![]() Zappa’s first proper solo album, Hot Rats was a clean break from the cut-ups and sneering comedy of the Mothers. If anything this is as close to a ‘typical’ Zappa album as you can get: sniggering scatological porno-rhymes like Dirty Love next to social commentary like I’m The Slime, a savage attack on TV, experimentalism and pop sensibilities, along with fantastic musicianship and composition.īuy from Amazon (opens in new tab). This marvellous, albeit short, album is the first steps towards the accessibility of Apostrophe (’) and One Size Fits All, and again showcases the musical talent he assembled for Grand Wazoo and Waka/Jawaka. The album that includes the notorious Dinah-Mo-Hum, along with some of Zappa’s other best songs in Zomby Woof, I’m The Slime and Montana. Zoot Allures certainly isn’t essential Zappa, but it is one of his most accessible for those from a rock background coming to his music for the first time.īuy from Amazon (opens in new tab). There’s a lot of mediocre parody, like opener Wind Up Working In A Gas Station and the blast at the Travolta craze of the time, Disco Boy. Zoot Allures is a pretty stripped-down, straight-ahead rock album, flawed but with some amazing high points like the sensuous The Torture Never Stops and the guitar instrumentals Black Napkins and the title track. Zappa - Zoot Allures (1976)Īlthough the cover depicts a band – Zappa, Patrick O’Hearn, Terry Bozzio and Eddie Jobson – only Zappa and Bozzio actually play on the album. Presented as a sound collage, it is a little bit like flicking across the radio dial between Top 40 pap and ‘challenging’ soundscapes like The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny.īuy from Amazon (opens in new tab). ![]() For all that it ribs the Grateful Dead set, however, it also appealed to the same fan base and is as much a classic album of that era as Live Dead. The sleeve parodies The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album, while songs like Who Needs The Peace Corps? and Flower Punk burst the balloon of hippie hubris. Zappa’s best satirical work, mercilessly savaging the late- 60s flower-power culture. Superior (the albums that sealed Frank Zappa’s reputation) Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - We’re Only In It For The Money (1968) It was also one of the best bands Zappa ever worked with and included trumpeter Sal Marquez and George Duke on keyboards. It’s almost a continuation of the work he started on Hot Rats largely instrumental, with a heavy emphasis on brass and Zappa’s flowing guitar, it’s as close as he ever came to creating a straight jazz-rock album. Zappa once said of this and its predecessor, Waka/Jawaka: “They sold a few copies in Scandinavia.” Well, maybe Scandinavians know a masterpiece when they hear it.Īlthough it was recorded back-to-back with Waka/Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo is superior in every way. Opening with the sci-fi funk of Inca Roads, the album flits across art rock ( Evelyn, A Modified Dog), complex jazz rock instrumental ( Sofa No 1) and heavy rock (the amazing Can’t Afford No Shoes and San Berdino) it and fits in neatly as one of the best rock albums of the 70s.īuy from Amazon (opens in new tab). Packed with ideas, it’s a comparatively straightforward album and probably Zappa’s most accessible. Zappa’s mid-70s masterpiece, the rebirth of the Mothers, with fine cameo appearances from Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson and Captain Beefheart (uncredited for contractual reasons). From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. A polymath, Zappa incorporated ideas from the avant garde – he was an obsessive aficionado of the music of European pioneers Edgar Varese and Igor Stravinsky – as well as from free jazz, advertising, film scores and more into rock music.Īt a time when rock music was undergoing a revolution, the Mothers stood out from the hippie pack by dint of their cynicism, and Zappa’s experimental approach to the music that made the studio explorations of the Beatles seem tame by comparison. This band eventually became The Mothers Of Invention. In 1964 he joined local R&B band The Soul Giants as a guitarist. More seriously, he was also an articulate spokesman for everything from ending the levy on recording tape to doing battle with the forces of censorship in the US Congress.Īfter playing drums in various bands as a teenager, Frank Zappa relocated to LA where he worked in advertising and ran a studio. He was an uncompromising satirist, poking fun at both ‘square’ America and the hippie counter-culture with equal ferocity.
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