HOT RATS

I'm reviewing this without my CD copy to hand as it has temporarily disappeared through that wormhole in space that seems to open up whenever I'm really looking hard for an album. It'll no doubt leap straight into my hand when I'm looking for something else equally hard.

Anyway though I've listened enough times to it since my elder brother introduced it to me in about 1972 to feel able to pass comment.

This is 1969. Zappa has done some truly strange stuff with The Mothers, then suddenly branches out into this project and reveals himself to be a composer and musician of the highest order. He brings in similarly talented individuals (and his old friend Capt. Beefheart for some excellent vocal contributions on Willie the Pimp).

Result? A mainly instrumental album that, if you disregard improvements in recording technology, still sounds fresh, though it's worth remembering that we're looking back at a time when it was still relatively unusual for 'pop' musicians to display this level of complexity and musicianship.

Standout tracks for me are definitely Peaches En Regalia and Willie the Pimp but the whole thing's a gem. Maybe just a notch short of 5 star status due some repetition alluded to by other reviewers