Frank Zappa Books

This is the second-best way to expose yourself to the particular genius of Frank Zappa (music is the best, after all)--through his own words. In addition to being an idiosyncratic American composer of some degree of controversy, Zappa was an orator of no small ability or scope.

The Real Frank Zappa Book faithfully captures this side of its author, composed of essays on everything from his background and upbringing, to politics, capitalism, and raising children.

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Apostrophe' - Complete, note-for-note tab transcriptions for Frank Zappa's epic 1974 tour de force, featuring over-the-top zany lyrics and subject matter, searing guitar virtuosity, and tight arrrangements veering between rock and jazz fusion.

Includes all 9 songs that have become classics of the Zappa legacy: Apostrophe' * Cosmik Debris * Don't Eat the Yellow Snow * Excentrifugal Forz * Father O'Blivion * Nanook Rubs It * St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast * Stink-Foot * and Uncle Remus, plus great full-page photos of Frank and a foreword by Cree Summer.

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Mother! The Frank Zappa Story. When Frank Zappa died of cancer in 1993, the world lost a talent with a memorably irreverent, intelligent personality.

Here Michael Gray follows the trajectory of Zappa's career, documenting his move to California and the formation of The Mothers of Invention. The short but remarkable life of one of rock's most un-compromising figures is updated here to include a reassessment of Zappa's continued influence on a new generation of artists and fans. 60 black-and-white photographs are included.

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Electric Don Quixote - Music historian Neil Slaven has brilliantly chronicled the complex strands of Zappa's life and work in a book that will please not just Zappa fans but anyone interested in the history of rock music.

In many ways, the book's content is similar to THE REAL FRANK ZAPPA BOOK. However, Slaven doesn't offer that whimsical and playful flavor that is found in Zappa's and Occhioigrosso's words. Slaven lays out the facts in a well-written and humanistic manner.

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Necessity Is.... - James' book about Frank Zappa and his early band mates is flat-out wonderful. For starters (well, enders, actually), its discography covers Zappa, the Mothers of Invention, and each individual Mother--not only Jimmy Carl Black's entire oeuvre, but those of Ian Underwood and Motorhead Sherwood, too.

This book is a vital look back at late '60s L.A and its pop music scene--a retrospection delightfully skewed by Zappa's genius and his and the other Mothers' perspectives.

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No Commercial Potential: The Saga Of Frank Zappa - Once considered the best biography on American composer Frank Zappa available, David Walley's book still contains the most compelling and accurate portrait of Zappa at the beginning of his career.

The gold of this biography is the original material from the seventies, which Walley wrote after spending a great deal of time with his subject.

Don't miss this firsthand account of Zappa in what many consider to be the prime years of his career.

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