Frank Zappa tell me what to ....

[Fenderoid]

I 'd been meaning t get into listening some of his stuff but don't know where to begin.PLZ gimme sth to start

 

[droptrd]

Start with Strictly Comercial. Its a greatest hits album. Covers alot of ground. Frank rules!

 

[Ventura]

I've got every one of his CD's and a lot of stuff that was only available through Ryko and Dweezil's releases for limited times. I am a devout fan.

What 'part' of Zappa do you want to get to know? Here are some recommendations:

To understand Frank as a guitarist, the following CD's are exceptional:
Guitar
Shut Up N' Play Yer Guitar
The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life

To understand Frank as a composer, conductor, and genius:
LSO (London Symphony Orchestra) Vol.1 and Vol.2
Make A Jazz Noise Here
The Yellow Shark

To understand how incredible his band was live:
Zappa In New York
The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
Broadway The Hard Way
[any number of the...] You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore

To understand his humor and overall zeal for terrific song writing:
Joe's Garage I, II & III
Baby Snakes
Sheik Yerbouti

I think this oughta get you started...

Any questions, ask away. The man was a genius and to this day offers me inspiration to play guitar, keep laughing, always find humor in the weirdest of shit, and keep life light!!

V.

 

[Meathead]

To understand his humor and overall zeal for terrific song writing:
Joe's Garage I, II & III
Baby Snakes
Sheik Yerbouti

I'd start with these and would add 'Apostrophe' to that.

My favorite from Zappa is a 3-disc set named 'Lather'...Frank was at his peak in the mid 70's IMO.

 

[Ventura]

To understand his humor and overall zeal for terrific song writing:
Joe's Garage I, II & III
Baby Snakes
Sheik Yerbouti

I'd start with these and would add 'Apostrophe' to that.

My favorite from Zappa is a 3-disc set named 'Lather'...Frank was at his peak in the mid 70's IMO.

Indeeed, Lather (with that weird little double dot thingy over the 'a') is a great compilation. I kinda wanted to offer different flavors of Zappa in sections - as I personally feel there are many facets to understand and appreciate in his music. If you heard some of his stuff, you'd not chalk him up as a great guitarist, but this silly stuff. Then in his Studio Tan days, hell, that would put a lot of 1st time listeners off. Zoot Allures is great, but kinda dark... So ya, I just thought here's some slices of the pie and the different flavors available...

Man, that cat was so solid on his artistry. I remember reading an article about Dweezil and using his Dad's equipment. In short, with respect to his guitars, Dweezil basically said they were so hot-rodded and modded and electronically modified he'd not even bother attempting to figure them out... Those were his father's, and will remain that way.

Another interesting, barely documented factoid! It was Mr. Zappa that worked in conjunction with Phillips of Germany (at that time) to pioneer the commonly and everyday accepted music medium we now know as the compact disc!! Who woulda thunk it!!

Peace,
V.

 

[srinivassa]

I won't contradict someone who has every one of his albums. Just going to leave a personal note.

Strictly Commercial is a greatest hits and IS really good, for an artist who probably loathes the idea of 'greatest hits.' The body of his work is deep though, and there's a lot of good stuff. Overnite Sensation is my favorite for pop in and play. Almost every track on that album kicks off rockin'. A lot of fun stuff, and it's a good appetizer if you are mostly used to straight up rock songs. If you like it, you can always move on to something more meaty.

 

[Meathead]

To understand his humor and overall zeal for terrific song writing:
Joe's Garage I, II & III
Baby Snakes
Sheik Yerbouti

I'd start with these and would add 'Apostrophe' to that.

My favorite from Zappa is a 3-disc set named 'Lather'...Frank was at his peak in the mid 70's IMO.

Indeeed, Lather (with that weird little double dot thingy over the 'a') is a great compilation. I kinda wanted to offer different flavors of Zappa in sections - as I personally feel there are many facets to understand and appreciate in his music. If you heard some of his stuff, you'd not chalk him up as a great guitarist, but this silly stuff. Then in his Studio Tan days, hell, that would put a lot of 1st time listeners off. Zoot Allures is great, but kinda dark... So ya, I just thought here's some slices of the pie and the different flavors available...

Man, that cat was so solid on his artistry. I remember reading an article about Dweezil and using his Dad's equipment. In short, with respect to his guitars, Dweezil basically said they were so hot-rodded and modded and electronically modified he'd not even bother attempting to figure them out... Those were his father's, and will remain that way.

Another interesting, barely documented factoid! It was Mr. Zappa that worked in conjunction with Phillips of Germany (at that time) to pioneer the commonly and everyday accepted music medium we now know as the compact disc!! Who woulda thunk it!!

Peace,
V.

The Adventures of Greggery Peccary is his masterpiece....what a crazy track.

I noticed there's even a wiki page for that song...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Greggery_Peccary

 

[Ventura]

Yep...

And then there's always the quintessential "Uncle Meat".

Just the mere NAME of that release makes me laugh out loud... What a messed up one that is

And don't take my owning all his works as some kind of autoauthority - on the contrary, I'm just a mega fan. I also had some correspondence with him and his family back in the day when it came to transcribing some of his works. I was totally taken with his music in the written form, and back when I understood music like I did, I was perplexed at how he wrote the stuff in order to arrange it in order to have it played the way he did. Whaddya know? I actually got the odd email back from him (this is in the day where a 9600 baud rate modem was THE SHIT!!). Then I recevied the email from his family about his health and his passing - and shortly thereafter, the newspapers had the article of his death in it. I was pretty devastated to say the least - only wrote one last email offering my condolences, and my sympathies.

Then, now. I still love his music, and I am so amped to see Dweezil doing one helluva job playing his Dad's music with a flair and passion that only a true Zappa could have. Not taking away from the other family members' achievements or choices whatsoever, just saying, I'm glad to see the torch passed because music like his deserves to transcend at least couple generations

V.

 

[Fenderoid]

Thx Guys :rock

Been very helpful.

 

[Ventura]

Thx Guys :rock

Been very helpful.

Hot Rats
Grand Wazoo
Waka Jawaka

3 earlier pieces that kick ass in the instrumental arrangement department as well

Peaches en Regalia is one of my fave tunes of all time, a song written about Gail and her tummy when she was pregnant with Dweezil. Years later (semi recently), Dweezil played it and released it on his material and finally - after years of people believing it deserved an award - received one!!

Peace,
V.

 

[Digital Jams]

His appearance on Miami Vice is one of my favorites.

 

[Anonymous]

and would add 'Apostrophe' to that.

Indeed. The crux of the biscuit is the Apostrophe...

Steve

 

[Mokaccino]

I've got every one of his CD's and a lot of stuff that was only available through Ryko and Dweezil's releases for limited times. I am a devout fan.

What 'part' of Zappa do you want to get to know? Here are some recommendations:

To understand Frank as a guitarist, the following CD's are exceptional:
Guitar
Shut Up N' Play Yer Guitar
The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life

To understand Frank as a composer, conductor, and genius:
LSO (London Symphony Orchestra) Vol.1 and Vol.2
Make A Jazz Noise Here
The Yellow Shark

To understand how incredible his band was live:
Zappa In New York
The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
Broadway The Hard Way
[any number of the...] You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore

To understand his humor and overall zeal for terrific song writing:
Joe's Garage I, II & III
Baby Snakes
Sheik Yerbouti

I think this oughta get you started...

Any questions, ask away. The man was a genius and to this day offers me inspiration to play guitar, keep laughing, always find humor in the weirdest of shit, and keep life light!!

V.

That's a great start right there. I'm a huge fan of FZ, you will not go wrong with those suggestions. Awesome post by the way.

 

[guitarslinger]

lots of good stuff in this thread.

If I had to pick one:

Joe's Garage.

 

[Inca Roads]

His appearance on Miami Vice is one of my favorites.

Where's my "Weasel Dust"!

 

[232cap]

St Alfonzo's pancake breakfast.

 

[Ventura]

You know, I've listened to so much Zappa, so much in my life, I have this constant running dialogue of off hand comments, sayings, expressions, and so forth from all his works that ALWAYS come up in my every day life. It's not always the obvious stuff - like the 'actual lyrics' - but often in the live setting, there was SO much tomfoolery going on on stage, and so much stuff that's 'said' out of or 'in' context, that THIS is the stuff that makes me howl...

"Ain't this what living is really all about..." (total sarcasm)
"I'm me" (said my keyboardist and joker during Any Kind of Pain off Broadway the Hard Way")
"...the white zone is for..." (you probably know the rest)
"...schtick rouse deinen heisses gnackun" (loosely translated to, "stick out yer hot curly weenie")
"Nackin...ya'll wants to party hardy wit'da minature rubber mammy wit'da string out da back?"
"I WANNA FUCK MY BRIEFCASE!!"
"Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has JUST left the building"
"splooge"
"catholic girls, with the tiny lil' moustache"
"Everybody twist!!"
"Here's yer fifty bucks Mary..."
"Home is where the heart is...ON THE BUS!!".
"Pooched out succulence"
"Thaaaaaaat's riiiiiight"
"Well, you just might pinch a little loaf in yer slumber...NURSE!!"

Aw hell - is ANYONE here familiar with the chorus from "Illinois Enema Bandit"..??? Ray White in his prime just belting out:
"He just be pumpin' every one of 'em up with all a bag fulla, Illinois Enema Bandit juice"

Shit guys... I swear, a lil' part of FZ is alive and well in me every day and I am SO fortunate to be able to say this. The guy has brought me SO much happiness - and to this day, his music just simply righteously kicks ass!!

I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!!

Mo (aka V., Ventura, Mojo)

 

[mctallica1]

I've got every one of his CD's and a lot of stuff that was only available through Ryko and Dweezil's releases for limited times. I am a devout fan.

What 'part' of Zappa do you want to get to know? Here are some recommendations:

To understand Frank as a guitarist, the following CD's are exceptional:
Guitar
Shut Up N' Play Yer Guitar
The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life

To understand Frank as a composer, conductor, and genius:
LSO (London Symphony Orchestra) Vol.1 and Vol.2
Make A Jazz Noise Here
The Yellow Shark

To understand how incredible his band was live:
Zappa In New York
The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
Broadway The Hard Way
[any number of the...] You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore

To understand his humor and overall zeal for terrific song writing:
Joe's Garage I, II & III
Baby Snakes
Sheik Yerbouti

I think this oughta get you started...

Any questions, ask away. The man was a genius and to this day offers me inspiration to play guitar, keep laughing, always find humor in the weirdest of shit, and keep life light!!

V.

That's a great start right there. I'm a huge fan of FZ, you will not go wrong with those suggestions. Awesome post by the way.

Big plus 1!


I love Zappa


I saw Zappa does Zappa in PGH a few years back and seeing Dweezil and the band play in front of the screen with Frank gave me chills.

 

[Ventura]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It was seriously moving man... I've been following them around, whether it be Vancouver, Seattle, Oregon, wherever's easy for me to get to. But ya, that particular tour he did with ZPZ was incredible. Had all his dad's old cabinets and amps on stage, and man, it just rocked.

I saw them just a couple months ago and there was no Frank on a screen, as well, no vintage original Frank gear on stage. I've talked about this before, but the when Dweezil played, a lot of his notes were indistinguishable. However, his sidekick guitarists sounded f'n awesome. ONE major observation was that behind Dweezil were 2 AxeFX units. The other guitarists were mic'ing some Bogners (Shiva and Duende), a couple Dr.Z's, a Matchless, and a Cornford and Fuchs if I recall correctly. THEY SOUNDED AWESOME!!! But the main cat - Dweezil - playing the main riffs - by Frank - just sounded 'noisy' and convoluted. And this isn't trying get a hate-on to the AxeFX, as hell, some of you know I've made space for one in my latest rack build... It's just honest to goodness observation, and several of us there - all musical and with good ears (some fellow studio owners, recording cats, artists, etc.) all said the same thing.

Not at ALL like the tour he did with this dad's original gear - that was just spectacular. I hope he does that again, as an ode to his dad and also, that gear sounded supreme IMHO.

V.

 

[Meathead]

St Alfonzo's pancake breakfast.

...where I stole the margareeeen...