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darkshade View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Favorite Zappa By Era
    Posted: January 15 2013 at 15:13
Here we can list your top 5 Zappa albums by era. Here are the eras.

1. 1966-1972 (Freak-Out! thru Just Another Band From L.A.)
2. 1972-1979 (Waka-Jawaka thru Orchestral Favorites)
3. 1979-1987 (Sheik YerBouti thru Does Humor Belong In Music?)
4. 1988-1994 (Broadway The Hard Way thru Civilization Phaze III)
5. 1994-present (The Lost Episodes thru Finer Moments)


1966-1972
1. Uncle Meat
2. Hot Rats
3. Burnt Weeny Sandwich
4. Absolutely Free
5. Fillmore East - June 1971

1972-1979
1. Roxy & Elsewhere
2. The Grand Wazoo
3. Zappa in New York
4. One Size Fits All
5. Apostrophe (')

1979-1987
1. Sheik YerBouti
2. Joe's Garage
3. Jazz From Hell
4. Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch
5. You Are What You Is

1988-1994
1. Make A Jazz Noise Here
2. You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 2
3. The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
4. You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 5
5. Broadway The Hard Way


1994-present
1. Lather
2. Wazoo
3. Imaginary Diseases
4. The Lost Episodes
5. Finer Moments


Edited by darkshade - January 15 2013 at 21:40
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dr prog View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 15:24
I only like 1 or 2 of his pre 1972 albums. Over nite, one size, apostrophe, grand, jaka are my faves from 72-79. Sheik, joe, utopia, you are what you is are my faves after 1979

Edited by dr prog - January 15 2013 at 15:27
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 15:26
The Man From Utopia would have made my list if it didn't have so many "meltdown" tracks, especially the one where Zappa talks about some of his band members finding dirty panties at a hotel pool at 2 in the morning.

Edited by darkshade - January 15 2013 at 15:26
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 15:35
I would've done it 1966-1972 (The Mothers + some solo), 1972-1977 (Jazz and Fusion oriented stuff), 1978-1988 (Goofy lyric oriented pop/rock, Synclavier, and classical), 1988-1994 (live releases, The Yellow Shark, and Civilization III), and 1995-present:

1966-1972:
1.Freak Out! (5/5)
2.We're Only in it for the Money
3.Absolutely Free
4.Lumpy Gravy
5.Uncle Meat (4.5/5)

1972-1977:
1.Apostrophe (5/5)
2.The Grand Wazoo
3.Waka/Jawaka
4.Zoot Allures
5.Over-nite Sensation (4/5)

1978-1988:
1.You Are What You Is (4.5/5)
2.Sheik Yerbouti (4/5)
3.Shut up and Play Yer Guitar
4.Joe's Garage (3.5/5)
5.Them or Us

1988-1994:
1.Civilization Phaze III (4/5)
2.You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol.5
3.You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol.1 (3.5/5)
4.Playground Psychotics
5.Make a Jazz Noise Here

1995-present:
1.Imaginary Diseases (5/5)
2.Läther (4.5/5)
3.Joe's Corsage (4/5)
4.Finer Moments
5.Mystery Disc


Edited by smartpatrol - February 27 2013 at 23:29
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 16:24
1966-1972
1. Uncle Meat
2. Lumpy Gravy
3. Freak Out!
4. Burnt Weeny Sandwich
5. We're Only in it for the Money

1972-1979
1. One Size Fits All
2. Waka/Jawaka
3. Zappa in New York
4. Grand Wazoo
5. Sleep Dirt

1979-1994
1. Sheik YerBouti
2. YCDTOSA Vol 5
3. The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life
4. Ship Arriving too Late to Save a Drowning Witch'
5. You Are What You Is

1994-present
1. Lather
2. Buffalo
3. Wazoo
4. Playground Psychotics (might have been pre-'94)
5. Mystery Disc

(don't have Finer Moments yet but my hopes are high)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 16:26
Originally posted by darkshade darkshade wrote:

The Man From Utopia would have made my list if it didn't have so many "meltdown" tracks, especially the one where Zappa talks about some of his band members finding dirty panties at a hotel pool at 2 in the morning.
That's right! You heard right! Two o'clock in the morning! Pool at the hotel!  It was so FUN...
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 16:37
Don't wanna go by era cause I haven't become familiar with enough of his work but I can say that Hot Rats, Freak Out! and Grand Wazoo are my favorites.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 16:41
Should we look up the month as you are splitting the years? LOL

For all the Zappa I have, I have but 12.
1966-1972
Freak Out!    1966
Hot Rats    1969
We're Only In It for the Money    1969
Weasles Ripped My Flesh    1970
Wazoo    1972

1972-1979
Over-nite Sensation    1973
Apostrophe (')    1974
One Size Fits All    1975
Bongo Fury    1975 (my first Zappa album)
Joe's Garage Acts I, II & III    1979
Sheik Yerbouti (Remaster)    1979

1979-1994
You Are What You Is    1981
Thing-Fish    1984
Jazz From Hell    1986
Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life, The    1988
Broadway the Hardway    1988

1994-present
Zippo unless you count Wazoo.


Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 17:00
I would say the George Duke era (1971-75)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 17:17
Heh, I have only have one from each era (except for 1994+, I have none)
I quite like Man From Utopia. It does have it's ups and downs, but I actually originally bought it just because of The Dangerous Kitchen LOL "The milk can hurt yooouuuu!"
"The navigator always gets eaten by a bad space perrrsinnnnn!"
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 18:05
I completely overlooked any '88 band albums... woops
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 18:09
Originally posted by Slartibartfast Slartibartfast wrote:

Should we look up the month as you are splitting the years? LOL


Well, it's because his discography overlaps. JABFLA and Waka/Jawaka both came out in 1972, but the former definitely belongs in the first era. same thing with Orchestral Favorites and Sheik YerBouti in '79; OF belongs to the second era, even though it came out after SYB. In fact, i thought of including SYB in the second era because of similar lineup as ZNY, ST, SD, etc. and the lineup changed significantly with Joe's Garage. Of course, I could have split the eras up even more into like 6 or 7 of them.


Edited by darkshade - January 15 2013 at 18:09
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 18:13
Your era splits made sense to me.  The only place I got slipped up was in the posthumous stuff, since I think of stuff like "Wazoo" as belonging in the 1972 slot rather than 2007 or whenever it came out.  Still, this was an enlightening exercise.  It's hard enough to rank Zappa albums, but this made it a little easier and more informative.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 18:19
Well, none of the posthumous albums were recorded any time after 1993, but I wasn't sure how to include them. Thing is, they're their own beast. Some of them represent more than one era, like the YCDTOSA series. So I thought it was best to include them in their own era. The only thing I'm thinking i should have done differently was make era three 1979 - 1987 and era four 1988 - 1994, but it's not much of a big difference.

The Man From Utopia has Tink Walks Amok, We Are Not Alone, and Moggio, which, IMO, are three of Zappa's best compositions ever, at least from the 80s. Then again, You Are What You Is is more consistently good.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 21:24
Updated the OP to include MAJNH
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 21:30
Yeah, that 79-94 era should be split up.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 21:40
Originally posted by Tapfret Tapfret wrote:

Yeah, that 79-94 era should be split up.

Fixed.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2013 at 23:21
I truly can't decide. I like the George Duke, Napolean Murphy Brock, Ruth Underwood, Chester Thompson line up the best, but I hold Shut Up N' Play Yer Guitar in the highest esteem. The earliest stuff was so ground breaking, though...Nope I can't make up my mind.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 16 2013 at 00:43
Originally posted by darkshade darkshade wrote:

The Man From Utopia would have made my list if it didn't have so many "meltdown" tracks, especially the one where Zappa talks about some of his band members finding dirty panties at a hotel pool at 2 in the morning.
The Jazz Discharge Party Hats.......I love that LOL.  Great album too !
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 16 2013 at 07:24
1966-1972:
Burnt Weeny Sandwich
Uncle Meat
Absolutely Free
We're Only in It for the Money
Hot Rats

1972-1979:
One Size Fits All
Apostrophe
Roxy & Elsewhere
Sleep Dirt
Over-Nite Sensation

(The Grand Wazoo and Studio Tan are very very close behind)

1979-1987:
Joe's Garage
Sheik Yerbouti
Does Humor Belong in Music?
You Are What You Is
Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch

1988-1994:
YCDTOSA2
Ahead of Their Time
The Yellow Shark
YCDTOSA5
The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life

(I'm unsure about the fifth spot. Could also be YCDTOSA1 or Make a Jazz Noise Here)

1994-today:
Läther
Road Tapes #1
The Lumpy Money Project/Object
Imaginary Diseases
Greasy Love Songs
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