffalo etc). Gettinmg into Zappa is quite a journey itself. Zappa viewed his complete output as a giant piece (a whole universe) with lots of references from album to album and song to song. It's known in Zappa terms as teh conceptual continuity.
If you are seriously considering collecting Zappa, start with the first one, Freak Out then slowly work your up, just like the albums were released. This way you'll notice the Zappaverse closing in on you and maintaining the high quality grip of musical interest it has to offer!
If however you'd like a taste of his music I'd recommend :
Apostrophe (')
You are what you is
Freak Out
Joe's Garage
and a DVD like Does humor belong in rnr ?
Succes and have a great Zappa Experience
[Edited 5/28/09 7:23am]

Jazz From Hell -- 1988 Grammy Award winning album.

In terms of DVDs...



...the Apostrophe (')/Over-Nite Sensation disc is an easy on the senses overview of those recordings.

A nice offering from the VH-1 Classic Albums series.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

I'm with tA and starbuck on this one- if ya wanna know about an artist's work it's important to have the context of where they started.

I'm dating myself here. I was 17 when Freak Out was released in the latter half of '66 and I think it's important to point out that culturally, the drugs,sex and rock 'n roll, summer of love thing was in full effect.

In this sense Freak Out was more or less an astute sound track to our lives. It had everything- the psychedelic sounds that to us were "the latest sounds", it provided a linear sense of progression with the doo wop and R&B influences that we'd been listening to before the new San Francisco sounds came in, it captured the experience of being high on weed or acid with the sound collages and the lyrics were spot on in the questioning of phoney values and morals that we hippies were rebelling against having had our minds expanded with the drugs.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Freak Out, although at first listen might sound terribly dated to younger people today was totally ground breaking and new for its time. It wasn't just a good record, it was a mindblowing record that totally nailed what was going on culturally.

In that sense it was anthemic. You couldn't listen to it for simple entertainment (although I'm sure we thought we were) because Frank's potent lyrics were dynamically interacting with the process of liberation that was going on in our minds at the time.

I don't think its possible to measure what effect that his music alone was having on us because it was embedded in all the other influential music that we were immersing ourselves in- The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, etc. but Frank was different in that he had one foot in the movement and one foot permanently planted outside.

FZ was total iconoclast. Although I didn't fully get it at the time, he was making fun of us as much as he was making fun of our parents generation.

And Anxiety, growing up in a household where your mom was continually playing FZ?! Hmmmm.... what was that like? Were you listening to the lyrics? I'm curious how you perceived FZ from that vantage point if you want to say more.


I'd like to make mention of one particular song on Freak Out that I believe stood out from the rest for the dead on laser focus (ha! we didn't even have lasers back then) of its social commentary about a specific event that further defined the climate of the times, the Watts Riots.

Trouble Comin' Everyday is a powerful description and indictment of the racial situation in the US. Unfortunately there's no good original version left on youtube but here's the only one that features the whole cut (unfortunately you have to put up with the poster noodling around on his guitar in the background. Music starts at 1:03):



And here's a live version some 9 years after the Freak Out release:


[Edited 5/28/09 8:27am]

And like starbuck pointed out, there are references to the Zappaverse on each album if you are familiar enough with his output to hear them. I hear the lead line of Willie the Pimp slipped in there at 7:40 of the guitar solo on this live version.
[Edited 5/28/09 8:34am]
[Edited 5/28/09 8:37am]

TyphoonTip said:

As a little kid I grew up with a family member constantly playing Joe's Garage & Uncle Meat.

I think it permanently warped me.

May I suggest Lather.... to begin.... nice mix of everything Frank did well.

[Edited 5/28/09 13:55pm]

carlcranshaw said:

paligap said:

Apostrophe--my introduction!

"It is better to travel well than to arrive."

Hmmm.

After listening to Hot Rats and reading everyone's posts I feel that I have opened a pandoras box and feel slightly frightened of stepping inside.
I'm going to have to commit to this aren't I? It seems that you have to be all in or all out.
[Edited 5/28/09 17:07pm]

Jump in. The water's fine.






[Edited 5/28/09 17:13pm]

A classic example of Zappa's arranging chops combined with his sense of humor...



...His take on Led Zep's Stairway To Heaven.



tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

gotta go with Apostrophe and Hot Rats

lust said:

After listening to Hot Rats and reading everyone's posts I feel that I have opened a pandoras box and feel slightly frightened of stepping inside.

"It is better to travel well than to arrive."

one thing you can do, if you have a fairly decent public library, is check out the music section and see what kind of zappa collection they have. pick out as much as you think you can listen to and give it a test drive for free for a couple of weeks. just a thought.