Top 5 Zappa albums

**ThomasKDye** · 03-04-2015

OK, sorry if people get miffed at a "top whatever" thread. But I'm curious if my list even remotely matches anyone else's. I think it won't, especially since I consider myself much more of a casual fan than the average Zappaphile.

1. Absolutely Free. I love this album and can listen to it again and again. It's just one of those albums that's perfect from beginning to end. It features some great woodwind playing by Bunk Gardner, and probably my favorite of all of Frank's "constructed" epics, "Brown Shoes Don't Make It." In fact, that would probably qualify as my favorite Zappa song altogether. Plus, I love Ray Collins' random little remarks throughout the album (which I guess were written by Frank, but they sound so natural).

2. You Are What You Is. I know a lot of people here don't like it, but I think it's a pretty solid collection of songs. Frank's occasional misogyny can be off-putting at times, but there's a lot of fun stuff here as well… "Sinister Footwear," "If Only She Woulda," the middle section of "Jumbo Go Away" if not the verses.

3. The Man From Utopia. Again, probably not a popular choice, but some great material on here. Features one of my favorite Frank "pop" songs, "Cocaine Decisions."

4. Apostrophe. Perhaps a bit predictable, but it's also an album I can listen to front to back and enjoy.

5. We're Only In It For The Money. Again, because it's a solid collection of songs, but I think Absolutely Free trumps this one big time. Still, I love most of it; the musique concrete linking bits, maybe not so much.

So I know people tend to love Zappa for the jazz-rock, the Varese and the long guitar solos, but I guess I aim towards the "concentrated" hooky side of Zappa. I figure I just put up with the six minutes of him doing a guitar solo to get to that, and when I do, it's pretty decent.

So… other's choices? Can you narrow it down?

**mogrooves** · 03-04-2015

Absolutely Free
.....Money
Uncle Meat
Hot Rats
Grand Wazoo

**nosebone** · 03-04-2015

Uncle Meat
One Size Fits All
Sleep Dirt
Grand Wazoo
Apostrophe

**Reid** · 03-04-2015

Uncle Meat
Weasels Ripped My Flesh
Roxy & Elsewhere
Shut Up 'N' Play Yer Guitar
Make A Jazz Noise Here

**FrippWire** · 03-05-2015

I'm a Zappa freak.

My list (in no particular order) on this day and date goes like...
Over-Nite Sensation
Apostrophe
Roxy & Elsewhere
Uncle Meat
One Size Fits All

Ask me next month and it'll be a different list. I feel bad for ignoring Freak Out, Hot Rats, Bongo Fury, Zoot Allures, Grand Wazoo, Waka/Jawaka, Lumpy Gravy, Shut Up N Play Yer Guitar. Sooooo many killers...

**GuitarGeek** · 03-05-2015

Guitar: Frank's apogee as a guitarist (well, except for the studio version of Watermelon In Easter Hay, of course). I really love the stuff he did in the early 80's when he started playing that souped up Strat copy with the Floyd Rose, Seymour Duncan pickups, and the custom EQ system.

The Grand Wazoo: Frank's great "big band" album. Lots of great arrangements here, along with a couple really good guitar solos. I recall reading Tony Duran's slide guitar solo on The Grand Wazoo itself was a rare instance of someone else playing a guitar solo on one of Frank's albums.

Waka/Jawaka: the other great big band record from the same time period as The Grand Wazoo. Here again, even the vocal tunes aren't too unbareable.

Make A Jazz Noise Here: the best of the albums from the 88 tour, mainly because it focuses more on the instrumental material than dated satire material about Jimmy Swaggart. Some more good guitar solos and some very fine arrangements. I also dig the bit where he makes Ed Mann "practice" for the bit in Dickie's Such An Asshole, which he apparently messed up a couple nights earlier or whenever it was, with the result being that fan treated Ed "like a war criminal".

Them Or Us: A couple very good covers, a bunch of real dumb satire material, but once again, some very fine guitar solos, some good instrumental compositions, and I actually rather like Truck Driver Divorce.

There's a few others that are contenders for such a list, like Uncle Meat and One Size Fits All, but I reckon everyone else will name those albums, so I might as well throw some light some of the ones that I reckon others won't (ie Them Or Us and Guitar).

**Scrotum Scissor** · 03-05-2015

Uncle Meat
Burnt Weeny Sandwich
Hot Rats
Roxy & Elsewhere
Absolutely Free

**at least 100 dead** · 03-05-2015

Uncle Meat
Burnt Weeny Sandwich
The Grand Wazoo
Zoot Allures
Roxy & Elsewhere

**Trane** · 03-05-2015

basically, it comes down to the Hot Rats and associated albums like Jawaka, Wazoo and Sleep Dirt

Bubbling one llevel below are One Size, Uncle Meat, Xeasels and Chunga

**PeterG** · 03-05-2015

We did this just a few weeks ago.

**happytheman** · 03-05-2015

Originally Posted by PeterG

We did this just a few weeks ago.

Thought this sounded familiar..

**Oreb** · 03-05-2015

Uncle Meat
We're Only In It for the Money
Lumpy Gravy
One Size Fits All
Apostrophe

**PeterG** · 03-05-2015

http://www.progressiveears.org/forum...ighlight=zappa

That thread was started 17 Jan the last entry on it was 21 Jan.

**Cuz** · 03-05-2015

Over-Nite Sensation - this may be one of my All Time Top Ten albums. Love every second of it.
Roxy and Elsewhere
Zoot Allures
Sheik Yerbouti
Absolutely Free

**Servo** · 03-05-2015

Roxy
One Size
Over-Nite
Apostrophe
Joe's Garage

**zravkapt** · 03-05-2015

Roxy & Elsewhere
One Size Fits All
Uncle Meat
We're Only In It For The Money
Sleep Dirt

**ThomasKDye** · 03-05-2015

I was completely right… my choices definitely don't match up, apart from the early Mothers' material. Though I don't mind "One Size Fits All."

**grego** · 03-05-2015

200 Motels
Hot Rats
Studio Tan
Sleep Dirt
Perfect Stranger - Boulez conducts Zappa

**Facelift** · 03-06-2015

1. Uncle Meat
2. Absolutely Free
3. Hot Rats
4. Weasels Ripped My Flesh
5. YCDTOSA Vol 2

**Hobo Chang Ba** · 03-06-2015

One Size Fits All
Weasels Ripped My Flesh
The Best Band...
The Grand Wazoo
Roxy By Proxy

**Adrian** · 03-06-2015

Tough to limit to to just five ...

Hot Rats
We're Only in It for the Money
Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch
Waka/Jawaka
The Grand Wazoo

I wasn't sure if I should include London Symphony Orchestra, since it's written by Zappa but not performed by him.

Honorable mention to Lumpy Gravy, You Are What You Is, Sheik Yerbouti, Apostrophe, and One Size Fits All.

Zappa was a great guitarist for sure, but I didn't really listen to him for his guitar work. My favorites were the hook-oriented songs, the jazz/big band phase, and the more out-there avant-garde stuff.

**PeterG** · 03-06-2015

Still the same as it was in Jan on the other thread

1. Hot Rats
2. Burnt Weeny Sandwich
3. Boulez Conducts Zappa - The Perfect Stranger
4. The Yellow Shark
5. LSO vols I & II
6. Franceso Zappa

I only like his instrumental stuff, and there is a fair bit of it when you put it all together, all those cinematic and "serious music" albums and orchestra collaborations. However, not the instrumental jazz stuff, that I can live without.

(1. Samuel Barber 2. Frank Zappa 3. Aaron Copland )
(1. Rush 2. SGM 3. Frank Zappa)