Some advice on Frank Zappa needed
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific prog albums
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=79946
Printed Date: May 25 2025 at 03:18
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Topic: Some advice on Frank Zappa needed
Posted By: King Manuel
Subject: Some advice on Frank Zappa needed
Date Posted: July 22 2011 at 03:57
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Those who have wittnessed me on the PA Forums have noticed that my taste in prog tends towards the more comercial and straight foward type of prog. Neo Prog makes King Manuel happy!
However I recently after many years listend again to Mothermania -The Best of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, an album which my brother bought sometimes in the 1990s. And strangely, I love this album although it does not really go with my general taste in music.
So what Zappa albums can you recommend to me???
------------- Don't Bore Us, Get To The Chorus |
Replies:
Posted By: Warthur
Date Posted: July 22 2011 at 05:17
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Is it this one? http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=5421" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=5421 If so the material on there's all from Frank's earliest albums with the original Mothers of Invention lineup. Depending on which tracks you're most fond of, I'd recommend Absolutely Free and We're Only In It For the Money first, which are the best of the early Mothers psychedelic-era material (and if you're really into them, I'd also recommend Freak Out!, but I'd put it a shade lower in priority to the other two). If you like them, then you might want to try the lineup's other albums - Uncle Meat and Burnt Weeny Sandwich are excellent, Weasels Ripped My Flesh is also pretty good (and includes a few out-takes from We're Only In It For the Money), Cruising With Ruben and the Jets should probably be steered clear from unless you're really into the band's output because it consists entirely of mostly-sincere doo-wop material and isn't really much like their other stuff. If you want to branch out into Zappa's later band lineups, then there's a whole world out there to explore and it might be best to come back for more recommendations after you've digested the early Mothers material and decided what you like about it. But I can recommend Hot Rats as being a really, really good early fusion album, and One Size Fits All as being a good album from the highly-regarded mid-70s backing band.
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Posted By: tamijo
Date Posted: July 22 2011 at 05:26
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Even though from a later period, i think Apostrophe (') 1974, is allways worth a listen, for the Zappa "beginner" ------------- Prog is whatevey you want it to be. So dont diss other peoples prog, and they wont diss yours |
Posted By: yanch
Date Posted: July 22 2011 at 05:50
| I'd suggest, Apostrophe, Overnite Sensation, You Are What You Is, and Sheik Yerbuti. |
Posted By: Anthony H.
Date Posted: July 22 2011 at 05:58
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Apostrophe (') Over-Nite Sensation One Size Fits All -------------  |
Posted By: Ruby900
Date Posted: July 22 2011 at 06:11
Good call - Hot rats? ------------- "I always say that it’s about breaking the rules. But the secret of breaking rules in a way that works is understanding what the rules are in the first place". Rick Wakeman |
Anthony H. wrote:Posted By: Anthony H.
Date Posted: July 22 2011 at 06:45
HR doesn't seem to jibe with his stated tastes. ------------- |
Posted By: Warthur
Date Posted: July 22 2011 at 06:55
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The thing is he's saying the Zappa stuff he's heard and liked is on the Mothermania compilation, and I think Hot Rats is closer to the early Mothers sound than Apostrophe/Overnite Sensation/One Size are. Though those three are excellent albums.
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Posted By: dwill123
Date Posted: July 22 2011 at 11:12
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Posted By: Warthur
Date Posted: July 22 2011 at 16:01
| Though the obvious caveat with Uncle Meat is to avoid the "penalty tracks" appended to most CD editions - the two extracts from the film and Tengo Na Minchia Tanta. When you're listening to the second CD, skip those and go straight to King Kong, you'll be happier that way. |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: July 22 2011 at 16:05
Agreed.
I'd also add Freak Out!, Absolutely Free and We're Only In It For The Money since you like the early compilation album. ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: EchidnasArf
Date Posted: July 22 2011 at 16:54
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What everybody else said, and Roxy and Elsewhere.
------------- http://didyouseethosebats.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - Did You See Those Bats? (a few songs from my band's live radio show) 
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Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: July 22 2011 at 18:38
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Don't eat that yellow snow. Oh wait, that's advice from Frank Zappa.
------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: July 23 2011 at 07:12
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We're Only In it for the Money first, followed by Absolutely Free. Uncle Meat is my personal favorite but that one's a bit easier to swallow if you're already a fan. ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: King Manuel
Date Posted: July 25 2011 at 03:03
| Well, thanks everybody! I got Apostrophe and Hot Rats. Gues what, Hot Rats is my favourite! |
Posted By: Warthur
Date Posted: July 25 2011 at 05:25
| If you loved Hot Rats then I'd particularly recommend Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo (semi-sequels to Hot Rats, which saw Zappa applying similar aesthetic and compositional principles to a really *big* band), as well as Uncle Meat or Burnt Weeny Sandwhich, where you can hear the original Mothers of Invention lineup working on fusion-ish material which would end up influencing Hot Rats a lot. |
Posted By: jean-marie
Date Posted: July 25 2011 at 15:57
| Overnite sensation, Roxy and elsewhere, Zoot allures, Grand wazoo, Waka jawaka, Hot rats,One size fits all, Apostrophe, Broadway the hard way, The best band you never heard in your life,+ a few others..... |
Posted By: JasonL
Date Posted: July 25 2011 at 18:57
I agree - that'll take you nicely into extended-jam-type territory. Can I also make a recommendation for Joe's Garage? My personal favorite of Zappa's catalog (though I can't claim to have heard every FZ album ever), it has some tasty jamming, some catchy songs, and some pretty heartfelt stuff too, along with some very adolescent humor (par for the course). It's not the most like the other stuff you've liked, but I think it borders it more closely than a lot of other FZ material. Please let me know if you like it - I'm always spreading Joe's gospel. |
Posted By: jean-marie
Date Posted: July 26 2011 at 01:51
| Yes Joe's garage and Sheik Yerbouti are good too, You are what you is is only half good.... |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: July 26 2011 at 07:15
By the whole catalog and head straight to the poorhouse.  ------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Posted By: jean-marie
Date Posted: July 26 2011 at 07:35
| Yes Harder, dumb, Conehead, good ones but humour seems to be over music through the album |
Posted By: irrelevant
Date Posted: July 26 2011 at 07:42
Watermelon in Easter Hay is a masterpiece, Keep it Greasey is good, Outside Now is ok, the rest..... meh. ------------- https://gabebuller.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - New album! http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385 |
Posted By: jean-marie
Date Posted: July 28 2011 at 04:28
| I had a new listening to the double live: The best band you never heard in your life....Realy good, as good as New York.... |