HOT RATS

I am going to rate myself a 1 on this going in. I believe I have heard at least some versions of tracks 1-2. I am a bit of a Zappa fan, but I am more familiar with the stuff from Overnite Sensation/Apostrophe and afterward. So, this is a somewhat new experience for me.

Track 1 - Peaches En Regalia

Yeah, definitely have heard this one. A bit of Zappa-Fusion. Nice tight playing as a band. Ian Underwood is featured here on the horn parts as well as the keyboard parts. Great tune. Well-arranged.

Track 2 - Willie the Pimp

So here we have Don "Captain Beefheart" Van Fleit on vocals. A bit of a blues rock fest. Don "Sugarcane" Harris on electric violin as well as Zappa's lead guitar fills. Max Bennett and John Guerin are a tight rhythm section with the mayhem on top. Zappa takes a highly extended guitar solo. We close with Zappa and "Sugarcane" restating the main riff from the beginning. So, Captain Beefheart had a short day at work, didn't he, only doing one verse at the beginning.

Track 3 - Son of Mr. Green Genes

A bit of a soul/R&B flavor here in the rhythm section for the opening. Zappa has really orchestrated the parts here. A short guitar solo separates sections of the tune. A longer solo is happening at around the 4-minute mark. There is a riff for a moment at around 6:00 into the track that sounds like Come Together. I know Abbey Road, and this are both from 1969, but not sure which came out first. We have a new melody at round 8:00 that closes the track. Good tune.

Track 4 - Little Umbrellas

Upright double bass?Time for some "cool jazz." Even the organ part exudes that feel. Ian Underwood gets to shine again on the keyboard parts. Has this ever been done by high school or college jazz ensembles? It should.

Track 5 - The Gumbo Variations

The longest track on the album starts with a clean guitar riff with sax blowin' over the top. Once again Underwood is featured, this time on a Sax solo. Sugarcane takes a very long violin solo starting at around 4 minutes. There are some funky guitar rhythms happening underneath, not sure if it's Frank or Lowell George (from Little Feat) playing it. Zappa takes over on lead starting around 8:45 (so it was a nearly 5-minute-long violin solo). Interesting that he titled this as "Variations" as there doesn't seem to be a lot of variation. At around 10:00 the drums and then bass are featured. It's all out chaos with everyone soloing together at the 11 minute or so mark. The big finish begins with around 40 seconds left.

Track 6 - It Must Be a Camel

The jazzy feel continues with a lot of drum fills underneath piano and bass in the intro. Harmonized sax parts take the melody. Then some oddly effected keyboard parts. The tempo picks up around 2:30 (roughly halfway through). Zappa's lead guitar follows. Lots of round robin fills for a moment, before we have a drum solo. Jean Luc-Ponty is supposed to appear on this track, but I didn't notice him.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

Not bad but not my favorite Zappa album. It's really more Jazz Fusion than prog for me with the possible exception of Willie the Pimp. I am surprised that this is the only Zappa on the countdown. 3.5 out of 5 stars.