Frank Zappa

[Cheech]

Czech's been hyping that flow chart forever. Let's see it buddy.

 

[Czech]

Okay, here's your flow chart, or not so much a flow chart but one of those "word webs" or whatever we called those brainstorming devices that preceded our 2nd grade essays. It should be pretty obvious how this works: start at the middle with Frank Zappa (outlined in gold paint marker though you can't see it in the scan so much) and go with one of the four albums I've deemed the best possible jumping-off points: Freak Out!, Hot Rats, Over-Nite Sensation, or Sheik Yerbouti. Then just follow the links, which are as clear as I could make them for something that I had to make up as I went along. If you liked the album, go to one of the bubbles I connected to it, usually for some pretty clear stylistic reason. I didn't even try to make the links about Conceptual Continuity; it's more like "X has cool guitar shit and so does Y" or "X is really vulgar as is Y" or "X has wonky synclavier shit as does Y," so on and so forth. If you don't like an album, just take one step back and try something else. If you get all the way out to Francesco Zappa or Thing-Fish and decide you don't like it, there's a reason they're way out there on the pale of the word web: they're bad.

This isn't comprehensive, as it only includes the 45 albums I own, and I'm sure Slayer and Agent would quibble with me over some of the links and placements, but maybe they ought to inhale Sharpie fumes for an hour and make their own then! By and large, I feel pretty confident that I got the continuity and relative immediacy of the albums down pretty well. Sorry that I have the penmanship of a brain-damaged eight-year-old, but this was easier for me than doing it in Photoshop, which was part of the reason it took me so long to figure out how to finally do this.

EDIT: I'd directly link Uncle Meat to Burnt Weeny Sandwich. That's the only mistake I caught.

 

[Cheech]

Holy shit yeah, Czech! You're amazing.

 

[Cheech]

You know what, not only is that thing cool, it's really helpful. Based on what I've heard and what I like, I know that I need to stay in the southwest quadrant. Good work.

 

[Czech]

See, the "southwest" is probably the corner I like the least. Not without its merits, but I still can't convince myself Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch is anything special. My favorites are pretty well distributed, but I suppose the northeast was a little cluttered. Again, I blame it on the improvised nature of it. I like the classical/electronic stuff (which are more closely entwined than one might think) but there's a reason they're practically spilling off the paper rather than right in the center.

This is good because now I never have to answer a "what should I get" question here ever again.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

I'll do mine in outline form.

I. Sheik Yerbouti
a. Joe's Garage
b. Zoot Allures
c. Apostrophe

II. You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol 2
a. Overnite Sensation
b. Roxy and Elsewhere
c. One Size Fits All

III. Freak Out!
a. Absolutely Free
b. We're Only In It For The Money
c. Uncle Meat

IV. Hot Rats
a. The Grand Wazoo
b. Weasels Ripped My Flesh
c. Waka/Jawaka


If you explore even the first four of those and a little of one or more of the threads, it won't matter where you go from there, because it will be a sickness at that point.

 

[Precious Roy]

Hot Rats
Grand Wazoo
Waka/Jawaka

I like jazzy free form groovy guitar solo Zappa, what can I say

and then I jumped a bunch of lines and went "TO CAPTAIN BEEFHEART'S STUFF......"

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

That's not much of a stretch. Beefheart does vocals on "Willie the Pimp." Only one degree of separation.

 

[Czech]

My map disappeared for some reason.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

You should flip BTHW and MAJNH on the connection to Grand Wazoo.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

And ZINY should touch Sheik Yerbouti and Zoot Allures. Same damn band, mostly.

 

[Gary]

Bumped because Universal is reissuing 60 of Zappa's albums.

 

[KOAB]

FUCK YES

 

[Czech]

Man. I pretty much have to buy these, don't I. And to think I spent four years buying up all the Rykodisc issues.

 

[Incandenza]

If anything, they should sound leagues better than the Rykodisc releases.

 

[Brooklyn Zoo]

Filthy Habits is fucking sick.

 

[Skywarp!]

I'm just having cognitive dissonance over here from the sentence, "This isn't a comprehensive list, it's just based on the 45 albums I own." Wow.

In high school, my friends and I made a rap song using a sample from "I'm the Slime." It's pretty terrible, but I have an mp3 of it. That's all I've got on this subject, with apologies to the Zappa fans.

 

[Incandenza]

Ahem

After a handful of aborted attempts over the last two decades, I may now finally be getting into Zappa for real? Sound the Czech siren. (Agent's fuckin' gone, dudes. He ain't coming back.)

 

[Brooklyn Zoo]

Ahem

After a handful of aborted attempts over the last two decades, I may now finally be getting into Zappa for real? Sound the Czech siren. (Agent's fuckin' gone, dudes. He ain't coming back.)

have you seen the documentary on Hulu?

 

[Slayer]

Life hasn't been the same since they revoked my membership to the TSM Zappa Authority Club

have you seen the documentary on Hulu?

Have you? If so, how was it?

 

[Brooklyn Zoo]

Life hasn't been the same since they revoked my membership to the TSM Zappa Authority Club


Have you? If so, how was it?

I saw like half of it. Most of what they cover is already out there but the complementary footage, videos, and clips of it all is nice.

 

[Incandenza]

We talking about the one Alex Winter directed? Not yet. Indie theater here in my neighborhood did a one-off screening that I wanted to go to but wasn't able to make.

 

[Brooklyn Zoo]

We talking about the one Alex Winter directed? Not yet. Indie theater here in my neighborhood did a one-off screening that I wanted to go to but wasn't able to make.

Yep, that one.