Zappa
Frank Zappa, ‘Joe’s Garage Act 1’, 1979. Decades ago, I lived with a Zappa freak. He had all the albums and taped them to listen in his car. He’s a sound engineer by trade and reads music. He ‘got’ Zappa and was my first proper exposure to Frank. This album is good entry level Zappa. It has tunes alongside the musicianship, which can get quite noodly and muso.
Frank was a libertarian and the concept, man, behind this set of songs (which was followed up by a double album ‘Acts 2 & 3’) was a future where music has been outlawed. This was before Tipper Gore and Warning stickers on albums. Frank could see which way the wind was blowing with Reagan waiting in the wings.
Frank plays the reoccurring narrator, The Central Scrutinizer, and… it doesn’t matter really. The band are super tight, the tunes range from goofy to funky, jazzy or just balls out rockin’. Most of Frank’s guitar solos were isolated from live recordings and blended into later studio recordings, a process called xenochrony. Frank loved working in the studio.
The title song is autobiography, capturing the joy of early rockers learning their craft. ‘Catholic Girls’ takes a pop at religion with tongue in cheek. Frank rubbed Conservatives and Liberals up the wrong way with his seemingly crude, puerile, seemingly sexist lyrics. He was taking the piss. He’s smarter than that. ‘Crew Slut’, ‘Why Does it Hurt When I Pee?’ and ‘Fembot in a Wet T-Shirt’ are other good examples of such profanity. Funny, satirical, sleazy, but with great tunes and musicianship. ‘On The Bus’ has some great lead axe shredding from our Frank. ‘Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up’ is smooth jazziness with reggae chords.
‘Acts 2 &3’ follows the same path so explore that if you like Act 1. ‘Watermelon in Easter Hay’ from that set has a gorgeous instrumental with some beautiful guitar from Frank. Zappa isn’t instantly catchy, but once you ‘get’ it there’s hours and hours of archive to dive into. He really was one of the greats.
Zappa
Frank Zappa, ‘Joe’s Garage Act 1’, 1979. Decades ago, I lived with a Zappa freak. He had all the albums and taped them to listen in his car. He’s a sound engineer by trade and reads music. He ‘got’ Zappa and was my first proper exposure to Frank. This album is good entry level Zappa. It has tunes alongside the musicianship, which can get quite noodly and muso.
Frank was a libertarian and the concept, man, behind this set of songs (which was followed up by a double album ‘Acts 2 & 3’) was a future where music has been outlawed. This was before Tipper Gore and Warning stickers on albums. Frank could see which way the wind was blowing with Reagan waiting in the wings.
Frank plays the reoccurring narrator, The Central Scrutinizer, and… it doesn’t matter really. The band are super tight, the tunes range from goofy to funky, jazzy or just balls out rockin’. Most of Frank’s guitar solos were isolated from live recordings and blended into later studio recordings, a process called xenochrony. Frank loved working in the studio.
The title song is autobiography, capturing the joy of early rockers learning their craft. ‘Catholic Girls’ takes a pop at religion with tongue in cheek. Frank rubbed Conservatives and Liberals up the wrong way with his seemingly crude, puerile, seemingly sexist lyrics. He was taking the piss. He’s smarter than that. ‘Crew Slut’, ‘Why Does it Hurt When I Pee?’ and ‘Fembot in a Wet T-Shirt’ are other good examples of such profanity. Funny, satirical, sleazy, but with great tunes and musicianship. ‘On The Bus’ has some great lead axe shredding from our Frank. ‘Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up’ is smooth jazziness with reggae chords.
‘Acts 2 &3’ follows the same path so explore that if you like Act 1. ‘Watermelon in Easter Hay’ from that set has a gorgeous instrumental with some beautiful guitar from Frank. Zappa isn’t instantly catchy, but once you ‘get’ it there’s hours and hours of archive to dive into. He really was one of the greats.