"He Used to Cut the Grass, and Watermelon" were what initially pulled me in on that disc. Still one of my favs of his. And even though I'm 51 and have heard it plenty, "Stick it Out" still makes me laugh. I mean c'mon, "weenie" is just funny!
"He Used to Cut the Grass, and Watermelon" were what initially pulled me in on that disc. Still one of my favs of his. And even though I'm 51 and have heard it plenty, "Stick it Out" still makes me laugh. I mean c'mon, "weenie" is just funny!
It's a solid half and half album for me. I got this after I had my initial Frank Zappa discovery phase, and while it has some of my favorite songs he ever did, it also contains some of my least favorite. A lot of the song sections are fantastic (Keep it Greasy, Fembot, Packard, and so on) but some of the songs don't seem to add much and don't really go anywhere. I often find myself skipping over the what seems to me to be over-long guitar solos as well (sacrilegious, I know). He definitely released more consistently great records.
A vie, a mort, et apres...
I adore it
I hated it when it came out and threw away the vol1
then in the early 80's I revisited and was hooked forever
This is in my opinion one of the very best sounding rock albums ever recorded
Question: Why was this originally released in installments? I think Act I is a solid album. So I'm wondering if Zappa held up the release of Acts II / III for marketing, artistic reasons, or was recording still in progress?
Last edited by señormoment; 03-31-2015 at 03:13 AM. Reason: Wording
The first Zappa album I've heard that descends to sentimentality (Watermelon & Used to Cut the Grass in particular).
And that's a bad thing.
yu^, JG was almost myfirst Zappa album (Yerbouti was), and it was mostly acquired as an aping from my HS buddies. Like most of us, we loved the smut and swearing, but it grew incredibly boring with me
I think good ol'Zap thought it was the best way to hook vast amounts of teens into his music - and it kind of worked, with a lot of male teenagers. I mean smutt and guitar histrionics were what the kids needed (or asked for), and he sure as hell gave it to them... I'd even say that he rammed it in in our own back end
Actually, I'm sure he was happy we thought it was silly...certainly, he thrived on being silly from the Suzy Creemcheese days onwards
And yeah, Zap' could have sung about social issues more (it was sometimes underlying anyway), but that was not exactly well seen in the US - especially during the cold war, where having social-minded issues (I'm not sure that zap would've been a leftie anyway) was generally the best way to be labelled as commie, which would've been disastrous move in terms of comercial success
wow, that's rather extreme... JG is certainly not in my top 15, but it's nowhere near the bottom either.
Sure its smuttiness galore plays against it, but it's still a pretty good guitar album, IMHO
yup, I remember being able to play this one louder than most other albums, because of its amazing sound
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Masterpiece! Best sounding album Frank ever did too. Packard Goose and Sy Borg are my favourites these days.
I guess I'm in the minority.. I love this album.. Zappa humor has never bothered me.. I kinda grew up listening to Zappa in high school so maybe I was the perfect age for his target audience.. and as I recall there had been a string of releases one right after the other when this one showed up in the record shop and the cover instantly drew me to it.. Title track could have come off of Freak Out.. the music / message is timeless.. I still spin it on occasion..
Frankie this was the lat album he did in a commercial studio all the others that followed were done at UMRK
I think its also a masterpiece of studio production... similar in a lot of ways to Sheik (although Sheik has a lot more live elements). The sound is so damn good.
Ian Beabout
Mixing and mastering engineer. See ya at ProgDay !
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...m/bakers-dozen
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...-and-holland-3
colouratura.bandcamp.com
So, what's in the bottom five for you?
Keep in mind my not liking Joe's Garage was when it was FIRST RELEASED (so that's what - 37 years ago?) and I heard the double album (I think it was the double that I felt that way about - it might of been the single album, but I think it was the double).
Lots of water under the bridge since then.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
Bottom Five Frank for me is -
1. Thing-Fish
2. Man from Utopia
3. Just Another Band from LA / Filmore East (inseparable for me!)
4. Mothers of Prevention
5. You are What You Is
That's not in order, but Thing-Fish is the worst album I've ever heard. I've often said, Frank is responsible for some of the best and worst music I've ever heard.
Ian Beabout
Mixing and mastering engineer. See ya at ProgDay !
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...m/bakers-dozen
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...-and-holland-3
colouratura.bandcamp.com
Joe's Garage is an immaculately produced album. One of the things I love about it is Warren Cuccurullo's brilliant guitar accompaniment. Stuff like the jazzy octave playing on Catholic Girls (well... all the way...that's the way they go...). And of course FZ is just full of melodies. Fembot has a great vocal melody. On The Bus has just about the coolest guitar solo Frank ever played, imo. And nobody could deliver a lyric like FZ. He has no equals.
Ian Beabout
Mixing and mastering engineer. See ya at ProgDay !
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...m/bakers-dozen
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...-and-holland-3
colouratura.bandcamp.com
The only ones of these I know from that list are the two Flo & Eddie ones. I don't like those albums much, but at least I think they are clever. I didn't think Joe's Garage was clever at the one time I heard it.
P.S. Looks like my list of really poor Zappa albums has not kept up with the times! I will try not to remedy that anytime soon...
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
^Steve, I'd at least give 'Watermelon In Easter Hay' another listen, if nothing else. I would agree that the voiceover intro one could live without, but the music is exquisite- perhaps the most beautiful piece of music he ever did, in fact.
I'm not that into much of his 80s stuff (of what I've heard anyway...in fact I've not heard several in zombywoof's list!) generally, of the 60s and 70s ones it's only 'Just Another Band From LA' I find to have little merit.
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