APOSTROPHE (')

Great googly moogly! ''Apostrophe'' is the successor of ''Overnite Sensation'', and Zappa uses the same formula, which is easier song structures, clear melodies and crazy lyrics. However, this time they don't end up in some dirty jokes (well, mostly not). Here it is more about.. humour?

Maybe because of this Nanook-thing (which is among his most known works). ''Don't eat the yellow snow'' introduces us with the story of an eskimo boy (or shall I say inuit?). The chorus leads over to ''Nanook rubs it'', a song clearly suffering from the seemingly endless spoken words over slow playing. It becomes more rocky in the end. The following two tracks are more fast and musically interesting, with a feel of craziness. ''Cosmik Debris'' again is a slow tune, more bluesy as usual and rhythm oriented, with mostly spoken words and choir in the refrain. ''Excentrifugal Forz'' is rather short, and nothing special. But what was a Zappa album without some show-off? Therefore, we have the title track ''Apostrophe''. Again, everyone shows what he is capable of doing. What happens here is yet different from other albums: they never lose melody and keep the listener interested. ''Uncle Remus'' is again slow blues, this time with piano rhythms in the background. ''Stink-Foot'' is the only track in which the spoken words are by no means annoying, especially in the end. Some text is good for outro, but since we have no concept here (besides the conceptual continuity of the.. oh, forget it,listen!) it is rather unimportant.

To make it short, we have silly words and simple melodies supported by competent players, as we had with ''Overnite Sensation''- but why do I rate it three, and not four stars? As often mentioned, there are those spoken words. I like this effect to create tension, but this is too much of the good. They can ruin a song and bore you to sleep. If Zappa was a story-teller, I'd accept it, but here he is a musician. We know he can sing, so why does he deliver monotonous words? Secondly, the music here is less original than on ''Overnite Sensation''. Zappa presents us a good work, which by no means is exceptional. And remember: three stars is not a bad rating. Here it goes with its describtion: ''Apostrophe'' is good, but non- essential.