JOE'S GARAGE, ACTS I, II & III

The 'Joe's Garage' trilogy was my first real introduction to the wonderful world of Frank Zappa. I didn't like it then so much as I do now, but it keeped growing on me, and now it's one of my personal favorites by him. Backed up with an excellent theme of musicians, including Vinnie Colaiuta, Tommy Mars and Arthur Barrow, this is one of Zappa's most well-constructed and tightest releases! Clocking in at 115 minutes, this album featuring almost every music genre out there, including reggae, pop, fusion and avant-garde influences not unlike his early days. The tracks are extremely well-produced and the music keep's the listener interested through the whole album. Act's 2 & 3 mostly contains guitar solo oriented songs with some really great intros to them.

The lyrics are incredible funny on the whole album, telling the story about Joe, who plays in a garage band and get's in trouble with the police because the neighbours are complaining that they play too loud. Then, he get's throwed in jail because he "plooks" a robot (when he finds out the his girlfriend, Mary, have cheated on him) so hard that it get's destroyed. When he get's out of prison, all music have become illegal and Joe turns nuts and begin working on a muffin kitchen. Lot's of hilarious details lurking in all of the lyrics makes this album even better than it already is.

The reason I give this album only 4 stars is because a couple of the songs could have been better. "A Little Green Rosetta", for example. A funny track, but not as good as most of the other stuff. Otherwise, this album is essentail for you in your FZ collection! It's a very acessible album, but you must spend some time on it so it can grow on you completely, though.

Favorite tracks: Crew Slut, Wet T-Shirt Nite, Stick It Out, Dong Work For Yuda, Keep It Greasey, Outside Now, Watermelon in Easter Hay.

Personal rating: 4.5/5