Frank Zappa

whose-law-anywa

Hi, was messing on utube the other day and typed in "The muffin man" and frank zappa came up. Never heard of him before but im really taken aback. His stuff is deadly. What would any Zappa fans suggest as my first cd, he seems to have such a huge collection. Also, best place to buy his music for variety.

Mick Shrimpton

Apostrophe is absolutely fantastic, definitely my favorite.

Or Joe's Garage is usually everyone's first Zappa record.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Colinthedrummer wrote: »

Or Joe's Garage is usually everyone's first Zappa record.

It was mine, and a classic.

Hot Rats is brilliant.

HMV on grafton street usually have a few of his albums in stock.

damonjewel

apostrophe, overnite sensation, weasels ripped my flesh, Joes garage or hot rats or all good starting points

Undergod

Haven't heard as much of his stuff as I'd like but "Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch" may have the best album cover ever.

Frank Grimes

Colinthedrummer wrote: »

Or Joe's Garage is usually everyone's first Zappa record.

I think We're Only In It For The Money was mine, been so long now (15 years +) I can't remember.

Anyway. Hot Rats, Chunga's Revenge, Sheik Yerbouti, Apostrophe, Overnight Sensation, Does Humour Belong in Music, maybe some of the You Can't Do That On Stages - I'm thinking Vol. 1. I don't know if Weasels Ripped My Flesh would be a good start, love the album but it might be a bit more 'advanced' for a beginner to Zappa. Having said that, it was my 3rd or 4th Zappa album.

ZakAttak

There are two Frank Zappa Best of's - Tiddies and Beer and another one simply called 'The Best of Frank Zappa'. The tiddies and beer one is by far the better (shame about the title), its got that song 'city of tiny lights'- brilliant.

gogglebok

There's a very good collection called Strictly Commercial. It's tuneful and funny, without any of the longer fans-only jazz explorations. The Muffin Man is on it too.

MoominPapa

Absolutly Free for the early Mothers freakout vibe
Hot Rats for the jazzy side
Overnite Sensation for the early 70s funky funny stuff
Sheik Yerboutie for the late 70s all over the place brilliance

After that lot you will be hooked and you can get anything from then on.
Best place to buy? Amazon tbh

gucci

Well done, you have discovered a gem, frank zappa is absolutely brilliant. He was one of the most prolific recording artists ever, so there is a huge range of stuff available by him. apostrophe is great though and is probably best place to start.

Souless

ZakAttak wrote: »

There are two Frank Zappa Best of's - Tiddies and Beer and another one simply called 'The Best of Frank Zappa'. The tiddies and beer one is by far the better (shame about the title), its got that song 'city of tiny lights'- brilliant.

Tiddies an Beer. Masterpiece thats all that needs to be said

carchaeologist

Zappa is the man, i would say start with sheik yerbouti, and go from there. Theres so much variety its hard to pin anyone album down.Apostrophe is great(dont eat the yellow snow),and as has already been mentioned, the first three mothers albums are ABSOLUTLY essential!!!
Be warned though, its like heroin,the more you listen to,the more you will want!!




R.I.P. F.Z.

carchaeologist

Frank Grimes wrote: »

I don't know if Weasels Ripped My Flesh would be a good start, love the album but it might be a bit more 'advanced' for a beginner to Zappa.

Yes, this album takes a bit of getting into, not a good one to start with...
Damn, now i have to go and dig out sheik yerbouti and have a listen!!!:D:D

Anxmc

Roxy and Elsewhere
Trance-Fusion
Cant do that onstage vol.2
Zoot alures
Shut up n play yer guitar 1&2
Joes Garage acts 1,2&3
Sheik yerbouti (yo'mama is sick)

and all of the above mentioned by others. Ship arriving too late is unbelievable.
These are the best softeners.

dasdog

A genius musician. Been said above already but among others, Hot Rats and Apostrophe are quality.

120_Minutes

not a major fan, but respect him as an artist. i do have a soft spot for his "man from utopia" album featuring a young steve vai.

faceman

Zappa was a genius. He has hundreds of albums. Some of them are instrumentals though. He was able to compose music for symphonies.

Despite his mental lyrics and titles, he was a tea totaller and never took drugs.

His semi autobiography was one of the funniest books i have ever read!

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Frank-Zappa-Book/dp/0671705725/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214482093&sr=1-1

John

Avoid all of the above and get into Captain Beefheart instead.

MoominPapa

John wrote: »

Avoid Get all of the above and get into Captain Beefheart instead as well.

:pac::pac::pac:

zappairl

im a massive zappa fan from cork, 2 years ago i went to manchester to see zappa plays zappa, and it was a great show, id recommmend getting the dvd of that particular show that was filmed at 2 shows in america, with young dweezil zappa standing in for the almighty frank. they do a very good job, and im sure any new fan of franks would appreciate it.

one of my fave albums is Zoot Allures, and i have to say Freak Out, is also in my top 5...A fabulous album. althought it is very different to what followed... and maybe not an accurate representation of what frank was about, you can see where it all started.

my very first zappa album was a greatest hits, the strictly commercial one that has been mentioned earlier, and i would recommend that to a friend if they said where to start. some people might disagree but.... i started with it and now own more than 20 zappa albums.

when listening to frank, a new listener needs to remember that frank had a wicked sense of humour and was extremely witty. some of the song lyrics can seem a little crude at time to someone that "doesnt get it" lol.

i have to admit my fave zappa years are the 60's and 70's and start of the 80's. dub room special with brock, thompson,underwood,duke and fowler.... is one of the my fave line ups. we've been promised the ROXY dvd for years. one day..... one day.

there's a great dvd in the classic albums series called "apostrophe/overnite sensation" and is goes deep into these and albums, and is well worth the money.... and of course you tube, has loads of rare interviews of frank that really let you hear what he had to say about things, and helps you see where his ideas come from and what he was trying to say and do.

Music is the Best.

zappairl

p.s. best of both worlds "Bongo Fury".

Thomas_S_Hunterson

zappairl wrote: »

p.s. best of both worlds "Bongo Fury".

+1 Class album

Ho-Hum

John wrote: »

Avoid all of the above and get into Captain Beefheart instead.

Beefheart is good but I much prefer Zappa.

Undergod

Well Trout Mask Replica is produced by Zappa and think he performed on a few tracks. What with that being Beefheart's best-known work, it's hard to take Beefheart without Zappa being involved somehow.

Also, this is one of my favourite zappa tracks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txPv0FLd_DI

John

Undergod wrote: »

Well Trout Mask Replica is produced by Zappa and think he performed on a few tracks. What with that being Beefheart's best-known work, it's hard to take Beefheart without Zappa being involved somehow.

Yeah but Trout Mask Replica is the sound of Captain Beefheart with the aid of Zappa. Zappa left to his own devices is a turgid mess. I've tried hard to like him, everything about him on paper suggests I should love him but I cannot see his genious. Yes, there's some good ideas but it always leaves me cold. When he rocks out, it always seems so bland and too reliant on virtuosity (whereas Beefheart goes straight for the groin and keeps the mind bending musical structure). When he tries to be clever, he ends up sounding tedious (he certainly was NOT a composer). As for his humour...

carchaeologist

Zappa is a marmite musician,i.e you will either love or hate him, theres no in between, i personally love his stuff, eccentric as some of it is,its all different,and he seemed to do it the way he wanted to,and to hell with what people thought...whereas captain beefhearts troutmask replica is a little on the"s*hit man,got fcuked up on some drugs,lets make a record" side, though china pig is a favorite from that album,and dachau blues also...:D
It says after the china pig song,"owing to the condition of the players,and the environment of the recording,certain portions are inaudible,thus we can only guess at the real meaning"


One of my favourite zappa instumentals is "Watermelon in easter hay", i love the simple guitar on that tune..

carchaeologist

The sound on that G-spot tornado vid does it no justice,go and buy Jazz from hell to hear it at its brilliant best,watching it with the original video is mad too!!
this is Watermelon in easter hay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBQPkLuwy80
And another from the sheik yerbouti era...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5L7WTyCqhs&feature=related

can anyone tell me how to get the video box up like the previous poster?:D

Undergod

John wrote: »

...there's some good ideas but it always leaves me cold. When he rocks out, it always seems so bland and too reliant on virtuosity (whereas Beefheart goes straight for the groin and keeps the mind bending musical structure). When he tries to be clever, he ends up sounding tedious (he certainly was NOT a composer). As for his humour...

Well like I say, I'm not hugely familiar with Zappa, but that's an interesting view. I will return to discuss this more when I've listened to some more Zappa albums.

gucci

faceman wrote: »

.

His semi autobiography was one of the funniest books i have ever read!

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Frank-Zappa-Book/dp/0671705725/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214482093&sr=1-1

Just bought that....looking forward to it! Got it for 3pound second hand on amazon.

Anxmc

Zappa not a composer? that is hilarious.
Music isn't all about the groin, unless your not very learned.

Zappa is a composer.
Music is the best.

carchaeologist

Tobacco is my favorite vegetable

Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.

Interviewer: "So Frank, you have long hair. Does that make you a woman?"
FZ: "You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table?"

Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST


The creation and destruction of harmonic and 'statistical' tensions is essential to the maintenance of compositional drama. Any composition (or improvisation) which remains consonant and 'regular' throughout is, for me, equivalent to watching a movie with only 'good guys' in it, or eating cottage cheese.

link; http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/quotes/zappa.html

gucci

My favourite is "Stupidity like hydrogen is one of the basic building blocks of the Universe!":)

John

Anxmc wrote: »

Zappa not a composer? that is hilarious.
Music isn't all about the groin, unless your not very learned.

Zappa is a composer.
Music is the best.

So you think he's up there with the other 20th century greats like Cage, Feldman, Górecki, Pärt, Stravinsky, Ligeti, Bryars, Oliveros, Lucier, etc.? He chanced his arm and some people dug it but he's certainly not up there with the rest of the avant garde (who certainly didn't write from the groin).

My point wasn't that Zappa was too intellectual but that when he tried to be intellectual, he failed and when he tried to be rock'n'roll, he was too rigid and reliant on virtuosity. Also, may I point out that there is nothing wrong with virtuosity but not at the expense of feeling.

carchaeologist

Maybe he was just very good at taking the p1ss!!!:D:D