JOE'S GARAGE, ACTS I, II & III

After having published a large amount of the most varied and original records, Frank Zappa entered into the world of conceptual albums, he had already flirted with the conceptual style when he published the soundtrack of his "200 Motels" film, but "Joe's Garage", with its three acts, was the absolute easy to follow masterpiece that was missing in his discography. The whole "Joe's Garage" play was divided into two independent albums: "Joe's Garage Act I" and "Joe's Garage Acts II & III", they were a single LP and a double LP that would later be compilated in a two-hours lengthed 2-CD set that we, the new era of Zappa fans usually have on our collections.

In some way, "Joe's Garage" reminds me a little to "The Wall" since both albums share very subtle similarities (because of the thematics and not the music or lyrics), both albums get focused on a random young guy who throughout the story starts to lose the way into subjects related to drugs, sex, and music, but "Joe's Garage" includes much less depressing and obscure songs and much more explicit lyrics.

Musically, "Joe's Garage" is very different from most of the earlier Zappa albums, in here we can appreciate Zappa's first attempts to experiment with some Jamaican rhythms ("Lucille has messed my mind up", "A token of my extreme" and "Sy borg" are good examples); in "Watermelon in Easter hay", Zappa played one of his greatest guitar solos ever (probably THE greatest), and also, this album was the first one in which Ike Willis appeared and became a very important member of the band.

I don't want to talk too much about the plot of the album because I'd like that if you haven't heard this exquisite album you discover what is it about by yourself just as I did and it is also very easy to read it online, so further than that, keep it greasy and listen to "Joe's Garage".

SONG RATING:

- - - ACT I - - - The Central Scrutinizer, 4 Joe's Garage, 5 Catholic Girls, 5 Crew slut, 5 Wet T-shirt Night, 4 On the bus (Toad O line), 5 Why does it hurt when I pee? 4 Lucille has messed my mind up, 5 Scrutinizer postlude, 4

- - - ACT II - - - A token of my extreme, 4 Stick it out, 5 Sy Borg, 5 Dong Work for Yuda, 4 Keep it greasy, 5 Outside now, 5

- - - ACT III - - - He used to cut the grass, 5 Packard goose, 5 Watermelon in Easter hay, 5 A little green rosetta, 5

AVERAGE: 4.68

PERCENTAGE: 93.68

ALBUM RATING: 5 stars

I ranked this album #72 on my TOP 100 favorite Progressive Rock albums of all time.

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