HOT RATS

Albums that are better than food present: "Hot Rats"

The second album of Frank ZAPPA (as a solo artist) was the peak of his career, he never made such an amazing album before or after "Hot rats"; some people consider "In the court of the Crimson King" by KING CRIMSON the first Progressive Rock album of all time, even when several albums that would perfectly deserve this title came out before the masterpiece by FRIPP & his pals, only "Hot rats" was released the exact same day (October 10th, 1969) and if we're extremely fussy about the subject, the Sun rises up in America first than in the UK, so ZAPPA's Rats were absolutely Progressive first.

It is very important to make a distinction between the albums by Frank ZAPPA and the albums by THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION (I can't believe that both discographies are on the same ProgArchives page instead of having their own) and the main reason for that comes out taking a look on the line-ups of the records: the only member of THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION that participated on this album (besides ZAPPA, obviously) was Ian UNDERWOOD, ZAPPA didn't have a stable team of musicians in "Hot rats" so only session musicians played in here, however, these session musicians included the great French violin player Jean-Luc PONTY (who would later have a great solo career and played in John McLAUGHLIN's Mahavishnu Orchestra) and Ron SELICO (better known for being the drum player in the great John MAYALL's "Jazz blues fusion" album.

"Peaches en regalia" is probably the most famous song in the whole ZAPPA's repertoire, the punchy drums played by Ron SELICO dominate the song while the brass instruments and the squeaky keyboards give the flavor to the piece; "Willie the Pimp" is the only song that includes lyrics (with the outstanding collaboration of Captain Beefheart), the electric violin and the powerful drums go really well with ZAPPA's enormous guitar line. "Son of Mr. Green Genes" is the instrumental version (much longer and better than the first one) of "Mr. Green Genes", included in the "Uncle Meat" album.

"Little umbrellas" is a beautiful jazzy piece with a very sensual bass line, it is the shorter song on the album and still it is a great song. "The gumbo variations" is absolutely mind-blowing: the longest song on the album includes amazing sax, violin, and guitar solos. The album ends with the jazzy short piece "It must be a camel", which is a great jazzy piece with a very soft mood that sounds like the calm before the storm, a great way to close the album.

This is an absolutely indispensable record, it has no weak points.

SONG RATING: Peaches en regalia, 5 Willie the Pimp, 5 Son of Mr. Green Genes, 5 Little umbrellas, 5 The Gumbo variations, 5 It must be a camel, 5

AVERAGE: 5

PERCENTAGE: 100

ALBUM RATING: 5 stars

I ranked this album #9 on my TOP 100 favorite Progressive Rock albums of all time.

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