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- 5 de Ene, 2023
Have you tried the instrumental albums? (Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar)
The Frank Zappa Thread
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- 12 de Sep, 2021
At first I was really into his humourous stuff like Joe's Garage but nowadays when I listen to Zappa I tend to listen to his instrumental stuff. It is undeniable that he was a genius composer. The Grand Wazoo and Waka/Jawaka are amazing fusion albums, and Eat That Question has one of my favorite guitar riffs of all time. Roxy and Elsewhere also has some great instrumentals. Pygmy Twylyte, Echidna's Arf, and Don't You Ever Wash That Thing are god-tier. RDNZL from Studio Tan is also amazing and has one of my favorite Zappa solos during the mid section. And of course, Hot Rats has some iconic ones like Peaches En Regalia.
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- 23 de Ene, 2024
His instrumental stuff is his creative zenith for sure, as it really lets him show off his skills as composer, and his might as a guitarist, but still lets him experiment and do the crazy shit that he enjoyed doing. I will add though that I also enjoy his more straight forward rock and roll pieces too, but I'm just biased because that's the sort of stuff I was raised on. Good example of this is 'Camarillo Brillo' which is more streamlined, but still a little raunchy and humorous. And those trumpets that kick in for the last part of the song never get old. The only rock song I've seen do horns that good is Fleetwood Mac with 'Tusk.'
- Registrado
- 12 de Sep, 2021
Oh for sure, his rock stuff is great too. He was great at creating catchy riffs and melodies while still making them complex and interesting. Overnite Sensation has a lot of good examples of this. I really like the melody from I'm The Slime in particular.
!Felid_Transmuter!?
kiwifarms.net
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- 22 de Ene, 2020
I forced Zappa on my husband and got him to eventually see the light on his genius. First album I heard was the first Mothers when I was in high school. I sing an amended version of "Yo Mama" to my kids. One of my current favorites is "Uncle Remus". Not many musicians can successfully pull off multiple genres like he did. You can definitely see that he influenced Weird Al with his more comedic albums.
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- 28 de Dic, 2014
There's a Zappa thread? And yes, Peaches En Regalia is one of the best songs ever.
- Registrado
- 9 de Dic, 2017
Shoutout to Bobby Martin, keyboardist, who provided backing vocals for Zappa’s band. I’ve always loved this live version of Stairway to Heaven. Ike Willis does a great job, and then Bobby Martin absolutely slays the outro. What a legend.
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- 3 de Oct, 2022
Jazz From Hell is one of my main jams, also that Apostrophe/Overnight Sensation two-pack
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- 28 de Dic, 2014
In other Zappa (mostly) instrumental work, you probably won't be surprised Hot Rats is big on my list, even though I'd originally gotten into him as a teenager because of his edgy shitlord lyrics and his attacks on scumbags like Tipper Gore.
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- 9 de Dic, 2017
Willie The Pimp just randomly played and it prompted me to listen to every live version of Peaches En Regalia and Watermelon in Easter Hay.
On that note, has anyone been to one of Dweezil’s Zappa Plays Zappa shows? I have the opportunity to go see the performance as I’ll be in one of the touring cities in August. I ask because I’ve seen Queen with Adam Lambert, and where the show was awesome, it wasn’t really Queen… if that makes sense.
On that note, has anyone been to one of Dweezil’s Zappa Plays Zappa shows? I have the opportunity to go see the performance as I’ll be in one of the touring cities in August. I ask because I’ve seen Queen with Adam Lambert, and where the show was awesome, it wasn’t really Queen… if that makes sense.
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- 28 de Dic, 2014
This is Zappa in 1963 on the Steve Allen show, where he basically tricked him to get on the show by claiming to be an expert in playing the bicycle as a musical instrument, then admitted he'd only started doing it two weeks ealier.
He plays it completely deadpan, though, and did he have any earlier appearances in pop culture?
One of my favorite bits of this is he mentions his wife at the time (he did actually have one) and Steve Allen is astounded that he has a wife.
He plays it completely deadpan, though, and did he have any earlier appearances in pop culture?
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- 9 de Dic, 2017
I just listened to the entirety of Broadway the Hard Way. Awesome live album. ‘Any Kind of Pain’ is an incredible song. I’ve had the LP in my collection for years and never listened to it before. I’d recommend it.
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- 19 de Abr, 2025
I love me some Zappa from time to time, and I’d have to say my favorite albums from him are Hot Rats, Apostrophe, Reuben and the Jets, Joe’s Garage Acts I-III, and Sheik Yerbouti. These might be basic choices, but these are the albums I’ve listened to from him that I think are excellent. Also love his live work in the early 70’s, amazing output there.
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- 20 de Ago, 2022
I'm LATE and GAY but yes I went to a Dweezil show with my dad a few months back. Apart from a couple of broccoli boys who might've been lost, I was probably the youngest person in attendance. Lots of gray farts wearing 40 year old tour shirts showing up high as kites.
To be completely honest, I'm not all that much of a Zappa fan and as such, I'm not all that good of a judge of how well the band performed in regard to staying true to the original material. His stuff is the musical equivalent of a shitpost which I can appreciate, though it doesn't do it for me personally. As a (shitty) guitar player, I've always appreciated the technical musicianship of the various Zappa acts and Dweezil's band showed up, especially this young kid he had playing guitar. Really on point.
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- 28 de Dic, 2014
That really mostly applies to his lyrics, with his actual composition skills being through the roof. Example: Peaches en Regalia and pretty much anything from Hot Rats. I originally was attracted to Zappa because of his edgy shitpost lyrics and didn't really get his instrumental stuff but I've come to appreciate the latter a lot more.
- Registrado
- 9 de Dic, 2017
Drumeo, a pretty great channel if you’re into drumming, had an excellent interview with former Zappa drummer Chad Wackerman who delved into what it was like to be in the Zappa live band.
Fascinating stuff. The video is annotated so you can get to the interview bits easily.
Fascinating stuff. The video is annotated so you can get to the interview bits easily.
spider_expert
kiwifarms.net
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- 6 de Nov, 2021
Might be an unpopular opinion but I think the era you're describing is when Frank was at his peak. The combination of very, very talented musicians congregating around frank while he is just.. Confidently shitposting with his mouth and guitar - is in my opinion pretty unique and appealing from a listeners point of view.
Apostrophe is probably his most well rounded album and there are a bunch of great songs on there. He put out alot of good albums though, including earlier stuff. My personal favourite might be picrel. The session musicians are having a blast in this one- trying to one up eachother and Frank aswell.
Peaches en regalia, cosmic debris, camarillo brillo, sy borg, lucille has messed my mind up and so many more absolute gems. The man left a legacy to say the least. Shame his favourite vegetable was tobacco or we might have gotten a couple more apostrophes.
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- Registrado
- 9 de Dic, 2017
Like Queen, I feel Zappa’s best outings are live. When I want some Zappa and I don’t know what to pick, any of the You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore volumes on the streaming services are top. Tinseltown Rebellion is great if you don’t like listening to 40 minutes of Steve Vai guitar noodling in each song (I don’t and it’s great. Pick Me, I’m Clean is a top tier song)
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- 28 de Dic, 2014
I don't know much of his live stuff personally, but secondhand, I did know a couple people who worshipped the dude and constantly followed his shows around, and he would either deliver a phenomenal god-tier performance, or deliberately piss off the audience (sometimes both at once), or be completely disinterested and deliver crappy, blase performances because he didn't even care about the audience.
I was initially sucked into Zappa at about 12 because he was edgy and said naughty no-no words, and couldn't even understand his instrumental shit, because I was a dumb kid. It wasn't until I was in my 20s that I realized he was an actual genius and shit like Peaches was the real shit.
"Mixolydian is pure love." Zappa.
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- 3 de Abr, 2021
Most of the solos in his studio albums are snippets from live recordings. He stated that you can never match the feel of a guitar solo in studio compared to live. He also made sure to record almost everything he did live, hence why new unheard live albums are still coming out. He was a mega autist with archiving that shit.