Frank Zappa in 10 Songs
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The post Frank Zappa in 10 Songs appeared first on Consequence.
This feature was originally published in August 2012, but we’re dusting it off for Zappa’s birthday on December 21st.
Ever felt overwhelmed by an artist’s extensive back catalog? Been meaning to check out a band, but you just don’t know where to begin? In 10 Songs is here to help, offering a crash course and entry point into the daunting discographies of iconic artists of all genres. This is your first step toward fandom. Take it.
You’re a Serious Music Fan. You like artists who have a “Genius With a Capital G” tag affixed to them. You’re looking to immerse yourself in the world of a composer who will always keep you guessing, a musician who gave great interviews, broke new ground every time his or her feet touched the floor, and has a catalog so densely packed that it would make even Robert Pollard blush. In such a case, it’s clear that you can no longer avoid it: You need Frank Zappa in your life.
But with roughly a hundred catalog albums credited to his name, where on Earth do you start? You’ve heard that Freak Out is amazing, you know that “Valley Girl” song that he did with his daughter, but you also know that there’s some crazy instrumental work mixed in with soundtracks to unfinished theater shows about genetic experimentation, and you’re terrified that you’ll jump into the wrong end of the pool.
Frank Zappa can be a bizarre and challenging artist for newcomers, but we can help. We humbly submit to you a playlist of ten Zappa songs that won’t immediately alienate a beginner. This list o’ tunes is geared to show you some of his material that wouldn’t have been terribly out of place on any radio playlist of its time. Before you can say “secret word,” you’ll be tracking down original mono versions of We’re Only in It for the Money, just like those other Zappateers.
Check it out below, and scroll to the end for a Spotify playlist of all 10 tracks.
— Marc With a C
“Hungry Freaks, Daddy”
Album: Freak Out!
Label: Verve Records
Year: 1966
Why not begin with the first track on Zappa’s first album fronting The Mothers Of Invention? This song lays the foundation for a large portion of FZ’s work from this time period, glorifying the strange personalities of the Laurel Canyon freaks (and in this case, specifically the legendary L.A. freak Carl Franzoni), people not afraid to be a bit out there and yet still far removed from the media’s upcoming portrayal of the hippie counterculture. A great little song that was likely misunderstood as an anthem-of-sorts for the multitudes of dropouts descending on Haight Ashbury, it’s one that wouldn’t be out of place on a playlist full of Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service tunes.
“Concentration Moon”
Album: We’re Only in It for the Money
Label: Verve Records
Year: 1968
But don’t go inserting these tunes in your Summer Of Love playlists just yet. Zappa was openly critical of the “Let’s get high and have a sit-in” types, as well as the inhumane treatment that law enforcement bestowed upon them. FZ wasn’t the type to write a pamphlet, instead coating his views with the great harmonies heard here, plus more than just a little bit of weirdness courtesy of inserted spoken interludes from engineer Gary Kellgren and Mothers drummer Jimmy Carl Black.
“Stuff Up The Cracks”
Album: Cruising with Ruben and the Jets
Label: Verve Records
Year: 1968
In a rather anachronistic move for 1968, Zappa and his band of Mothers made a relatively straightforward record that could be seen as a love letter to the then-bygone days of doo-wop and teenage love songs. Said album comes complete with a story of the fictitious Ruben & The Jets, and the presentation was so effective that numerous radio DJs spun the tracks thinking that they had nothing at all to do with Zappa, despite this particular song being about a jilted lover taking his own life via gas-induced suicide (complete with sound effects). And dig that tasty guitar solo in the outro!
“Peaches En Regalia”
Album: Hot Rats
Label: Bizarre Records
Year: 1969
While this choice may be a bit obvious to the hardcore Zappa fanatic, one cannot discount the effective majesty of this instrumental based on enduring popularity alone. Complete with bubbling organs and some amazing clarinet work courtesy of Ian Underwood, “Peaches” makes as good of an argument for Zappa’s instrumental compositions as any other track you can name.
“Dirty Love”
Album: Over-Nite Sensation
Label: DiscReet Records
Year: 1973
On first glance, this number from Zappa’s exceptional Over-Nite Sensation record might seem full of uncharacteristic swagger, but closer inspection reveals it to be from the perspective of a narrator trying to convince a potential partner that some good ol’ fashioned lovin’ is in order. And since the recipient’s mother has allegedly had relations with a poodle, how bad can it really be? A funky groove permeates as a welcome spoonful of sugar to the sinister medicine of “Dirty Love.”
“Cheepnis”
Album: Roxy & Elsewhere
Label: DiscReet Records
Year: 1974
This live track is culled from one of Zappa’s best-loved periods. Not only does it offer a glimpse into his penchant for “conceptual continuity” with continued nods to poodles, but you’re also getting into a bit of the monster movie mythology that Zappa loved so dearly and referenced quite often. The shared lead vocals on “Cheepnis” are delivered courtesy of Zappa and Napoleon Murphy Brock, who frame the constantly shifting, frenetic music in seemingly effortless fashion.
“Inca Roads”
Album: One Size Fits All
Label: DiscReet Records
Year: 1975
One Size Fits All is the go-to mid-period album for many Zappa obsessive types, and with guitar gymnastics like those like the ones found in “Inca Roads,” it’s hard to argue otherwise. In many ways, “Inca Roads” is the gold standard by which much of Zappa’s career can be analyzed, touching on many of the musical directions that he is best loved for, all intersecting together in this nine-minute epic.
“Watermelon In Easter Hay”
Album: Joe’s Garage
Label: Zappa Records
Year: 1979
You can call Frank Zappa’s work many things, but one of the adjectives you’ll rarely hear attached to his compositions is “pretty.” This sparkling tune, which appears late in the Joe’s Garage concept album, turns that allegation on its head, and it’s a welcome and surprising change of pace in the densely-packed story that otherwise involves sexually transmitted diseases, groupies, and appliance fetishism.
“Dumb All Over”
Album: You Are What You Is
Label: Barking Pumpkins Records
Year: 1981
This seemingly stream-of-consciousness rant from the criminally underrated You Are What You Is album spends equal time skewering holy wars and televangelism. This particular performance of the track is actually taken from the 1981 Halloween MTV broadcast, making the delivery of the subject matter even more biting than it was on the original recording.
“Any Kind Of Pain”
Album: Broadway the Hard Way
Label: Barking Pumpkin Records
Year: 1988
Around 1988, a good portion of Zappa’s lyrics had been devoted to an almost cartoonish disdain for pop culture, organized religion and politics, but in the case of “Any Kind Of Pain,” if you’re not really paying close attention, you could be forgiven at first glance for mistaking this tune for an outtake from the soundtrack of the 1987 film Mannequin. Masterfully sung by longtime Zappa cohort Ike Willis, this one encapsulates some of the best things about the later-period FZ material: self-referential and often sounding very much like the very items and notions that Zappa is taking to task.
Marc With a C is a lo-fi recording artist and also hosts a record geek podcast called The Real Congregation for Nerdy Show.
Frank Zappa in 10 Songs
Marc with a C
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