JOE'S GARAGE, ACTS I, II & III

Warning: This album contains jokes about: rebellion against the parents, children molestation by catholic priests, promiscuity, hardcore sex, venereal diseases and God knows what else. So, if you're a morally sensible person; get away of this album and never listen to it.

Frank Zappa was, and he still is a misunderstood character. He was gifted with an acid sense of humor and the ability to touch and twist the most sensible fibers of American Society. I'm not an American and I can feel that on every single record of his extensive career. Sometimes these hilarious satires found a nice, mostly amazing music to go with. "Joe's Garage" is the kiss and goodbye of this genius to the 1970's, and as usually Frank Zappa's perfectionism led him to hire some of the most impressive musicians for this triple play.

"Joe's Garage" does not repair on concessions, since "The Central Scrutinizer" to "A Little Rreen Rosetta" the album is a direct hit, always splashed with sarcasm, irony and nasty stories. Conceptually is far and far away from any other so- called "concept album" that was ever made before and now. A mixture of the blackest humor and a constant chain of crazy, silly events tore this album apart from all the alleged intellectualism Prog Rock was supposed to have. It's almost impossible to laugh out loud, and as the songs go by, it gets funnier and funnier (at least for me).

This history portrait our boy, Joe, as a rising star, some kind of local Rock & Roll Hero involved in troubles with everyone that surrounds him: his dad, his mom, the neighbors, the police, the band guys, the people at the local bar and the chicks. So you can imagine all those "Spinal Tap moments", a few years before that movie was even released.

Musically, the album is superb. Zappa crosses over a lot of styles in here. Any kind of music you can possibly imagine is on this album, we can have some funk, reggae, rock, avant-garde, psychedelia; absolutely anything you can think about. One of my favorite moments is the Rock journalism critics included on "Packard Goose" followed by one of the best guitar solos ever, "Watermelon in Easter Hay". This last one is one of the sweetest melodies that could ever have been written, where Zappa shows himself as a consumed guitar player leaving very drop of sweat, every piece heart and a big part of his soul on every single note. It's simply magical.

My rating: 4 Stars

Reason of my rating:

As I wrote before, the experimentation on this album is massive, not only about the styles that can be found, but also the sound exploration and of course, the execution is immaculate. Besides of that, we have to thank Frank Zappa all of his work, he was a guy that was always thinking on what to do next, he didn't keep anything for himself, or at least that's what it seems. Also we have to thank him the fact of pushing the boundaries of the moral control into Rock music and the corporate music industry. "Joe's Garage" is a real statement against all those powers to be. Big time!!!