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These are the 10 best Frank Zappa albums you need in your collection.
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Questi sono i 10 migliori album di Frank Zappa di cui hai bisogno nella tua collezione.
In the history of pop music, not many artists have been as prolific as Frank Zappa. During his lifetime, the gonzo guitarist released 62 albums with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. After his death in 1994 of prostate cancer, the Zappa Family Trust continued where the Master of Invention himself had left off. Zappa’s 100th official album, Dance Me This, the final record completed by the composer before his death, was released in the summer of 2015. The 43 albums released posthumously make for a total of 105 albums.
More important than the quantity of Zappa’s discography, however, is its quality. Being a completely self-taught composer and performer, Zappa was one of the key figures in the breakdown of boundaries within popular music. His career did not only span three decades, it also united genres like rock, pop, jazz and classical music into one discography. While he initially rose to fame as member of the Mothers of Invention, it was clear from the start who was in charge. In fact, before Zappa came aboard, the collective was a R&B group called the Soul Giants. Zappa replaced guitarist David Coronado and insisted the band start playing his original material. The rest is – the cliché is true in this case – history, as this list of The 10 Best Frank Zappa Albums to Own on Vinyl proves.
Freak Out! (1966)
Compiling a Zappa collection, can be a tough task. To keep things from getting confusing right of the bat, let’s start at the beginning. The Mothers of Invention’s debut Freak Out! was simultaneously one of the first concept albums— a musical painting of Zappa’s perception of American pop culture— as well as one of the first rock double albums (Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde was released one week earlier). The post-modern Freak Out!, fused rhythm-and-blues, rock-‘n-roll, doo-wop and orchestral avant-garde arrangements, found Zappa managing to get the freak in himself out and opening the door to many other weirdos worldwide.
We’re Only In It for the Money (1968)
While Freak Out! would eventually become successful in the States, the record first and foremost made an impact in the United Kingdom and other European countries. Paul McCartney, for instance, regarded Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as the Beatles’ Freak Out!. Zappa, being a hardcore hippie hater, had none of this. The Mothers, in fact, spoofed the illustrious artwork of The Beatles’ album on the inside of their third record, We’re Only In It for the Money. For a guy who had a strong disliking of the psychedelic movement, Zappa showcased he possessed the skills for writing psychedelic music perhaps better than anyone else could at the time. His soberness while writing allowed Zappa to take a noticeably nuanced position in the socio-political debates of the Sixties. Humorously yet unmercifully, Zappa attacked the shallow absurdities of the hippie youth culture (“Flower Punk,” “Absolutely Free,” “Who Needs The Peace Corps?”) as well as the American authorities (“Mom & Dad,” “Bow Tie Daddy,” “What’s The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?”).
Hot Rats (1969)
Among other things, Hot Rats is Zappa’s first album recorded using sixteen-track technology. That’s not the only reason why the album marks a turning point in the guitarist’s career, though. Hots Rats was the first album Zappa created after the Mothers broke up. This change in circumstances, however, did not bring him to a standstill: it enabled him to dive head first into the jazz-inspired instrumentals that would become a core element of his most exciting work. With session contributions by jazz and blues luminaries like Shuggie Otis, Don “Sugarcane” Harris, Jean-Luc Ponty and Zappa’s childhood friend Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart (“Willie The Pimp”), Hot Rats is one of Zappa’s most focused forays into jazz, making it one of the records that even most non-Zappa fans enjoy.
Over-Nite Sensation (1973)
Throughout the second half of the sixties, Frank Zappa proved he could rightfully be called an overnight sensation. The moustached maestro was not planning on leaving the music industry as quickly as he had conquered it. In 1973, after releasing the jazz-oriented pair Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo, Zappa turned to a larger audience and launched into an altogether more commercial phase of his career with the release of Over-Nite Sensation. Perhaps the least weird thing about Over-Nite Sensation is that it features Tina Turner on backing vocals.
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