They're Serving Burgers in the Back!
My Frank Zappa page
Frank is my favorite musician/composer of all time, so I thought I'd include a page about him, his bands, and exactly what makes this man's music so wonderful.
My Favorite Frank Bands
- The 1981/82 band. My personal favorite. The sheer talent of these guys is amazing. Steve Vai, challenging Frank to new heights of guitar playing. The wild improv of King Kong. Frank's incredible solos. The sheer speed of the playing. Drowning Witch. Incredible.
- The 1974 band. Everyone loves this band. What's not to love? George Duke, Ruth Underwood, Napolean Murphy Brock, Tom Fowler, Chester Thompson...and Frank as sole guitarist, laying 'em low.
- The 1971 band. Sue me, I like Flo and Eddie. The humor and fun of this band is what's great - they sound like they're having a ball out there. Frank played his most rock-oriented solos with this band.
- The 1988 band. The best band you never heard in your life. Brass, Ed Mann going nuts, Mike Keneally adding a new element, the new songs!!! A tour de force, sadly cut short.
- The Fall 77/Spring 78 band. The more I hear this band, the more I love it. Frank's playing is just INCREDIBLE on this tour, and O'Hearn and Belew are fabulous.
Starter Albums - In My Opinion
- You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1. Virtually everything is in here, in one package.
- One Size Fits All. There's a reason it's Zappa fans' #1 album. It has incredibly cool songs, gorgeous tone, and Andy, my favorite Zappa song with lyrics.
- Make a Jazz Noise Here. The 88 band at its best. Improv from hell, trumpet solos from heaven, and Strictly Genteel, my favorite instrumental Zappa.
- Joe's Garage. Vulgarity aside, it's a great album. And it's got Watermelon in Easter Hay, the most breathtaking Frank guitar solo ever.
- Freak Out!. Can't go wrong with the very first Mothers album. Trouble Every Day, It Can't Happen Here, and doo-wop. Rarely was a debut album such a definitive statement.
Links
- First off, we have my Tape List for other traders to peruse. I continually update it. I've got a few interesting tapes in there for the collector.
- Well, there's Frank's own homepage, The REAL Frank Zappa Home Page. Check out the quicktime of Frank's studio.
- And then we have Jason Gossard's page, We're Only in It for the Touring. An excellent overview of Frank's live tours.
- Speaking of which, Shall We Trade Our Tapes Seriously? is a project I'm involved in. The goal: a review of every concert tape out there of Frank's.
- Of course, the big info page is still St. Alphonzo's Pancake Homepage. It has it all.
- And, if you really want trivia and wild analysis, there's ARF!, an incredibly cool page examining Franks' music in detail.
- And for those for whom the released stuff isn't enough, there's FZShows Homepage, Jon Naurin's wonderful resource for zappa tape traders.
Think my potato's been baking too long? Let me know at sean@thekeep.org
The present day composer refuses to die! - Edgar Varese