Frank Zappa CD's & DVD's

Best known for the infamous "Dinah-Mo-Hum"--a tale of sexual depravity and bovine perspiration--Over-Nite Sensation is a flawlessly executed collection of jazz-rock Frank Zappa classics. The seven-song set, which includes backup vocals by Tina Turner and the Ikettes, equally showcases Zappa's unique penchant for story-telling and the abilities of his studio-musician sidemen.

Zappa's guitar work is some of his finest, flaring up on "I'm the Slime", "Zomby Woof" and "Montana".

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Hot Rats - Frank Zappa's first solo album, Hot Rats is a far-cry from the da-da adventures and audio collages of the original Mothers of Invention. Mostly instrumental and filled with long jams between Zappa, Jean-Luc Ponty and Ian Underwood, this slickly-produced album--one of the first 16 track recordings made is filled with hummable tunes. 

The opening track, "Peaches en Regalis" is one of Zappa's most enduring songs and the album's only vocal track.  "Willie The Pimp" is by Zappa's long-time friend Don Van Vliet, a.k.a. Captain Beefheart.

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Zappa in New York: A double-CD set, recorded live in New York City at the end of 1976. Heavy on, well, "freewheeling" lyrical content, with "Titties & Beer" and "The Illinois Enema Bandit" (the latter featuring "sophisticated narration" by Don Pardo) being special favorites with young males of a certain age.

Also here is the song that gets most people's vote for the best title ever to grace a Zappa instrumental, "I Promise Not To Come In Your Mouth".

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Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar: Guitar solos and nothing but. Meticulously culled and assembled by Zappa from live recordings made between 1979 and 1980, this three part set features some of the most dynamic and musical guitar work recorded anywhere by anyone.

From the rhythmically dazzling "five-five-FIVE" to the unique lyricism of the three title tracks, Zappa proves beyond doubt that he belongs among the most elite of rock's guitar virtuosos.  The remarkable interplay between Zappa and Vinnie Colaiuta - some consider this to be the drummers best work - makes this album among the most memorable.

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The pinnacle of his jazz-rock work of the early '70s, One Size Fits All boasts some of the most memorable songs of Frank Zappa's career performed by one of the most beloved Mothers of Invention lineups ever assembled.

This cast of musicians' musicians--including George Duke, Ruth Underwood, and Johnny "Guitar" Watson - blasts through the groovy sci-fi world of Inca Roads, the hypercharged blues rock of "Pajama People" the lounge majesty of "Sofa" and concert mainstays like "San Ber'dino" and "Florentine Pogan".  An intergral part of any Zappa collection.

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Zoot Allures: Frank Zappa's version of a basic stripped-down rock record; uncomplicated and completely compelling.

Alongside sharp satirical tracks like "Disco Boy" and "Wind Up Workin' in a Gas Station" (which launched the onstage chant "Show me your thumb if you're really dumb") come between-the-eyes instrumentals like "Black Napkins", "Friendly Little Finger" and the title track.  This disc is also the home of "The Torture Never Stops" a doomsaying blues unlike anything else in the Zappa catalogue.

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	Sheik Yerbouti:  One of his most popular and infamous albums, Sheik Yerbouti finds Frank Zappa unleashing his unique brand of sociological documentation on the disco-injected culture of the late '70s. From crises of sexual identity to the rhythmically challenged, the songs are hilarious and occasionally close to home (The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith didn't much care for "Jewish Princess").  The satire is some of Zappa's most scathing and unsympathetic, and the music is equally loud and unrelenting, especially when showcasing the talents of sidemen Terry Bozzio and Adrian Belew.
	DVD: Baby Snakes: Touted as "a movie about people who do stuff that is not normal," Baby Snakes chronicles a late-'70s Halloween stand in New York City (a zany enough proceeding in its own right) with digressions throughout the first half for backstage antics, band interviews, and some outlandish clay animation from Bruce Bickford, with whose work Zappa was obviously smitten.  Onstage, Zappa is a live wire, the audience is appropriately rambunctious, an especially potent incarnation of the famous Mothers of Invention - is tight as could be.
	DVD: Does Humour Belong In Music? For longtime fans and un-Zapped neophytes alike, this DVD presents the late, great Frank Zappa at his mischievous best. Unlike the infamously rambling "Baby Snakes"  this hour-long, digitally remastered 14-song set is 95% music, punctuated with brief interview clips (including the inane titular question, and Frank's expectedly affirmative response), and featuring one of the tightest bands that Zappa ever assembled. Everybody participates in Zappa's unique parade of musical fusion, street theatre, and defiant anti-establishment sarcasm, with Zappa playing masterful conductor when he's not riffing with nimble-fingered fretwork
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