Frank Zappa, opinions?

Matthew T wrote:   If you get Lather don't bother with Sleep Dirt or Studio Tan as those albums were taken off Lather as The record company kicked up at the time about releasing a triple album and took those 2 off Lather which was not properly released to the arrival of cds

Die-hards ought to know that the songs featured on Lather are, by and large, different than the ones on the late 70s LPs. http://lukpac.org/~handmade/patio/vinylvscds/lather.html shows how some songs are longer, shorter, different mixes or different takes. Obsessives will likely revel in spotting the differences between the songs.

darkshade wrote: yea Zappa is awesome. Though you dont get the full treatment when you have him on shuffle if you like his jazzier albums, then go with Hot Rats One Size Fits All Roxy & Elsewhere Overnite Sensation Burnt Weeny Sandwich Apostrophe () Lather (3 discs though, youd wanna save this for when you're well acquainted) Zappa New York i didnt recommend ant early Mothers album, since it doesnt seem like the original poster could handle it

i missed a couple more jazzier albums!

Waka/Jawaka
The Grand Wazoo
Chunga's Revenge
Imaginary Diseases
Wazoo

Ricochet wrote: I'm improving my opinion about him nowadays (let's just say I hated him ), so far I have six very good albums noted down (We're Only In It For The Money, Hot Rats, Fillmore East, Roxy & Elsewhere, Zoot Allures & Joe's Garage), and the journey continues.

It's nice to see you have a change of heart. My work may have been slow, but it payed off.

el böthy wrote: He was the best. Period

Seconded.

He truly took music to another level, and not only in just a few albums, but in almost any of them!

Sadly his guitar playing is very overlooked. As a composer and song-writer he's the best, no doubt.

I used to be very indifferent about the man's music, but these days, I've warmed up to it quite a bit. I would recommend One Size Fits All for your starting point. Songs like "Po-Jama People" and "Andy" are absolute masterpieces as far as I am concerned.

^ I can only recommend Roxy & Elsewhere again. I think that if you enjoy listening to Peaches En Regalia, you'll definitely like that album, too. And yes, I'm talking about the whole album.

I love Zappa! Absolute genius. I have 45 discs, 3 DVDs, went to five shows and I've never been disappointed. AAAARRRRRRFFFFF!

I'm improving my opinion about him nowadays (let's just say I hated him ), so far I have six very good albums noted down (We're Only In It For The Money, Hot Rats, Fillmore East, Roxy & Elsewhere, Zoot Allures & Joe's Garage), and the journey continues. 

Edited by Ricochet - March 19 2009 at 12:52

I don't like certain tracks of his, but in general I love Zappa. I think his music is intelligent as well as fun, which is not a fantastically common combination! I won't pretend to own every album of his, though. That'd take some work...

I wasn't sure what to make of Zappa's music for a long time.  Eventually, I picked up Hot Rats and this got me interested.  Got Roxy sometime after that, and was hooked, though I felt like I only really liked his instrumental stuff.  The next thing I picked up was Lather, and I've been a fan ever since.  I'd almost suggest Lather as a great starting point, since it has everything and is presented in a way that Frank originally intended.  For me, having heard quite a lot of his other albums, Lather just sort of ties everything together.  However, it IS a huge hunk of challenging and diverse music, 3 1/2 hours worth!  But hey, were prog fans right, we love a challenge 

But yeah, he was a genius, one of the best composers EVER in my opinion.  But it took me literally years to come around to that viewpoint, and very careful and painstaking selection of albums to work my way into his vast catalog.  Some stuff still leaves me scratching my head (like Civilization Phase III), but there is so much good stuff it's almost hard to believe it's all the work of one man (and his incredibly talented and skilled hand picked musicians).