TROUT MASK REPLICA

Released back in 1969 this must have been a shock to those who heard it. Certainly with Zappa's involvment as Producer there was some attention directed towards this album for that reason alone. I remember buying a copy of this years ago and the guy who owned the record store commented that he never could get itno that one. Lots of people can't get into this one (haha). It was rated number one on Mojo's 50 Most Out There Albums of all time.That's saying something. Apparently the band practised these songs for a year before recording this album.

The negatives for me include the length at 79 minutes as well as the dissonance. Now I like dissonance but not All The Time !! And for 79 minutes ? Too much. The vocals are an acquired taste and I don't mind them but again it goes on for so long.The positives are certainly the lyrics which I think are brilliant and also the humour. I laughed right out loud at times. It's cool hearing the various sax and clarinet melodies. Or should I say non-melodies. 28 tracks over two vinyl albums back in the day, so yeah a lot of short tracks.This flows quite well though. Although "flow" might be the wrong word.This is turbulent folks. I'm not going to go through each track because I would be repeating myself over and over. There are some amazing songs here and I can't disagree with those who think this is a masterpiece. I also can appreciate those 1 and 2 star ratings.This isn't for everyone. For me I don't enjoy or appreciate it enough to offer up the fourth star, but maybe one day. 3.5 stars.