Frank Zappa Inca Roads/ Steve Howe Doors of Sleep

Howe about a Frank poll?

Inspired by a post made by M27Barney in the Yes vs. Zappa thread (credit given where credit is due even if this is lousy idea for a poll, and ultimately I can only blame myself for that): CLICK {edited to fix broken link}

Two songs off albums from 1975 that I think make for an interesting comparison, which do you like more? I was planning to do the albums, but then I thought not enough people would have heard the full albums by both (sorry if you don't like my choices from Steve Howe's Beginnings or Frank Zappa's 1975 album One Size Fits All, so if you're one of those "Howe to vote? Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" people, just shut up and play yer guitar.). I find some interesting musical parallels in both albums.

For those that don't know both, here are the tracks:





Edited by Logan - November 05 2018 at 12:26

Frank gets the vote here. 

I love Doors of Sleep and Steve Howe's vocals 

Inca Roads 

Inca fer sure.

I love Howe but its hard for me to vote for anything he sings lead on--so.....for the first time......ever....Zappa.

I was thinking something like this would be a good poll after the big showdown. There is a lot going in both songs. FZs takes his band through a series of signature bizarre changes while Howe layers the strings atop one another. Excellent guitar playing by both. Though the Zappa vocals are indeed better than Howe's, I find them rather annoying and detracting from the music. Both tunes are sophisticated and complex, each in their own way. For me, Doors of Sleep has a more consistent quality to it and does not need anything added or subtracted. Inca Roads is less consistent, even with all its impressive changes. Howe gets my vote. And I just plain like his song better.

Oh yeah, Inca Roads. Something special for sure.

Doors of Sleep. Steve Howe's solo debut may be not even remotely at level with those of Chris Squire and Jon Anderson, but the opener is pretty good. I really like the guitar part of Inca Roads between 2 and 5 minutes, but this track is rather incoherent, some loose ends, and I find the first two minutes slightly annoying.

Frank Zappa...