HOT RATS

Hot Rats is simply a masterpiece. With Bitches Brew, Hot Rats invented fusion. For this album, Frank kind of stepped out of the studio, threw together a nasty, funkier band than the Mothers' and played gut-wrenching soloable compositions.

On a playing level, this band could probably not be touched at the time. You can hear this in Peaches en Regalia, which I think is the coolest, catchiest, and most brilliant instrumental of all time. It's the most known piece on the album, and it's incredibly put together.

Willie the Pimp features the gravelly Howlin' Wolf voice of Captain Beefheart taking the character of a selfish pimp, while the violin carries on with the main riff while Frank playing behind with his gritty distortion and eventually soloing over for a good 7 minutes or so, proving that Frank is serious with his guitar and this cat can PLAY. A pure jam session.

Son Of Mr. Green Genes on it's own represents why fusion was created. It takes the old style of composing a tune, and injects it with sickeningly heavy and funky playing. Mr. Green Genes started out on Uncle Meat, but it's definitely best represented here. Note the incredible playng by multi-instrumentalist virtuoso Ian Underwood on the keyboards and winds.

Little Umbrellas features that great upright bass riff that's often sampled. Another funky and heaily melodic tune, Little Umbrellas will probably be one of the coolest things you've ever heard.

The Gumbo Variations shows Ian Underwood blasting away on a sax over a terrific melody. A free-jazz inspired solo, I acually heard hints of a Buddy Rich sax player take from it at a live show. It's quite the lengthy piece but it's very cool.

It Must Be A Camel is an awesome album closer, the melody very tight and the composition beautiful.

I'd give this album 4.5 stars if I could because some of the pieces can be too long and repetitive, but it's all still amazingly cool, and it's an important history piece, being influential as it was for jazz-rock.