HOT RATS

This almost instrumental Zappa's album is very appreciated from miscellaneous kinds of people. It definitely has a jazz tendency, plus obvious rock elements as reveal the numerous guitar & violin solos and pleasant rhythms. There are some excellent piano parts, and I like very much the refined acoustic bass on "Little Umbrellas". "Peaches en regalia", "Son of Mr. Green Genes", "Little umbrellas" and "It must be a Camel" are the best tracks: very structured and complex, they have catchy & colorful horns sounds (sax-oriented). "Willie the pimp", very funny with Beefheart on lead vocals, contains, as usual, an eternal wah-wah guitar solo. "The Gumbo variations" has a free style, fast, definitely too gross and too long (16 minutes), with endless electric violin & guitar solos, and tons of drums; it is definitely not addictive. I find this record very good but slightly overrated.