ROXY & ELSEWHERE

Easily one of Frank's best albums. Most of the material here is previously unreleased material, and the production is so good you'd think it was a studio album, which makes this a very essential album. This lineup is also the best version of this era, with Bruce Fowler on trombone (he is missing on One Size Fits All, but then returned for the Lather sessions)

All songs smoke, as this is the height of Zappa's jazz-fusion era (though he never really stopped). The album is bookended with songs containing great Zappa solos over awesome blues progressions. This album also contains some of his most complex pieces, not to mention some of his funniest. Pygmy Twylyte is fast here, and i know since ive heard other live versions and they're much slower with extended sections. The horns sound reeeeally good on this album, and kind of MAKE the classic Zappa sound.

If you're trying to get into Zappa's large amount of music, you cant go wrong with this one, especially if you're a jazz-fusion fan. This is a perfect one to start out with. Essential!