APOSTROPHE (')

So with it's running time barely over 30 minutes way to few of those minutes consists of high quality music. The production though is great and continues Zappa newly more commercial sound.

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.

The first four songs flow together to generate a continuous story, though that story begins with a discussion of yellow snow and the maturity level goes down from there. Musically speaking, the instruments are fascinating and high-quality, particularly on Father Oblivion. The first two tracks feature mostly spoken-word lyrics, which works in some ways but doesn't lend the songs to stand very well by themselves. All in all, this first-side suite plays as a fun diversion, but a lack of musical cohesion and a lack of individual musical merit makes this multi-track monster an odd one to review. The final track on the side, Cosmik Debris, is a high-energy song that actually does stand on its own.

Side two begins with Excentrifugal Forz, a relatively weaker song in terms of music. The lost pace quickly picks back up with the splendid title track, Apostrophe'. This long instrumental rocks with the best of Zappa's early jam tunes, built around a burning riff and splendid sound. Uncle Remus stands alone as the terribly rare serious-lyricked tune by this famous goofball, and musically it is rather strong as well. Stink-Foot drops any hint of maturity that Frank built up in the previous track, as he spends over six minutes discussing critically odorous feet. The music is mellow but strong, featuring some excellent clean guitar soloing. The album wraps with this song.

In all, the second side is quite stronger than the first, but the album is still critically injured by the mostly aimless first four tracks. A good album, but a spotty one.

Starting on the delightful Yellow Snow and it's hilarious but almost scatological follow up Nanook Rubs It and the absolutely bonkers St Alfonzo all the way through its short denouement Father O'Blivion, it's a four-movement suite that has forgotten to take up a name, but it takes up most of side A, leaving the connected Cosmik Debris, a destructed blues track, to close it up.

The flipside opens on the short Excentrifugal Forz, but powerful enough to shake us up before the Bruce/Gordon/Zappa-penned title track, a semi-lengthy jam (most likely recorded live) where the bassist's style is immediately recognizable and Gordon's drumming self-explanatory. With the ultra well- known short ditty Uncle Remus and the much-longer almost-improvised Stink Foot for another greasy laughs from the motherhood.

This album might be a bit of n'importe-quoi, (but then again which one of his oeuvre isn't, but this sounds like a fast-assembled compilation of tracks past the first side's suite, the flipside amounting to an unconstructed mess, but a funny one. Not any worse or better than his albums of that era.

In general, this release features tongue-in-cheek songwriting played with a bluesy, classic rock sound, punctuated by exceptional shows of musicianship and zany lyrics made serious by their excellent delivery. The opening suite is a silly series of connected events which flows, cooks, and grooves all at once-- with frantic, bluesy shredding throughout. Very catchy, polished and varied in its sounds.

Cosmik Debris is probably my favorite song, with its low, gravelly blues feel, guitar solo and exciting bridge-- and lyrics pointing fun at New Age everything. The instrumental title track features upbeat, heavy, bass-led grooves making for a nice change of pace before the silly closer. Musicianship throughout the album is truly first rate, with interesting rhythms, melodies, and effects. I found myself laughing and engaged with every song.

Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a classic rock sound; Zappa's sense of humor, fine musicianship, and memorable guitar sound are sure to please.

Songwriting: 3 Instrumental Performances: 4 Lyrics/Vocals: 3 Style/Emotion/Replay: 5

I´m not sure if "Apostrophe (')" was a deliberate attempt at exploring and expanding the commercial success of "Overnight Sensation (1973)" or if it was just a matter of circumstance, which led to Zappa creating another commercially successful album release, as it´s always hard to know exactly what his intentions were. The fact is it would be a valid statement to call the two albums sibling releases. Subsequent sarcastic comments made by Zappa himself about some of his more comedic tracks like "Don´t Eat The Yellow Snow" and "Titties´n´Beer" (from "Zappa in New York (1978)") could suggest that he actually was a little annoyed that it was his more mainstream oriented output that got the most attention instead of what he thought of as his more serious works.

Either way "Apostrophe (')" is to my ears an excellent display of Zappa´s more accessible (and yes commercial as well) songwriting style. There´s a great emphasis on humour in the lyrics as well which should appeal those who like their rock music with a comedic element. One should not however be fooled to think that this is easy listening music or that the tracks don´t require anything from the listener, as that is far from the truth. This is still very intricate and sophisticated music. It might seem simple at first listen but some of the things that are played on "Apostrophe (')" are really intense and challenging. Just listen to Ruth Underwood´s treatment of the vibes/xylophone/marimba on "St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast". Virtuosic to say the least. The rhythmic foundation on most tracks is jazz rock/fusion influenced, but as always there is also a strong blues rock/r´n´b influence in the music, and occasionally psychadelic elements too.

The first four tracks segue into each to form a suite and lyrically it´s really entertaining and quite silly. Total nonsense about an eskimo boy named Nanook, a horny leprechaun and so on. Great vocal arrangements and instrumental performances make those four tracks some of thehighlights of the album. "Cosmik Debris" is a blues rock based song with (again) some hilarious (but quite clever) lyrics and a great vocal arrangement.

"Excentrifugal Forz" is quite an atypical Frank Zappa composition as it has a psychadelic flavor to it. It´s quite the brilliant track feauturing some great selfbiographical humourous lyrics. "Apostrophe'" is the only fully instrumental track on the album. It´s a great jam with Jack Bruce (Cream) playing some distinct sounding fuzzy distorted basslines, Frank Zappa and Tony Duran playing the guitar and Jim Gordon (Everly Brothers, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, George Harrison, Derek & The Dominos...etc) playing the drums. "Uncle Remus" is a soul/pop song featuring George Duke on lead vocals and The Ikettes doing backing vocals. It´s another rather atypical Frank Zappa composition, and it may not have an immediate impact, like most of the other tracks on the album, but it´s a grower featuring a great melancholic/nostalgic atmosphere and some great vocal arrangements. The album closes with a live favorite. The blues based "Stink-Foot" with it´s extended Zappa guitar solo is just pure class and great fun.

"Apostrophe (')" features no less than 17 different musicians (including Zappa) plus The Ikettes, and the material featured on the album was recorded at different sessions and at different times (most in 1973 and 1974, but some recordings dating as far back af 1969). It does make the album a little less consistent in quality and style compared to its direct predecessor, and some of the sound productions also differ a bit from the remaining material. It was not unusal for Zappa to collect a batch of songs from different recording sessions and make an album out of them, and he did that many times during his career. I wouldn´t say it works perfect here, but it still works pretty well. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

''Stinkfoot'' and ''Cosmik Debris'' are so boring they put me to sleep even if there's supposed to be a few funny moments here and there. I could care less about the humour side of the ''Don't Eat the Yellow Snow'' suite, but the title part has one of the best basslines on a Zappa album and the last two parts have great xylophone parts. The ''Apostrophe'' jam is a highlight simply because the instrumentalists really run wild, especially the bass from Jack Bruce. If more focus was on the music power rather than the cheap jokes, then I'd enjoy APOSTROPHE much more.

Much in the same vein as "Over-Nite Sensation", this album contains similar jazz-oriented, American-sounding, totally-humorous serious music. Because there's no question about it: what the instruments are doing, what Zappa the composer wrote down in the staff with fourths and silences, that's pretty elaborated and interesting. While not really to my liking, I can appreciate the original riffs and odd time signatures and the use of less typicalk harmonies. The vocals, on the other hand, just as the lyrics, are a complete joke, a work of humour, at times fine humour, at times just plain incoherent. One look at the lyrics may tell a prospective listener exactly how this music will be sung. And there will be few errors in the predictions.

In my view, this is even less accessible than "Over-Nite Sensation" precisely because it's more full of humour. Of my few ZAPPA experiences, it's clear the more music-oriented "Hot Rats" has been ther more successful, as I think it will be for anybody that hasn't heard any of his music yet.

Apostrophe (') while a Zappa solo album, it's technically, looking at the line-up involved in, pretty much the same Mothers of Invention which played on Over-Nite Sensation. However this is not played in the same style nor the compositions are similar to its previous:

In style Apostrophe presents even more profound humour than that presented in Over-Nite Sensation, believe it or not fellas! Every song(with the exception of 'Uncle Remus') have long odd story-lines in which are familiar to that from 'Zomby Woof' or 'Montana' and the like, all pretty weird yet some laughs might jump out of your mouth.

In composition Apostrophe mainly seems way more Blues/Rock rooted than its previous (Over-Nite), with 'Don't Eat the Yellow Snow', 'Nanook Rubs It', 'Cosmik Debris', 'Apostrophe' and 'Stink Foot' all with obvious blues rock characteristics, taking more than half of the album's length which is not much(30 minutes!), however Zappa takes the blues roots and twists them as he pleases, all of them having Zappa's signature guitar rocking out splendidly, plus some very well done twists and turns in the composition itself.

Then there are the more complex or at least non-blues based tunes which are the ones left. The first one being 'St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast' which easily flows with 'Father O'Blivion', while both very short in length, like Zappa has already proved before, he is able of making complex tunes in less than 2 minutes, so do expect having really complex and fast passages very ala Zappa, even some of the ideas presented in these songs, mainly Ruth's vibes, would later be kind-of emulated on future live opus, Zappa in New York. 'Excentrifugal Forz' on the other hand reminds me of the monotonous 'Dinah-Moe Humm', though this time it only lasts 1 minute and a half, so that's kind of an improvement. Lastly there's the gentle piano-led 'Uncle Remus', while pretty simple in structure, it's well worth listening to Zappa in a kind-of sincere up-lifting mood.

Apostrophe while not being Frank's highest level of uniqueness, this still makes up a very pleasant record and definitely "essential Zappa", with some highlights here and there for the dedicated Zappa fan (mainly the suite on Side 1 and Stink Foot). But I really recommend this, firstly, for those who want to get into Zappa's less complex material yet with solid compositions and flawless musicianship. 3.5 stars rounded up because in future releases Zappa would still want to write accessible music, but none really done with such precision and originality like this one.

This was my third venture into the work of Frank Zappa. I first bought Chunga's Revenge, and I was pretty disappointed to be honest. I enjoyed Hot Rats a lot, but I thought the only really great song was Peaches en Regalia, though the rest did eventually grow on me. Apostrophe (') was the first Frank Zappa album where I was immediately captivated. From the hilarious and entertaining lyrics to the excellent music that is held beneath them, I fell in love with this album.

Since acquiring this album, I've purchased many more Zappa albums, and I've concluded that Apostrophe (') is one of my favorites. It is really enjoyable from beginning to end. My only real complaint is that it only barely cracks the half-hour mark. I guess that's a good thing, though. If you're wishing that an album was longer, that obviously leads to the conclusion that the content present on the album is excellent.

I think this entire album is almost pure genius. The way this album is so lyrically entertaining, while still having virtuosic music shows what an excellent musician Frank Zappa is. Despite all of my praise, I don't quite consider this to be a 5 star album. I can't even reasonably say why, but I don't feel it's up to the level of my other 5 star ratings.

THE MUSIC:

"Don't Eat The Yellow Snow"- The first song begins a suite that will continue into the next three songs. It opens with snow sound effects, but soon a funky riff enters. The drumming is excellent on this song especially. Ruth Underwood does an excellent job throughout this entire album. This song begins the hilarious story of the Eskimo boy named "Nanook".

"Nanook Rubs It"- This is when the story really begins. This song is absolutely hilarious, and I always laugh during some moments in this song. There's an evil fur trapper that is hitting Nanook's favorite baby seal with a lead-filled snowshoe. Nanook gets pretty angry and shoves dog pee in his eyes, and then the fur trapper shoves a "dog-doo snow cone" in Nanook's eyes, so they're both blind, though Nanook is only temporarily blind. Alright, you get the point! This is entertaining lyrically, and the music is pretty good. It's pretty standard blues rock with some typical Zappa trademarks.

"St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast"- This picks up the story where the previous song left off. They go to the parish of St. Alfonzo, overlooked by Father O'Blivion, who is a master pancake chef. The rest of the story in the next two songs goes on about this and introduces a horny leprechaun. It's total nonsense (that's absolutely hilarious), dealing with the leprechaun masturbating in pancake batter, etc. This song musically has excellent percussion, especially the use of the xylophone. The synth solo has an ELP sound to it, and the rest of the song is complex and unusual.

"Father O'Blivion"- This song is based completely on the story I mentioned above. I figured I'd mention the entire thing in my previous song description. This song is a fast paced rocker with excellent basslines. The ending is very solid. This is a great end to the suite.

"Cosmik Debris"- The fifth song very bluesy, with a jazz tinged chorus. The use of xylophone is excellent, and there are surely enough oddities to keep this song interesting. Musically, this reminds me a lot of "I'm The Slime" off of Overnite Sensation. This song is not nearly as lyrically entertaining as the previous suite, but the concept of fake psychics is still fun and entertaining. This is probably my least favorite song on the album.

"Excentrifugal Forz"- After a short but effective opening, the first vocal section comes in. This is the album's shortest song at just over one and a half minutes, so it mostly uses the same vocal melody with a few little guitar noodlings.

"Apostrophe"- This is the only instrumental song on this album, and it is excellent. The bass playing from Jack Bruce is excellent, and turns the instrument into a major part of the song. The guitar is played from Frank Zappa (of course) as well as Tony Duran. The arrangement is spectacular, as well as the musicianship. This is surely a highlight of the album.

"Uncle Remus"- This song has the most melody of any of the songs here. It opens up with some nice piano chords that lead the whole song. I like the background singers on this song especially. I really like the guitar solos present on this song. This reminds me a lot of something from Paul McCartney & Wings.

"Stinkfoot"- The closing song has another ridiculous story. Some guy couldn't get his shoes off for months, and got the imaginary disease of "stinkfoot". This is a blues-rocker with many prog and jazz tendencies. It has some avant leanings as well. It has some odd electric piano melodies, and sound effects add to the occasional avant sound as well. Overall, this is a fun song.

Conclusion:

Apostrophe (') is a great album. This is the album that really got me interested in Frank Zappa. The musicianship is excellent, the lyrics can be hilarious, and it is one of the most consistent Zappa albums I've heard. I think the best part of this album is the "Nanook" suite, but the rest of the album is excellent as well. If you're looking for an introduction to Frank Zappa, Apostrophe (') is a great place to start.

4 stars.

One of the best Zappa's musicians line-up contains such names as Jack Bruce on bass, Jean-Luc Ponty on violin, George Duke on keys, Ainsley Dunbar on drums between others. Plus brass section.

Album's music is heavily based on blues/blues-rock with some brass rock arrangements and great solos, often of free form. Zappa sings half-spoken vocals, with full of black humour lyrics. His guitar solos are as great as usual. Even if album is short and almost all songs are short as well, all music sounds as one blues-fusion-avant opera. Excellent musicianship in combination of Zappa's charisma is present in full form there.

Possibly, one of easiest entrance to Zappa's world. After listening you will love it or possibly will hate it. But just try to catch these vibrations, and you will feel the hunger to second and next Zappa albums, one after another.Really 4,5.

The music is strongly rooted in blues this time. Rather then the jazzy leanings of earlier albums, this album is filled with shredding solos on blues and soul standards. Of course, as with all Zappa, there's a big anecdotic element in this music. The songs often step out of the main groove or melodies to accentuate a certain narrative development. It's that exact theatrical aspect of Zappa that can make his music hard to get into. But the creative juices ran so free during this recording that there's plenty to enjoy for the novice.

For me this album stands as an example for music radiating with playing pleasure that is too engaging to ignore. As I mentioned before in previous Zappa reviews, I might start to love this music even more if I can ever overcome my disinterest in checking out lyric sheets. Ignoring the words while listening to Zappa, it's like watching a stand-up comedian show with earplugs in.

Finally, a Zappa album I can appreciate and enjoy from start to finish! In terms of my journey with this man's music, you might consider it less than ideal. To start things off, I gave 'Lumpy Gravy' a listen without any warning what it might end up sounding like. After half an hour of silly noise, I definitely wasn't any closer to liking this man or his music. Secondly was the jazz piece 'Hot Rats,' which I found a lot more to like, but still found it hard to enjoy so much improvisation and soloing without as much solid composition. While 'Apostrophe' might not have the same influence on a genre or resonance that 'Hot Rats' seems to have a lot of people, the fact is that this is the first time that I am really enjoying Zappa's music.

He has probably had better songwriting sessions in his life, but this is a fine example of progressive rock that doesn't take it too seriously, and I think that's one of the best things about Zappa. The album starts out with lyrics about not eating yellow snow and an Eskimo named Nanook? Obviously not a 'Scenes From A Memory' in the caliber of the concept, but it's obvious that this guy is having fun with making his music. I am not only giving my praise on his disposition though? The music itself- while generally keeping in line with blues-rock, still blows me away in sections. A rapidfire instrumental section in 'St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast' really showed me where Dream Theater got their inspiration from.

The album works as a running piece of music; there is no fade-out between tracks? All that you get is a half hour of unrelenting quirkiness, (bad) humour, and good bluesy riffage. While this artist's more recognized works had turned me off initially, all it took was a commercial- leaning album to show me the groundwork of this man's talent, and finally get me into the music of Mr. Zappa.

APOSTROPHE features irreverent storytelling in the form of complexly musicalized songs that blend in elements of jazz, blues, and rock. The use of a wide variety of orchestra instruments to create diverse sound effects help create the atmosphere and portrait the events going on in the song's lyrics. Even though most of the album consists of riffs and backgrounds that "accompanies" a somewhat "flat" singing style that tries sometimes a bit too hard to be comical, there are also some small bits of excellent music scattered all around this record.

There surely is virtuosism in terms of performance and composition, but I think that all the talent perceived in this record could be put to a better use (Wether that happens or not in the rest of Zappa's dischography I'm still to find out :D). I personally enjoy very much tracks like Cosmik Debris and St. Alfonzo's Pancake breakfast that in my opinion prove to be more solid pieces of music than some of the other tracks in terms of composition.

This album needed quite some spins before I could really enjoy it (as I've heard happens with a lot of Zappa's albums) but once you get into it, it can be a very enjoyable experience. It's a very different (and weird) style that still manages to get my ear, entertain me, and challenge me into getting more of it. Not even close to a masterpiece though. I'm giving it 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 (I was tempted into rounding it down to 3 but I think that'd be unfair because of the excellent stuff that's in here, not to mention the awesome recording quality that helped me get along with this album very well).

1. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow (2:07) 2. Nanook Rubs It (4:37) 3. St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast (1:50) 4. Father O'Blivion (2:18) 5. Cosmik Debris (4:14) 6. Excentrifugal Forz (1:33) 7. Apostrophe' (5:50) 8. Uncle Remus (2:44) 9. Stink-Foot (6:32)

On the other hand, it's surprisingly enjoyable for an album with all of these negatives. The aforementioned instrumental jam, the title track, is a total rock-out treat for me. Jack Bruce of Cream fame co-stars with his bass playing, and while I know that a lot of people are irritated with him on this track for spending so much time in the highest registers of his instrument, I just can't help but love the way his playing interacts with the tight drumming, and this in conjunction with some blistering guitar solos (though not mixed extremely well) adds up to a heck of a headphone experience for me. The closing "Stink Foot" is also a fun listen for me, even if it doesn't really add much to Frank's legacy from a pure music perspective, as it gets to play off his whole "conceptual continuity" kick, and does throw in a bizarre guitar tone to complement Frank's great blues soloing.

So anyways, I haven't mentioned the reason that this album is most infamous, for better and worse. This is Zappa's parody on the whole concept of rock operas, as this album tells the touching story of an Eskimo named Nanook whose mother told him to never eat the yellow snow, and ... ah, I don't want to tell the story, it's available in billions of places, and it's as dumb and goofy as you'd expect a mock rock opera plot-line from Frank to be. It helped spawn a memorable single that was a large part of this album's success ("Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow!"), and it is just effective enough to be able to hook the listener back in when they start to get especially distracted.

There are also large chunks of, as mentioned before, Frank's obsession with conceptual continuity. In one of the tracks we get the "poncho phrase" from "Camarillo Brillo," in another we have reference to the Grand Wazoo, in yet others we have reference to the Mudshark, and in the closer we have references to the "Dirty Love" poodle and the whole concept of "conceptual continuity" in general. You know, things like this make me realize that, to a large degree, Zappa was just a big dork, but it's hard for me to dislike him for that.

So anyway, that's the album: not amazing by any means (did you notice how few actual songs I mentioned? There's a reason for that), but a basically enjoyable listen. Plus, if nothing else, the playing on this album is freaking marvelous, as this really stands out as one of Zappa's tightest bands. If that's the sort of thing that plays a big role in how you think about music, then rush out and get this.

George Duke, Tom and Bruce Fowler, Ralph Humphrey and all were incredible, but what set this band apart was Ruth Underwood. Having played occasionally with Zappa as early as "Uncle Meat", on this album, for the first time we get to hear her completely revolutionize the percussionist role in music. What she does in the Don't Eat Yellow Snow suite is absolutely incredible. And her talent seemed to inspire Zappa to compose more and more incredible passages for her to play during her stint in the band.

Okay, enough gushing about Ruth. The rest of the album is great as well. Although there is a lot of blues riffing, it's all done with that inimitable Zappa style and humor. Cozmik Debris is a hilarious song, detailing a good way to deal with anyone spouting any sort of mystical bull$#!t. Stink-Foot is just a scream, as well. And don't miss Apostrophe', with a guest appearance by none other than Jack Bruce, who plays a mean fuzz bass solo.

Rating: 9/10

Great googly moogly!

Apostrophe (') is yet another essential Zappa album from the 70s. This album is the logical continuation of Over-Nite Sensation; I consider the two to be companion pieces. On Apostrophe ('), Zappa builds upon the twisted rock n' roll that he explored on Over-Nite and incorporates elements and motifs that had previously characterized his work: zany storytelling, guitar instrumentals, and social commentary. The result is an album that is even more well-rounded, engaging, varied, and memorable than its superb predecessor. This is yet another testament to the musical might that Frank so triumphantly possessed.

"Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" is one of Zappa's signature tunes, with a great main hook and lyrics. "Nanook Rubs It" is Zappa's greatest storytelling piece. Even when one ignores the priceless lyrics, the guitar licks are absolute perfection. Brass arrangements and mallet percussion show up on "St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast", and the "Yellow Snow" suite concludes with the energetic "Father O'Blivion." "Cosmik Debris" is a bluesy rock song with some fantastic gospel-choir vocals. "Excentrifugal Forz" is a short and quite complex track featuring impressive drum work. The instrumental title track is one of Zappa's all-time greatest guitar solos, not to mention Jack Bruce's incredible bass solo. "Uncle Remus" stands out from the rest of the album; it's quite serious in tone, with lyrics about racism. This track emotionally stirring for me in an odd way, and is certainly one of my favorites. The closer "Stink-Foot" is musically similar to the "Yellow Snow" suite, with more fantastically creative lyrics and guitar soloing.

I don't want to ramble on, because a long review for Apostrophe (') simply doesn't fit the music. Zappa crafted yet another gem here. Creativity, humor, and musicianship abound. Whether it's the off-the-wall storytelling of "Nanook Rubs It", the guitar rock of the title track, or the emotional gospel-rock of "Uncle Remus", anybody who even passively appreciates Zappa's music should find something to enjoy here. Frank restores my faith in humanity.

This was my first experience with Frank Zappa. This album hooked me on Zappa, and just for that it deserves 4 stars. A great, cohesive album overall, and while this doesn't show any extreme spectrum of Zappa (from jazz-fusion to dirty humor), it does offer a great variety of Zappa style. You can hear a little bit of everything here, from jazz-fusion stuff like the title track to intensly complicated stuff like St. Alfonso's Pancake Breakfast to more laid-back, humorous songs like Cosmik Debris.

The first few songs flow very nicely, and St. Alfonso's Pancake Breakfast might be my favorite moment (moment, considering it's only a little under two minutes). Cosmik Debris, which along with Don't Eat the Yellow Snow might be the most famous song, is a great song all-around, and has a great solo. Excentrifugal Forz is kind of a throw away, in my personal opinion. Nothing really here. Uncle Remus, probably my favorite full length song, is amazing. It just has this great vibe that it gives off, and also contains maybe the best, although short, solo on the album. Well, at the very least it's my favorite solo on the album.

A great place to start with Frank Zappa. I couldn't think of a better starter album, other than maybe Hot Rats if you love jazz-fusion.

I first listened to Serj Takian's cover of Don't Eat the Yellow Snow and upon researching, discovered this "Frank Zappa" was its original composer. So I listened to the original version and found it absolutely great (who doesn't? I think Yellow Snowis one of Zappa's classics), along Nanuuk Rubs It. I listened to the suite but wasn't really fond of St. Alphonzo's act.

And as time progresses, I discovered Apostrophe (') Zappa's most commercially successful work - homes the awesome Yellow Snow suite, and after an underwhelming experience with HOT RATS - which everyone claimed to be a sparkling brilliant Zappa masterpiece; although it was very good, it was repetitive and not nearly as innovative as expected... I guess the hype killed it - I decided to give Zappa another shot because he HAD to be good.

He had to be good, right?

Well, is he good? Is he avant-garde-ish? Is he progressive?

Oh boy.

If you're unfamiliar with ZAPPA or the avant-garde "genre" as a whole, know that there's no such thing as "labeling". In fact, avant-garde is many times used as an interchangeable term with "labelless" mostly because there are so many musical genres in different songs you can't simply just call it A or B. Normally, there's a horseload of experimental and uncommon elements to compose the songs, but ZAPPA here prefers to stay out of the experimentality and stick to labelless tracks. However, if you're desperate for something to grab and know what you're giving here, I would suppose that the common ground among all songs is a jazz influence. But that's it: influence.

ZAPPA put the first side of the album surrounding the slightly conceptual Nanuuk/St. Alphonzo Parish act, while the second are a bunch of unrelated songs. To prove the point of ZAPPA's genre mixture, the first two tracks about Nanuuk are jazzy and chilly, while the next two are energetic xylophone 'n' keyboard frenzied pancake breakfast parish storytelling.

Speaking of storytelling, one of ZAPPA's strongest point besides his musical creativity is his captivating lyrics and narrative. Often using comedic ways, his lyrics seldom doesn't please the listener. You can laugh with some lyrics, while others, such as Nanuuk Rubs it, you get immersed. You can get offended too; Zappa loves to piss people off with a burning passion. Worth mentioning too is the musician's versatile and unmistakable, delicious voice.

Another unique point about ZAPPA's storytelling is something his fans have always thrived upon while newcomers were clueless about: a thing cited - ironically - in Stink-Foot by our most beloved slippers-muncher poodle pal Fido, is the conceptual continuity. ZAPPA is one hell of a funny guy, and he likes to "connect" his albums and songs into some sort of Grand Scheme of things. A better "explanation" is found at Lumpy Gravy Pt. 2, where he talks about "THE BIG NOTE" in an allusion to the Big Bang and some other stuff. However, you shouldn't see this conceptual continuity as anything but... running gags.

1. "Here Fido" can be heard on Nanuuk Rubs It's "Circular Motion" solo, in reference to Fido from Stink-Foot;

2. "The Grand Wazoo", a fellatio joke ("The price of meat has just gone up/An' yer ol' lady has just gone down . . . ") and the reference to the song Camarillo Brillo from OVER-NITE SENSATION "(Now is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?)";

3. "Arf! Arf! Arf" as spoken by Fido, and the piece "THE POODLE BY-EE-ITES/THE POODLE CHEWS IT", both in Stink-Foot;

Zappa is known to be demanding of his musicians, expecting virtuosity and superb quality on each track. I believe this has been reached on this album, each musician truly seems to give his best. I can claim the keyboards, which are SO VARIED, the distorted and virtuoso guitar, and the appallingly nimble drums as the album's highlights. And for those fond of technical prowess, this album has lots of it. In fact, Zappa manages to make odd time signatures - such as Don't Eat the Yellow Snow's 7/4 or St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast's 9/8 - sound as natural as 4/4.

After paying attention to Stink-Foot I found an interpretation for the "crux of the biscuit is the Apostrophe (')", that being nothing more than one of Zappa's numerous ironic moments. Possibly, he was criticized for his constant contractions (upon reading the lyrics you'll notice how frequent they are) and trying to ironize his critics he created this musical section. Or perhaps, instead, he was just stating his adoration for the apostrophe. Nonetheless, the usage of the apostrophe - thanks to this very song - became another item of his conceptual continuity, assuming it had become a gag (as Fido toyed with contractions right after his owner's unnerved reaction). In fact, for some reason, Zappa felt compelled to highlight this section among all others to the point of naming his album " ' ". Another point for Zappa: making a joke out of a grammatical and morphological gimmick.

Regarding creativity, Zappa is a fountain beyond endless. Even though the first songs are loosely connected they are still unique on their own manners, each with characteristics and compositions singular to themselves. Not to mention each individual song concept: an Eskimo being told not to eat whatever the hell is a yellow snow; a fur trapper using a lead filled snowshoe, an Eskimo legend which orders you to trudge across the tundra mile after mile to a Parish, a mystery man doing offers way too great to believe.

This is even more flabbergasting when you put in perspective this is ZAPPA's fifteenth album, and even after twelve years of career, he has the mind to create such things. Besides, the whole idea of making your entire discography interconnected through jokes is genial, to say the least.

In the end, APOSTROPHE (') is a delicious, gay (on the lighthearted sense) and unpredictable masterpiece of this immemorial master that is Frank Zappa. For those new to avant-garde, look no further - there's no introduction like the best introduction.

To preface my first review, I thought that covering a Zappa album would be a good way to begin. Given that this work is arguably his most commercially successful and accessible work, it seemed like a good starting point. Frank Zappa was one of the first artists that introduced me to progressive rock, even if at the time I was not aware of the genre's existence. A friend of mine suggested Zappa's work one night in 2015 as we were driving down Washington Boulevard in Petaluma, California - about 400 miles from where Zappa grew up in Lancaster. It would not be until 2016 that I got my hands on a copy of his 1979 album "Joe's Garage" that I got hooked onto his music. For those who have hardly listened to Zappa or not at all, his music is extremely abstract even by today's standards. An eccentric character, Zappa is surprisingly one of the few resonant prog acts to ever emerge from the United States, with a prolific catalog that includes his 1974 album "Apostrophe".

That brings me to "Apostrophe" the album, which is arguably Zappa's most accessible work from his leviathan of a discography. Running for only just over half an hour, this is a great album to test the waters for Zappa's extremely abstract and humorous style. The first side of the album is dominated by the "Yellow Snow Suite", which is a collection of four tracks that are loosely based on the same concept. The premier piece, "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" was a commercial success, cracking the US Billboard Hot 100 and peaking at #86. While the single version of the song, which contains excerpts from all four songs of the suite, is radically different than the album version, a DJ in Pittsburgh edited his own version, which was popular unto itself and inspired Zappa to release the official single. While "Yellow Snow" is hardly a feat in Zappa's own musicianship, its relaxed tempo and abstract lyricism make for a good introduction to the album. In this piece we are introduced to the protagonist, an Eskimo named Nanook, which is likely a reference to the 1922 film "Nanook of the North." As Nanook's mama lets him off into the tundra, it breaks into the next song "Nanook Rubs It". The longest piece of the Suite, coming in at 4:38, we are now introduced to what I suppose is the story's primary conflict, where a "strictly commercial" fur trapper begins to whack one of Nanook's favorite baby seals with a lead-filled snow shoe. Offended by the egregious act of animal cruelty, Nanook begins throwing the "Yellow Snow" at the man, blinding him. Ultimately, the story shifts over to that of the fur trapper, who in order to heal his eyes, must travel to the parish of St. Alphonzo. This brings us into the next song of the suite, the aptly titled "St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast." A very short piece, it is a intercalary between the fourth and final piece, "Father O'Blivion" - both these songs feature sexually ambiguous lyricism, a staple of Zappa's lyricism. By the end of the Suite, any semblance of the concept has been lost oddly enough, and there is a fade out to conclude it; altogether the "Yellow Snow Suite" comes in at 10:53.

"Cosmik Debris" concludes the first side of the original LP. A popular Zappa work that was played prolifically in his live shows, it completely abandons the themes of the first four songs, now concerning the story of a particular snake-oil salesman. This one was also quite popular on the Dr. Demento radio show in the 1970's, which only further spurred Zappa's success in the States. This is the first song on the album where we get some real high energy, largely in part to both a Zappa guitar solo and a fast-paced bridge.

The second side lacks a concept, but it does start off with another short piece that serves as an introduction. "Excentrifugal Forz" comes off as the primary throwaway track of the album, and is forgettable even though it isn't necessarily bad. It is tight, fast-paced, and contains all of Zappa's musical quirks of the time period. However, it is followed by the instrumental title track, which is an absolute masterpiece. Featuring Cream bassist Jack Bruce on bass guitar, this track is pure musical nastiness. A farty bass-line drives the music at a cool pace, reminiscent of a jam session. While this collaboration proves to have spawned a wonderful piece of music, it also seems to have spawned tension between both Zappa and Bruce. Zappa, who later in 1977 was asked about the collab in an interview with Guitar Player Magazine, remarked that he met Bruce through drummer Jim Gordon, and found him "difficult" to play with. Bruce had even harsher words for Zappa in 1992 in an interview for Tylko Rock, claiming that Zappa had invited him to appear on his album, and after listening to his "awful" music, had "made a sound" for Zappa's "most popular record". Bruce even denied that he played bass on the album, with him saying that he recorded cello parts for the album. However, given the audible similarities between the bass-line on "Apostrophe" and his work with Cream, it is obvious that Bruce was lying. Whatever tensions the two artists had, at least they were able to put together a very strong work - a take-away from this album.

Next up, we get a much more light-hearted collaboration between Zappa and jazz pianist George Duke for the brief but powerful "Uncle Remus". A song which has a pretty clear-cut theme about race relations in the 1970's, the title is inspired by the controversial African-American cartoon character of the same name. This is another one of my personal favorites off the album, opening up in a balladic fashion with Duke's piano and Zappa's happy-go-lucky vocals backed by the uncredited Tina Turner and the Ikettes, who elevate this song to another level. Midway through the song, Zappa brings in the guitar, and we're in a jamming mood as the song hits a bridge and careens towards the coda, which is a wonderful Zappa solo - unequivocally the best on this album. Duke would record his own version of the song for his own 1975 solo album "The Aura Will Prevail" which is much more mellow and is also deserving of a listen. Closing out the album is the six-minute "Stink-Foot" which was inspired by a foot-spray commercial. The longest piece on the album if you don't consider the Yellow Snow Suite a full song, it is a continuation of the avant-garde jazz style featured on the album, and contains many allusions to previous Zappa lyrical themes, including the talking poodle Fido, "conceptual continuity", and even the boots from "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" earlier in the album. This style cannot be considered musique concrete, but is more a rather unique concept that is exclusive to Zappa's music. Overall, while "Stink-Foot" is geared to close the album out with an extended guitar solo, it is a step down from the previous two pieces which arguably dominate the album.

"Apostrophe" is Zappa's most easily accessible albums. It features a roster of musicians, including not just Bruce, Duke, and Gordon, but also violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, Ian Underwood, and Napoleon Murphy Brock. The album gets its fair share of exposure in the prog rock community - while it is by no means one of Zappa's greatest works on a musical level, it has a role given its affinity to introduce a listener to his music. The greatest takeaways from "Apostrophe" are the title track and "Uncle Remus" - the former being an excellent bass showcase and the latter being one of Zappa's more emotional and serious works. There are no terrible pieces on the album, although I was not particularly struck by half of the Yellow Snow Suite, and I felt "Stink-Foot" fell flat following up the album highlights. I give this album four stars (83% B-); it is a succinct album with some takeaways that are worth being in your personal collection.

The band is more or less the same as on the previous album. In fact, most of side 1 of Apostrophe was created during the same sessions. This album was created from material that was written over a 2 ' year period, so the band lineup changes somewhat through the tracks, but, for the most part, it remains the same. This was also, in my opinion, one of FZ's most talented lineups featuring Ruth Underwood, Jean Luc-Ponty and even Tina Turner doing background vocals. Jack Bruce also helps out on the title track, but there is some controversy regarding the amount of his contribution.

The album starts out with one of Zappa's most popular songs 'Don't Eat the Yellow Snow', a song that was inspired when FZ watched a dog pee on the band's tour bus. Most people know this song is a simple humorous song, short but sweet, but in reality it is the beginning movement of a longer suite, most of which follows on this album. This flows (get it, flows?) into the next song which is a continuation of the adventures of our protagonist Eskimo Nanook. 'Nanook Rubs It' is a longer, dramatic song about an encounter with a fur trapper. Nanook rescues his favorite baby seal by rubbing yellow snow into the eyes of the fur trapper and a battle ensues. This one is based on a blues riff. We then follow the fur trapper at this point as he runs to 'St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast'. The tempo is sped up again for this short ditty that was inspired by a commercial for Imperial Margarine, which the furtrapper uses to restore his sight after being blinded by yellow snow and accidentally pees on the bingo cards. The main story gets a little confusing at this point as the viewpoint of the singer/narrator shifts around and you realize it's not really a story per se anymore, but who cares? The last part of the suite is called 'Father O'blivion' who is in charge of the St. Alphonzo parish, and things get quite confusing as a masturbating leprechaun is brought into the mix. After that you are left to your own imagination as to what happens. There is actually another part to this suite that did not make it onto this album, called 'Rollo'. It is a longer song which was originally about a dog who watches his master copulate. The lyrics were pretty much abandoned when it was decided that they were too vulgar for the album, and after that, it was just completely left off the album except for the riff that serves as the introduction to 'St. Alphonzo'. By the way, there is a full live version of this suite on 'You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 1' with the instrumental version of 'Rollo' still attached if you are interested.

'Cosmik Debris' finishes up side one. This is a stand alone song about a peddler trying to sell psychedelic paraphernalia. FZ hypnotizes him and steals all of his stuff and blows the peddler's mind. There are references to the previous album which indicates that the two albums are all part of FZ theory that his music has continual continuity. The song has a sort of mysterious vibe to it reflecting the topic of the lyrics and it is all enhanced with Ruth Underwood's exceptional xylophone playing.

The next side starts with a short lyrical song in the same vein as 'CD', this one called 'Excentrifigul Forz'. I'm not exactly sure what it is about, but my guess is it's Zappa's sarcastical take on psychedelia and drugs. The track that follows is one of my favorite Zappa instrumentals and is the title track of the album. Jack Bruce is credited with the amazing bass on this track, and FZ claims that is was Bruce doing this during a jam session. Bruce however, claims that he only did the strange sound effect at the beginning that had something to do with a cello. I tend to believe Zappa's story here as FZ goes on to say that Bruce was difficult for him to improvise with because he treated the bass as a solo instrument and didn't provide the typical bass support that was expected. However, the track turned out quite amazing, even when FZ provides his guitar solo.

'Uncle Remus' is a mid-tempo song that expresses FZ's sentiment on racial slurs. Many thought that the lyrics were written by George Duke, but in reality they were written by Zappa to a tune that was written by Duke. 'Stinkfoot' is a Zappa classic that closes the album. It is a nonsensical song based upon a commercial by Dr. Scholls foot spray where a dog keels over when he brings his master's slippers. FZ provides another great solo, but the song fades out too quickly in my opinion.

Overall, this is a fairly decent album for those who want to be introduced to FZ and his music. It has no shortage of his brand of humor and also gives a sample of his instrumental music. It does not have much in the way of jazz improvisation or classical style and there is very little avant-prog material on this album, but it is quite accessible as a result. I would suggest 'Shiek Yerbouti' as a better all-around example of his music, or maybe 'Hot Rats' as a good beginner album for the instrumental improvisational style. In the end, it is an excellent 4 star album that gives you an easy entry into his style.

But even if the story is continuous, the songwriting quality isn't. Lacking the catchy melodies and amusing lyrics we've gotten used to in the album's first eight or nine minutes, "Father O'Blivion" is a bit of a letdown.

Luckily, side one closes with another strong song. Zappa's anti-drug moralizing on "Cosmic Debris" sounds a bit blaxploitation-y to me (yes, I understand that Zappa is absolved of political incorrectness as long as George Duke and Don "Sugarcane" Harris are on the record), although the song is still impressive.

"Excentrifugal Forz" and "Apostrophe" are, to me, the weakest songs on the album, but without them, Apostrophe wouldn't even fill one side of a twelve-inch vinyl album - - which is probably why I suspect that they're here more for filler than anything else. The overlong "Apostrophe" is notable for its distorted Jack Bruce bass part. I guess you could say that this album lends some insight into how Zappa could turn out so many good albums so quickly.

Anyway, get your shoes and socks on, people; things improve a bit after "Apostrophe." Each of the last two songs on Apostrophe seems to take one aspect of "Cosmic Debris." The Black characterization is retained on "Uncle Remus," a comment on the US civil-rights movement, which Zappa co-wrote with Duke. Meanwhile, the self-assured, no-jive DJ voice from "Cosmic Debris" returns for "Stink-foot."

I'm sure that Zappa could have produced a five-star album every year and a half during the seventies; instead he churned out about two good albums per year. Apostrophe seems to be a perfect example of this strategy, reminding us that Zappa was an astute businessman as well as a musical genius.

This is one of the most recognizable albums by Frank ZAPPA, maybe because it was the first one in which he use his own face as a cover or maybe because of the excellent "Cosmik debris".

"Apostrophe (')" was released in 1974; in this record, we can appreciate the classic ZAPPA band almost completely (George DUKE, Ian UNDERWOOD, Napoleon MURPHY BROCK, Bruce FOWLER, Tom FOWLER, and Ruth UNDERWOOD) among with some familiar names in previous ZAPPA records (Don HARRIS, Jean-Luc PONTY, Sal MARQUEZ, Aynsley DUNBAR and once again the uncredited collaboraiton of TINA TURNER & THE IKETTES) and also here we got a great collaboration with Jack BRUCE in "Apostrophe".

The album is filled with a lot of very nice guitar solos and very funky keyboards; wind instruments were scarce but their appearances were very well ubicated. This is a very varied album that goes from bluesy pieces to some very rocky ones and with a lot of flavor of R&B and Funk. Not a masterpiece, that's for sure, but this is one of those ZAPPA albums that are so accessible that don't seem to have been made by ZAPPA.

SONG RATING: Don't eat the yellow snow, 4 Nabook rubs it, 5 St. Alphonzo's pancake breakfast, 4 Father O'Blivion, 4 Cosmik debris, 5 Excentrifugal forz, 3 Apostrophe', 4 Uncle Remus, 5 Stink-Foot, 5

AVERAGE: 4.33

PERCENTAGE: 86.67

ALBUM RATING: 4 stars