Yer Fav Uncle Frank 80's record

[progman1975]

Loving "You Are What You Is" right now....

[polmico]

That's the one. Love it to pieces. Some of his very best vocal arrangements.

[GuitarGeek]

Ooh, I think it'd be a toss up between Them Or Us, Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention, Guitar. The former two have some of my favorite Frank instrumentals (specifically Sinister Footwear, Marqueson's Chicken, and What's New In Baltimore). Them Or Us also has Truck Driver Divorce which I think is one of his better satirical vocal songs. FZ Meets... has Porn Wars, which I've always thought was hilarious, particularly the little monologue from Thing Fish in the middle.

As for Guitar, well, I am GuitarGeek, right? Or maybe my potato's been baking too long, I dunno. I just know I dig the stuff Frank did in the early 80's, when he started playing that Strat copy with the Floyd Rose, high output pickups and
the custom EQ system.

[Adrian]

Drowning Witch.

But "You Are What You Is," the song, is one of my all-time Zappa favorites.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Ship Arriving Too Late... for sure.

[Reginod]

Zappa did some incredible work in the 80s. A lot of it seems to get more criticism than his previous work; can't say that I agree with that broad assessment.


IMO,
Shut Up n Play Yer Guitar
You Are What You Is
LSO Volumes one and two
Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger
FZ Meets The MOP
Jazz From Hell
and Guitar

. . . . . . are all quite brilliant. And

Tinseltown Rebellion
Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch
The Man From Utopia
Them or Us
Thing-Fish
and Broadway the Hard Way

. . . . . aren't very far behind.

And then there's the YCDTOSA stuff that started coming out in 1988.

The few that I haven't named are pretty cool too.

The gun-to-my-head favorite by default would probably be SUaPYG, the boxed set, just because it is such an obelisk.

[Trane]

Shut Up and...

Orchestral Favourites

(I'm not big on 80's Zappa)

[zombywoof]

My favorite rock album is Drowning Witch, while my favorite classical work is probably LSO. The 80s were not a good time to be an Uncle Frank fan.

[Reid]

The 80s were not a good time to be an Uncle Frank fan.

It was the best time in the world for me. The back catalog was coming out on CD for the first time, and FZ was in high gear cranking out tons of new and diverse stuff right up until his death. And there were several major tours as well. Most listened to albums were Shut Up; Guitar; Helsinki Concert; Jazz From Hell; Them Or Us

[Zeuhlmate]

Shut up'n Play Yer Guitar
Boulez conducts..
Jazz from hell
You cant do that on stage volume II (Helsinki - recorded 1974)

[Joe F.]

Tinseltown Rebellion

[PeterG]

Man From Utopia
Perfect Stranger

[arabicadabra]

Jazz From Hell

[davis]

He only had 3 albums released in the 80's and one was a comp. I haven't heard any of them. maybe I should

[Joe F.]

He only had 3 albums released in the 80's and one was a comp. I haven't heard any of them. maybe I should

He had a lot more than 3 albums released during the '80s as a read through the thread will show you.

Off the top of my head

Tinsletown Rebellion
You Are What You Is
The Man from Utopia
Ship Arriving too Late
Meets the Mothers of Prevention
Broadway the Hardway
Jazz from Hell

No compilations in that bunch, and there are more that I've not even listed.

Start at the beginning of the decade and work your way forward.

[PeterG]

He only had 3 albums released in the 80's and one was a comp.

What odd discog are you reading? He had 26 official albums released in the 80s - live, studio and composed (e.g. Boulez). 4 of that 26 were compilations.

[davis]

"Uncle Frank" Sinatra. just having a little fun, that's all