Fascinated by Zappa

Myself ^ | 6/19/08 | Me

[CharlieOK1]

I am not really into the music scene of today, as I believe that everything that is touted as 'new' or 'the next big thing' always ends up being something somebody else already did. I have lately found myself digging back into music that really was innovative and ground-breaking. A lot of which was done before I was even around (I am 30). For example, Steely Dan, King Crimson, Yes, David Bowie...

I have always been fascinated by Frank Zappa, as he is basically universally thought of as a musical genius, but just have never really dove into his musical catalog as I really don't know where to start.

[CharlieOK1]

I know there are plenty of Zappa fans here, so I wonder if this thread could kind of become a 'young person's guide to the music of Frank Zappa'. Which album's would you recommend I start with? Is there anywhere to go to get started with some downloads? Which album(s) of his are considered masterpieces?

[IYAS9YAS]

Watch where the huskies go, don’t eat the yellow snow...

[jaydubya2]

My favs are “Apostrophe” and “Overnight Sensation”, although some of his lyrics are kinda nasty, so I can't let my kids listen to them. From the artists you mentioned, it sounds like your into the Jazz/Rock/Fusion sound?

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

I'm partial to his early works: Freak Out, Absolutely Free, We're Only In it for the Money. From the 70s you can't go wrong with Apostrophe, Overnight Sensation and Zoot Allures. I really love Weasels Ripped My Flesh, but that's best left until your ears have become acclimated to Frank.

[gate2wire]

Zappa= Apostrophe.

Bowie= Ziggy Stardust

[andy58-in-nh]

Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar (3 CD set).
Over-nite Sensation
Apostrophe
One Size Fits All
Sheik Yerbouti

Good places to start.

[johnny7]

“The price of meat has just gone up... and your old lady has just gone down...”

[ALASKA]

I couldn't say where she's coming from,

But I just met a lady named Dyna Mo Hum...

[Joe 6-pack]

Zappa certainly deserves a place in the Rock pantheon and was perhaps, the most eloquent, to the point defender of the First Amendment when Tipper Gore was on her record labeling kick.

Personally however, when it comes to the "Z's" I prefer the music and quirky lyrics of perhaps one of rock's most underrated figures...Warren Zevon.

[Mr. K]

Do you know who you are?
You are what you iz.
You ain't what you not
And that all there is

words to live by!

[1rudeboy]

Here's a good thread to mine for information--it was one of the more popular Zappa threads in recent memory:

Lithuania presents Baltimore with a Frank Zappa statue.

[wideawake]

Zappa was an incredibly talented and innovative instrumentalist, but an extremely unfocused and, sorry, overrated artist with sometimes very questionable taste.

Almost every album is different - for his early period almost every critic admires We're Only In It For The Money, and for his mid-to-late period the same seems to go for Overnite Sensation and Sheik Yerbouti.

[RedStateRocker]

You might start with ‘Strictly Commercial’, a greatest hits album.

Frank’s stuff changed in response to societal changes, a good read is ‘Dangerous Kitchen’, to give context, without context even brilliant satire is merely weird. He was heavily influenced by Edgard Varese AND by ‘do-wop’.

There are various ways of looking as Zappa; as satirist, as modern composer, as social commentator. He is regarded much more highly in Europe, particularly in Czechoslovakia than he is here; Václav Have was a huge fan.

[soupcon]

Billy The Mountain.

[upsdriver]

I like Joe’s Garage Acts I,II.III, Sheik Yerbooti and We’re Only in it for the Money.

[allmendream]

Trouble Every Day - Frank Zappa

Well I'm about to get upset
From watchin’ my TV
Been checkin’ out the news
Until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean to say that every day
Is just another rotten mess
And when it's gonna change, my friend
Is anybody’s guess

So I'm watchin’ and I'm waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ‘em sayin’
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day

Wednesday I watched the riot . . .
Seen the cops out on the street
Watched ‘em throwin’ rocks and stuff
And chokin’ in the heat
Listened to reports
About the whisky passin’ ‘round
Seen the smoke and fire
And the market burnin’ down
Watched while everybody
On his street would take a turn
To stomp and smash and bash and crash
And slash and bust and burn

And I'm watchin’ and I'm waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ‘em sayin’
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day

Well, you can cool it,
You can heat it . . .
‘Cause, baby, I don't need it . . .
Take your TV tube and eat it
‘N all that phony stuff on sports
‘N all the unconfirmed reports
You know I watched that rotten box
Until my head begin to hurt
From checkin’ out the way
The newsman say they get the dirt
Before the guys on channel so-and-so

And further they assert
That any show they'll interrupt
To bring you news if it comes up
They say that if the place blows up
They will be the first to tell,
Because the boys they got downtown
Are workin’ hard and doin’ swell,
And if anybody gets the news
Before it hits the street,
They say that no one blabs it faster
Their coverage can't be beat

And if another woman driver
Gets machine-gunned from her seat
They'll send some joker with a brownie
And you'll see it all complete

So I'm watchin’ and I'm waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ‘em sayin’
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day

Hey, you know something people?
I'm not black
But there's a whole lots a times
I wish I could say I'm not white

Well, I seen the fires burnin’
And the local people turnin’
On the merchants and the shops
Who used to sell their brooms and mops
And every other household item
Watched the mob just turn and bite ‘em
And they say it served ‘em right
Because a few of them are white,
And it's the same across the nation
Black and white discrimination
Yellin’ “You can't understand me!”
‘N all that other jazz they hand me
In the papers and TV and
All that mass stupidity
That seems to grow more every day
Each time you hear some nitwit say
He wants to go and do you in
Because the color of your skin
Just don't appeal to him
(No matter if it's black or white)
Because he's out for blood tonight

You know we got to sit around at home
And watch this thing begin
But I bet there won't be many live
To see it really end
‘Cause the fire in the street
Ain't like the fire in the heart
And in the eyes of all these people
Don't you know that this could start
On any street in any town
In any state if any clown
Decides that now’s the time to fight
For some ideal he thinks is right
And if a million more agree
There ain't no Great Society
As it applies to you and me
Our country isn't free
And the law refuses to see
If all that you can ever be
Is just a lousy janitor
Unless your uncle owns a store
You know that five in every four
Just won't amount to nothin’ more
Gonna watch the rats go across the floor
And make up songs about being poor

Blow your harmonica, son!

[Dixie Yooper]

Bowie= Ziggy Stardust

One of my top 5 favorite albums, of which I have no order.

The others; CSNY-Dejavu, Johnny Winter-Illustrated Man, Edgar Winter-White Trash, Steely Dan-Can't Buy a Thrill, The Band-The Best of The Band.

[Fresh Wind]

Hot Rats!

[BraveMan]

If your taste borders on (or you can get past) the banal, “Live in New York” is an interesting album. This is the album where FZ goes off the deep end . . .

My personal favorite is “Roxy & Elsewhere”; entertaining both musically and lyrically.

[gate2wire]

Deja Vu was a great one.
Re Steely Dan, Countdown to Ecstasy was my fav. My Old School one of the best songs ever. IMO.