The one with Frank Zappa in it

[Deke]

Am I allowed to vote in my own poll?...

[Gentle Giant]

Thought you referring to the Monkees episode that Zappa appears in the intro to. He and Mike and dressed as each other, and proceed to give nipple-twisters to the Monkees' image. Then, Mike conducts Zappa in smashing a car to the tune of "Mother People."

[Gentle Giant]

His later work gets poo-pooed, but I'm a big fan of Sheik Yerbouti and Zappa in New York.

[Deke]

Originally Posted by Gentle Giant

Thought you referring to the Monkees episode that Zappa appears in the intro to. He and Mike and dressed as each other, and proceed to give nipple-twisters to the Monkees' image. Then, Mike conducts Zappa in smashing a car to the tune of "Mother People."

I always figured that episode should have launched both acts onto each other's fan base, but then, I'm always a bit simplistic and hopeful...

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't convince any of my weekend hippie mates that The Monkees post-Kirshner were pretty good, and 'Head' was great. They wouldn't listen, to me or the albums. Meanwhile my sister was trying to turn her friends on to Zappa... Yeah, like that was going to happen.

Although they did pretend while I was in the room.

[Dr Dave]

I thought this was the one with Zappa in it?

[jeff54]

I know everyone else most likely hates them but I liked the 2 albums with Flo & Eddie

Waka-Jawaka/The best band you never heard in your life

Oh my.

Thats one HELL of a period!!!! 16 years, give or take.

So I guess I'll have to go with that one.

[AntManBee]

Choosing between early Mothers and Hot Rats, I settled for Hot Rats since it's probably the one Zappa album I like the best. Also, it has Willie the Pimp featuring Beefheart and that's an important fact. Dividing his career into periods early Mothers attracts me more as a phenomenon than the early 70's though.

[LeMo]

Cit: Waka/Jawaka/ The best band you never heard in your life.

Not quite. But my favorite period of Zappa with the early Mothers.
I never like "Hot Rats" even if I'm a HUGE fan of Beefheart.
I much prefer "King Kong", the only listenable disc that Ponty ever makes.

[LeMo]

Deke, why don't you make a poll with the albums of Zappa?

[moneyp]

Originally Posted by LeMo

Deke, why don't you make a poll with the albums of Zappa?

'Cause it would take up the whole page!

I'm with AntManBee. Hot Rats slightly over early Mothers with a nod towards everything except Flo and Eddie and the classical stuff.

Originally Posted by LeMo

Deke, why don't you make a poll with the albums of Zappa?

Actually, I believe that BFrank did that earlier this year.

Here you go, LeMo:

FZ Poll

FZ Poll - Round 2

FZ Poll - Final

[Alastair]

I voted "none of it". I have a real blind spot with Zappa - I've listened to stuff from all different eras and at best I'm indifferent to it. At worst I downright hate the self-satisfied smugness of his work.

[Steve Reynolds]

didn't even like the album with the great man (Van Vliet) on it


compared to the Captain, he was nothing


best thing he ever did was let the boys make the greatest rock album of all time in 1969 - Trout Mask Replica


maybe a blind spot - but I always heard him as all flash, schtick and buffoonery

[Brian Olewnick]

Nah, 'Hot Rats' still cooks. FZ's solo on 'Willie the Pimp' is one of the best I've ever heard in rock outside of Hendrix. And Sugarcane Harris kills on "The Gumbo Variations".

[GoodSpeak]

ONE SIZE FITS ALL, bay-bee.

[BFrank]

Well........there you have it. EXACTLY what Goodie said. That's the period of FZ that rocks the box. All the George Duke years albums are worth getting - "Overnight Sensation", "Waka/Jawaka", "Roxy & Elsewhere", "Apostrophe", "Bongo Fury" (with the Capt.), etc., etc....

BTW, Flo & Eddie were also on "Chunga's Revenge".

[GoodSpeak]

What BFrank said

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Steve Reynolds

compared to the Captain, he was nothing

Amen! I'm sick of seeing their names linked together. Zappa was a mean guitar soloist but everything else he did put me to sleep. And yes I've heard whatever album you Zappa fans think will change my mind.

[Jon Abbey]

Originally Posted by Brian Olewnick

FZ's solo on 'Willie the Pimp' is one of the best I've ever heard in rock outside of Hendrix.

please, Brian, either listen to more rock music or stop making broad sweeping statements about the genre.

I still have a bunch of Zappa CDs, but I got most of them for free when I worked at Time, and I wouldn't defend any of them as being especially good. and obviously he pales in a huge way when compared to Beefheart, that seems to almost go without saying. I'm with Alastair and Reynolds on this.

[lazarus]

I love all Zappa albums up to "Hot Rats". After that I´m skeptical but I like some of it. The trilogy of "Overnight Sensation, "Apostrophe (´)" and "Roxy & Elsewhere" is ok with me and I also like "The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life" and "Make A Jazz Noise Here".
Also parts of "Waka Jawaka", "Grand Wazoo", "Shut Up And Play You Guitar", "Perfect Stranger" and some more.

I think most rockartists pales compared to Beefheart so of course I agree that the Captain is the greater one of the two. But that does not have to mean that Zappa sucks. He definitively did not suck. In his glory days he was one of the best. Totally unique and extremely talented.

Nowadays it´s not very political correct to like him but back in the 60´s he was one of the hippest around. In the 70´s and 80´s his output was extremely uneven but it was always interesting to check him out and it was fun to have him around.

[BFrank]

When music sucked in the mid-70's, FZ was an incredible breath of fresh air. Maybe you just had to "be there".

[Jon Abbey]

Originally Posted by BFrank

When music sucked in the mid-70's, FZ was an incredible breath of fresh air. Maybe you just had to "be there".

Can, Funkadelic, the Stooges, Bob Marley and the Wailers, some of the greatest bands of all time were at their peak in the early to mid seventies. Mr. Zappa isn't qualified to eat their yellow snow.

I'm with Ian Penman:

http://www.thewire.co.uk/archive/essays/zappa.html

first sentence: "For the pop life of me, I cannot see why anyone past the age of 17 would want to listen to Frank Zappa again, never mind revere him as a deep and important artist, never mind worship at the tottering edifice of his recollected, remastered and repackaged works."

[Nick]

Nice article. The last sentence is my favorite.

"He was a jack-off of all trades, and master of none."

[Oger]

Originally Posted by Brian Olewnick

Nah, 'Hot Rats' still cooks. FZ's solo on 'Willie the Pimp' is one of the best I've ever heard in rock outside of Hendrix. And Sugarcane Harris kills on "The Gumbo Variations".

And what about Tom Verlaine/Marquee Moon and/or Robert Quine/Blank Generation ?

[Jesse]

I haven't understood the Zappa fan fanaticism since I was 16. When I was 16, I had "Freak Out", and Zappa actually linked me to Varese, which I've owned since. Also, it was following the Bizarre label that linked me to "Trout Mask Replica." Yes, I have heard much since then, having a pal 20 years ago who played me what he regarded as the creme de la creme shit. It was all, to me, puerile and really self-indulgent stuff. I think Zappa enjoyed a career as an avantist, and many of his fans bought this, as avant tourists. The more contemporary equivalent might be the Skinny Puppy fans who cross over to Borbetomagus and feel hip. Or, where I live, the Sonic Youth fans who show up at Charles Gayle gigs.
I also think, inarguably, that many fans dig his git work,and zaniness. I cannot see merit in his "classical"" stuff (more tourism and fronting, to me).
Plus, I cannot imagine liking the guy, if a chance encounter were to result in conversation. He seemed too debunking of everything else to make a genuine conversation (without fan obesiance) possible.

[john williams]

Lazarus: I appreciate your balanced view of Zappa. The Penman article was somewhat accurate but mostly just plain nasty. I never thought Zappa was wholly misogynist either, he seemed to have utter contempt for both sexes at their stupidest.

Zappa was a terrific melodicist as evidenced on earlier Mother's albums like Uncle Meat in particular, but also Weasels..., Lumpy Gravy and We're Only In It For The Money. He may not be "THE BEST" guitar player ever and it seems silly to compare him to other guitarists, however, many of his solos were notably coherent and brilliantly constructed. It's a little odd that Penman sought to tear down Zappa so completely whilst making wild sweeping assumptions about his listeners, particularly as Zappa had considerable talent and his fans are a very mixed bunch. I will make the caveat that I thought Zappa was too easily distracted by the smutty stuff which got quite boring, however, his entire career is peppered with great music.

My top 14 (couldn't stop at 10) fwiw.

Uncle Meat
Burnt Weeny Sandwich
Weasels Ripped My Flesh
Hot Rats
Apostrophe
Roxy And Elsewhere
Bongo Fury
One Size Fits All
Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar
Boulez Conducts Zappa
You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol II (The Helsinki Concert)
Make A Jazz Noise Here
The Yellow Shark
FZ:OZ

[AntManBee]

The Wire article reflects a couple of my personal opinions on a lot of Zappa's voluminous work, especially his continous ironic sneers at everything. He (Zappa) keeps telling us what he doesn't like but rarely what would be better in the place of what he dislikes. That's one of the reasons why I appreciate Hot Rats so much. That's an album where I think Zappa sounds a little more "soulful" than usually. That said, I do think the article is unnecessarily mean-spirited, and the digs at Zappa's fans are no better than the irony and put-downs he accuses Zappa himself of. The article looks more like a personal vendetta, the product of something that has been building up for years and now (in 1995 to be more precise) he got an excuse to ventilate his irritation.

Edit: Regarding the Zappa vs. Beefheart thing - if I was to choose between the two I'd take Beefheart but I can't see why I can't have both.

Edit #2: Seems like JBW already stated several of my points above.

[AntManBee]

Originally Posted by JBW

I never thought Zappa was wholly misogynist either, he seemed to have utter contempt for both sexes at their stupidest.

True.

Originally Posted by JBW

Roxy And Elsewhere

That's another one I like a lot.

Originally Posted by JBW

Bongo Fury

This is one I, oddly enough, don't like very much. Despite Beefheart's involvement, I think this is a less than successful effort.