I've been wanting to get into some Frank Zappa. I gave him a shot many years ago when my musical taste was very limited. It didn't do anything for me. I think it was Hot Rats. I want to try him again. If there are any Zappa fans out there could you suggest a good starter CD ?

SHEIK YERBOUTI

MY FAVOURITE ALBUM

-----------------------------------------------------
Oh, give me the beat, boys, and free my soul
I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away

Try any of his greatest hits. Peaches En Regalla and Bobby Brown are worthy of a listen. The guy was an absolute genius. RIP

There is so much out there and he did so many different styles. Joe's Garage is a good starter, as is Sheik Yerbouti.

wow, good people around here, great to talk about frank zappa

my favourite album: overnight sensation!!!

roxy & elsewhere; zappa in new york .....
so many great albums

Over-Nite Sensation.
1973 album with alot of great songs - Dinah Moe Humm, Zomby Woof, Montana...

Sctricly comercial, a big hits Cd, it´s a "easy" beginning in the FZ world.

As Koen said, there is much to choose from, and much diversity in Frank's sound. "Shut up and Play Yer Guitar" is a nice set if you're mostly interested in his guitar playing. I would also recommend some Mothers of Invention stuff: Uncle Meat or Burnt Weeny Sandwich. Crazy stuff, but very inventive and some great jazz-rock playing. FZ was a hell of a guitarist.

Karl

"Hot Rats" is a brilliant album full of some really wonderful music.

It's hard just to pick 1 or 2 Zappa's albums but I'd start with these ones :
- Hot Rats
- Roxy & Elsewhere
- Overnite Sensation

Well, I started with We're only in it for the money and after that I bought all six volumes of You can't do that on stage anymore. That was about 9.5 years ago.

Now, I own almost all official Zappa-releases (about 80 cd's). And as you may be aware, my forum name is the title of a Zappa-song ;-)

Apostrophe (')

Sheik Yerbouti is another personal favourite

The Mothers Fillmore East June 1971 live album is also worth getting

x



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-09 02:55 by Beelyboy.

Lot's of good suggestions...."Apostrophe"is also good.

I think if you're starting to get into him you should go with his more commercial period. Which would be the great "Apostrophe", "Over Nite Sensation" and "One Size Fits All". That is a trio of excelltn albums.
There is a KILLER album called "Zoot Allures" that features "Black Napkins" with FZ burning the strings up. He also does the instrunemtal title track which is beautiful. "Wind up working in a gas station", "The Torture never stops" and "Wondertful Wino" are other good ones.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

out of my head Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been wanting to get into some Frank Zappa. I
> gave him a shot many years ago when my musical
> taste was very limited. It didn't do anything for
> me. I think it was Hot Rats. I want to try him
> again. If there are any Zappa fans out there could
> you suggest a good starter CD ?

Well, my overall fave Zappa album for MUSICIANSHIP is Burnt Weenie Sandwich...

Start there.

"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

Zappa was an amazing guy who could do it all - write, produce, play incredible guitar, put together and lead a band. Plus, he has some of the most wacked out music and lyrics ever and he never did any drugs or alcohol.

Sheik Yerbouti is one of the most accessible.
On the first one "Freak out" there's quite a few great rock songs. But also some freaking out.
Zappa was amazing. I saw him once during his last european tour. You might also try the "You can't do that on stage anymore.". Volume 1 is a good start there.
I'd go for Sheik Yerbouti, though.

Whale Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sheik Yerbouti is one of the most accessible.
> On the first one "Freak out" there's quite a few
> great rock songs. But also some freaking out.
> Zappa was amazing. I saw him once during his last
> european tour. You might also try the "You can't
> do that on stage anymore.". Volume 1 is a good
> start there.
> I'd go for Sheik Yerbouti, though.

Yes, start with Yerbouti and work your way up, just remember that you can't do that on stage anymore.

Sheik Yerbouti is both amazing and easy to listening to. The best decade (imo) is the 70'.
Waka Jawaka, Overnight Sensation, Apostrophé...
But the absolutely best one is (still my oponion) is Roxy and Elsewhere. Recorded live (with overdubs) but totally new and unreleased material.

i agree with thommie, i like his 70s output best too.
of course there were great tunes in the 60s and 80s.
hot rats was in the end 60s, wasn't it?
great record.
"i'm a little pimp", sung by captain beefheart.
i recall in those times before cd some zappa records
were very difficult to find and very expensive.
i never owned "hot rats" as a record.
it's difficult to give advices to a zappa-newcomer,
because the man did so many so different kinds of music.
what i sometimes disliked was the fact that someone that
could compose and play such great music sometimes wrote
so childish lyrics.
maybe in those days it was "anarchie", hard to imagine now.

Yeah Frank lives.
I was lucky enough to see him live 4 times which is three times more than I've seen the Stones.

I was at Hammersmith 79 & 82 and both Wembley shows in 88.

The problem for a beginner is the huge amount of stuff Frank released.....ie where to start ?

One of my personal faves is Crusin With Ruben & The Jets,FZ's doo wop homage.

Am I the only Burnt Weeny Sandwich fan ?

IMO that album had more MUSIC and less of the typical MOI "risque" dialogue... it's some of Frank's best guitarwork too.

"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

Get your head around "The Muffin Man".




"Some people prefer cup cakes. I for one care less for them."

Hey, I mentioned it too. Agreed, great album. Frank could "burn".

ONE SIZE FITS ALL
WE'RE IN IT ONLY FOR MONEY
STRICLY COMMERCIAL

Overnite sensation

Only Burnt Weeny Sandwich fan, BornOnTheBayou?

This one is my own personnal little "stereo tripping vinyl device": THE ONE THAT GETS ME THE OFF-EST"... almost down to tears!!

I didn't expect to see so many Zappa fans here suddenly, what a pleasant surprise!

Zappa and the Rolling Stones music, in general, don't have much in common, save maybe for the cynicism and wit.

Yes, I'd also say that the Sheik Yerbouti, One Size Fits All and Apostrophe recommendations are excellent ones, esp. since out of my head weren't too fond of Hot Rats back then. (Burnt Weeny is same era than Hot Rats BTW)

Zoot Allures is also a terrific rock-style pick! If you opt for Sheik and Zoot Allures and you "do" vinyl and CD, you owe it to yourself (and ironically even to Zappa) to go for the original US vinyl LPs: superior all the way to the best CD versions!!

Bongo Fury, still in the bluesier vein, is a live Mothers set with Captain Beefheart: spine tingling good, hi-fi & loud!!

Right, Overnite Sensation should be in there too (mid-period Zappa): heavy and funky (with uncredited Tina Turner as BU vocalist)!
The CD version of that one is real OK though.

It's amazing to meet some fans of F.Z.'s great work even here!!!

I had the pleasure to attend one of the few shows "ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA" some weeks ago at the tempodrome in Berlin.


Frank's son Dweezil performed a l l the highlights of FZ-songs and tunes during a 3 1/2 hours-show, accompanied by excellent musicians and - what a thrill - grandmaster Napoleon Murphy Brock (FZ's Singer/Saxophone Player during the seventies) sang most of the tunes with incredible fun and spirit.
Steva Vai and Terry Bozzio joined for the second set while the audience went nuts!
If any die-hard fans are interested -


Here's the setlist (check the wonderful site "www.zappa.com".)


Intro:
Footage from ”The ROXY DVD”: ”Montana” and ”Dupree’s Paradise”

First set:
Help I’m a Rock
Hungry Freaks Daddy
Let’s Make the Water turn Black
Florentine Pogen
Pygmy Twylite
The Idiot Bastard Son
Cheepnis
King Kong (incl. riffs from Titties 'n beer,Filthy Habits and The Pink Panter theme)
Don’t Your Eat the Yellow Snow
St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast
Father O'Blivion
Inca Roads
Imaginary Diseases

Intermission

Second set:

I’m So Cute
Tryin’ To Grow A Chin
City of Tiny Lites
Punky’s Whips
The Black Page (drumsolo)
The Black Page #2
Peaches En Regalia
Montana
Village of the Sun
Echinda’s Arf
Zomby Woof
Sofa #2

Encores:
Camarillo Brillo
The Orange County Lumber Truck
More Trouble Every Day
A Token of His Extreme (outtro)