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Frank Zappa - Chunga's Revenge CD (album) cover

CHUNGA'S REVENGE

Frank Zappa

 

RIO/Avant-Prog

3.41 | 407 ratings

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J-Man
Prog Reviewer
2 stars This was my introduction to Frank Zappa's music, but it is NOT the place to start. He has some great albums in his discography, some horrible ones, and some decent ones. This would fall into the decent category. Sure nothing's terribly bad, but there are few memorable moments on this album.

For one, some of the music just seems like these guys were messing around in the studio. Zappa has many instrumental songs, but a few here aren't very organized and structured. The songs with vocals (this is the first album with Flo & Eddie) are either decent songs, or just humorous throwaways. This makes for a very mixed bag of an album. We have some virtuosic guitar skills from Zappa, some humorous songs, some jam sessions, and some serious songs. I'll explain all of the songs in more detail next.

THE MUSIC:

"Transylvania Boogie"- This is a pretty cool song with great guitar from Zappa himself. It is all instrumental, and is more of a hard-rock song. It has heavy use of the "wah-wah" guitar sound. It has some great bass, and is one of my favorites here. This is a great way to open an album.

"Road Ladies"- A blues rock song that isn't too great. The lyrics are pretty pathetic (even by Zappa standards), and the music is typical and predictable.

"Twenty Small Cigars"- This is a slower paced song than the last two, and contains use of the harpsichord and light guitar. It has some beautiful melodies, and this song is very good.

"The Nancy & Mary Music"- A jam session with no memorable moments. Well, maybe it has some cool parts, but it drags on and is pretty painful at times. It isn't bad, but it isn't good either.

"Tell Me You Love Me"- A decent enough hard rock song. It's not great, but it's alright.

"Would You Go All The Way?"- This is basically a joke. Funny lyrics and lousy music is the name of the game here. I skip this one every time.

"Chunga's Revenge"- This is one of the best songs on the album. It is similar to Transylvania Boogie and is on the same level of quality. It is completely instrumental and contains some great solos from Zappa.

"The Clap"- Just them messing around with some percussion instruments. Nothing special.

"Rudy Wants to Buy Yez' A Drink"- Very solid musically, but the lyrics aren't very good at all. Pretty catchy. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Sharleena"- Kind of a ballad, and it has some pleasant melodies. Again, nothing special but it's decent enough.

In case you can't tell, I have some pretty mixed feelings about this album. It's got some classic Zappa moments, but has it's fair share of filler. "Chunga's Revenge" is not where anyone should begin their Zappa journey. Some nice songs, but that's about it.

2 stars.

J-Man | 2/5 |

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