GUITAR

In the 80s Frank Zappa was making two very different kinds of music; on one hand he was making a weird mix of commercial music tinged with his excessive humor, as he had shown previously with Sheik Yerbouti, while on the other hand he was making instrumental music led by guitar solos in which the musicians on board, while very capable, there role was really just settle the rhythm and mood . Frank with 'Guitar', already obvious by the name of the album, is headed to the later of the mentioned previously, just like the trilogy of Shut Up N' Play Yer Guitar which was released earlier.

However, despite at how mediocre you think that this album may sound which is purely based on endless guitar solos and below Zappa's standards on the composition side, this album truly makes a place of it's own in Zappa's wide and diverse discography.

Obviously while having simple, yet effective, compositions, you won't find obvious standouts in which either complexity or top-notch musicianship is found, but still tunes like 'Sexual Harassment In The Workplace', 'Which One Is It?', 'Chalk Pie', 'Variations On Sinister #3', 'GOA', 'Winos Do Not March', 'Do Not Try This At Home' and 'Things That Look Like Meat' all present some grabbing and emotional guitar playing. However, I must recommend you to listen this album as a whole piece, not detracting from each track, if not all like one single long piece in which flows smoothly that'll chill you completely.

No, it doesn't match Roxy & Elsewhere and Zappa in New York in terms of complex composition and exceptional musicianship, but none of those two give such a chilling performance of Zappa's guitar for around 120 minutes. If you already have listened to the Shut Up N' Play Yer Guitar trilogy, either you liked it or not, this shouldn't be much of a worthy addition, but if you haven't listened to that yet, I would definitely recommend this as a damn great chilling experience, as well as to get another point of view from Zappa's versatility.

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