Your View On: Frank Zappa - Hot Rats

[fange]

I never thought I'd start a Zappa thread; there you go.

Released in '69, it's the second solo album released by Zappa under just his own name. It's made up of largely instrumentals, but with a key vocal appearance by Capt. Beefheart. 

It appears on many people's best albums of that year list, but what do YOU think of it, dear Preludiners?



What did you think when you first heard it or heard about it, and how about now?






Where does it stand for you in terms of his catalogue, and in the wider rock genre?






What are your fave songs? Pick the ones you like in the poll and tell us why (if you feel like it).






What do you think of the cover art?

[Sneelock]

What did you think when you first heard it or heard about it, and how about now?
My Zappa records were mostly hand me downs from an Uncle. My Uncle didn’t really like Jazz so he pretty much bailed out with “uncle meat”. I heard “Willie” on the radio but I wouldn’t regard the album as a whole until I REALLY got into the Chester Thompson era of the band. I liked it plenty but that “Only Good Zappa Album” rep was a mixed blessing. I liked plenty of Mothers albums so I wasn’t comfortable when people said that. I needen’t have worried. I think most of the people who said that were just pretending to like it any how.It’s grown on me over the years. I still rankle when it’s singled out but I do love it and think it is very good indeed.

Where does it stand for you in terms of his catalogue, and in the wider rock genre?
Even people who didn’t take Zappa seriously had to admit how seriously he was taking himself. I don’t think my copy said “PLAY LOUD” but it may. As well have. This band had CHOPS.

The box set of the sessions left me with the impression that Zappa was composing with the capabilities of his players in mind. These are very capable players and I really like what he gave them to do. it seems the rehearsals were actually part of the composition process.


What are your fave songs? Pick the ones you like in the poll and tell us why (if you feel like it).
I left it out only “Little Umbrellas” . I like the track fine but I don’t think i’ve Ever singled it out to play on it’s own merits. If this is truly “a movie for the ears” then this is where I pop out for popcorn.

Even though I liked all the tracks I picked, I do have a favorite and that is THE GUMBO VARIATIONS. Ian Underwood and Don Sugarcane Harris RULE THE WORLD on that track. It makes me want to dance like a Zoo Gorilla at feeding time.


What do you think of the cover art?
A perfect image for the music it contains.

[davey]

What did you think when you first heard it or heard about it, and how about now?

I won an LP copy of it at a carnival when I was 12 (a local radio station had a booth, and they were giving LP’s away to folks who could name songs and the artists who recorded them. I won a whole stack of albums before they kicked me out).

I remember being really excited to get home and play it, as I didn’t own any Zappa yet.

Where does it stand for you in terms of his catalogue, and in the wider rock genre?

Probably the only Zappa I’d play these days. Not sure I think it’s great…but it’s at least good - and Zappa certainly earned his corner in the genre.

What are your fave songs? Pick the ones you like in the poll and tell us why (if you feel like it).

The first few times I played it, I was disappointed that it was mostly instrumental, so Willie the Pimp was my early favorite.

Eventually I got into the whole thing. Peaches En Regalia, being first up, became kind of burned into my psyche. I’m not sure if I “liked” it so much as absorbed it into my DNA. Ultimately Little Umbrellas was probably my favorite after Willie.

What do you think of the cover art?


It was scary and a bit off-putting at 12. But it’s also kind of perfect.

[Charlie O.]

What did you think when you first heard it or heard about it, and how about now?

I'm guessing I was 14 when I bought it. It was a time of my life when I was buying pretty much any Zappa album from the sixties (and the occasional outlier) that I could find (a lot of them were OOP in the late seventies). I thought it was mostly spiffy at the time, and my feelings have changed surprisingly little since.


Where does it stand for you in terms of his catalogue, and in the wider rock genre?

I'm one of those Zappa fans that Zappa himself liked to moan about - the ones that think he could do almost no wrong in the '60s but that his magical coach turned back into a pumpkin sometime around the stroke of midnight on the first of January 1970. Okay, that's an exaggeration - he did plenty of great stuff after that, but you kinda have to hunt and peck for it. So imagine that his career had mysteriously ended around that time: in that fantasy scenario, Hot Rats would be towards the bottom of his discography for me. But in the real world we inhabit, where FZ went on to make another two hundred and forty-seven albums (with another five hundred and twelve in the can waiting to be released after his untimely death), it's near the top. "In the wider rock genre"? I don't think of it as being in the wider rock genre except by general association.


What are your fave songs? Pick the ones you like in the poll and tell us why (if you feel like it).

"Willie The Pimp" is the only track I dislike - way too numbingly repetitive musically (the riff is a good one, but not THAT good), and while the lyric doesn't offend me, Beefheart is miscast for it. "The Gumbo Variations" is similarly light on the variation, but the performance from all concerned is so Balls Out that it wins me over. "Little Umbrellas" has always been my favorite track - I think it's the most GORGEOUS thing here (I was surprised, but not very, to learn from the Sessions box that the composition pre-dates the Mothers Of Invention), and it has one of my favorite bass intros. "Peaches" is the "hit single," and I'm fine with that. "It Must Be A Camel" is the most quizzical composition here, and the one that's grown on me the most over the years, not that I ever didn't like it. "Son Of Mr. Green Genes" overstays its welcome a bit - it's the only track besides "Willie" that I didn't vote for - but it's okay.


What do you think of the cover art?

It's an eye grabber! I probably prefer the inner gatefold, but it's a pretty nice package in all. FZ was noted for those.

[Mr. FOLLARD]

I agree with what Charlie says about 'Willie The Pimp'. It's not a favourite, despite the presence of Beefheart. The rest of the album is (surprisingly?) accomplished and at times beautiful music, thankfully lacking the obnoxious Zappa vocal.

'Peaches En Regalia' is the obvious standout, maybe FZ's most well-known tune after the late 70s things like 'Valley Girl' (I remember MTV playing it just after they announced his death, and of course there was some sort of video too). I don't think Frank Zappa is a genius, but there's definitely genius at work in that track. Sometimes in my head I think of it as a novelty, with all its rapid twists and turns and schizo, show-offy orchestration, but when listening I can't help but be carried away with its incessant invention and melodicism. It's a wonderful piece of music and I always love to hear it.

I like 'Son of Mr. Green Genes' most of the remaining four, maybe because it's closest to 'Peaches'. I can't honestly say I'm that familiar with the last three tracks - I usually get bored before the end. I think I'll put it on now...

[osgood]

I first heard it in the mid 70s when I started exploring Zappa. Can't say it was an instant fave but it certainly is one that has remained in my FZ top 5 after all these years.

I voted for all tracks, with some doubts about Willie the Pimp because of its excessive length and lack of variation, but finally I couldn't not vote for everything. That said, as standouts it's a toss between Peaches and Green Genes (hey, that would be some title). Peaches is just perfect, I can suscribe everything that JC has said about it. And Zappa soloing on Green Genes is fantastic and up to its imaginative composition.

Little Umbrellas is the least memorable track for me, but I wouldn't want the record without it.

The cover art is perfect and up to its content.

[DarknessFish]

I don't think I've heard a single second of it. The cover art and track titles make me think that my life is better without it.

[Stacy Heydon]

Feb 19, 2024 11:13:04 GMT DarknessFish said:

I don't think I've heard a single second of it.

Very wise.

[riggers]

I only like 'Willie the Pimp', the rest of it is just ok to these ears
I'm really not a Zappa person.

[rayge]

Bought it when it came out, listened to it a fair bit, then abandoned it for half a century: I don't own a copy any more
I remember liking Peaches in Regalia (but not what is sounded like), but have no memory at all of the other tracks and no desire to create any by listening again. Better than Lumpy Gravy, THO (faint praise)

I was a fan of the Mothers, but once FZ put his name above the title, I gave up on him.

I never really liked the cover. Nasty shade of pink.

[fearlessfreap]

What did you think when you first heard it or heard about it, and how about now?


I was a pre-teen weirdo, an odd little fuck (turns out it was autism, but that wasn’t a thing at the time unless it was severe). Being the oldest kid in my family, I didn’t have older siblings to learn from, so I read music books and magazines. The Mothers seemed fascinating to me. Zappa with his Rasputin look and these ugly hippies were very appealing in a world of Osmonds and David Cassidy. The older high school burn outs wore Zappa T shirts I found hilarious. Little did I realize at the time, but Zappa was a conservative libertarian businessman and he ran his bands like a buisness. To me he was a freak and I felt I was a freak as well. This was the mid 70’s, and he was at his commercial peak. He even had an album in the top 10, the one with the Yellow Snow suite, which was the first one I bought. I bought the previous one as well- the one with Tina Turner and the Ikettes. This was during the George Duke and Ruth Underwood era where they made Gentle Giant sound like Pussy Galore. The Mothers albums on Verve, the ones I read about, were out of print and impossible to find in small town upstate New York. The one I could find that was spoken about in the same tones was Hot Rats. I found the title hilarious and it was one of the first ones I bought. I’m guessing this was 1974. Despite being largely instrumental, I took to it right away.


Much later I heard Electric Bath by Don Ellis and heard where a lot of the ideas could have come from, but when I first heard Hot Rats, it was completely unique and became one of “my albums,” like Mott The Hoople, who none of my friends or classmates knew about.


Where does it stand for you in terms of his catalogue, and in the wider rock genre?

I became a pretty big fan in those years. After the Zoot Alurs album, he started to get too childish with Titties and Beer, The Illinois Emema Bandit (a song that asked us to find sexual assault humorous) Sheik Yerbouti, Joe’s Garage, etc. I liked the Flo and Eddie albums which puts me in a distinct minority, and they were juvenile as well, but there was more of a joy to them. My Zappa period is 1966-1976 and Hot Rats was and remains one of my favorites.


What are your fave songs? Pick the ones you like in the poll and tell us why (if you feel like it).
I like the entire album, but Peaches, Gumbo and Umbrellas remain my favorites.


.What do you think of the cover art?

I love the cover. I had a T shirt of it in junior high.

[quaco]

I like it a lot, but don't totally love it. For the most part, the albums before it were all better (including the stuff pre-Freak Out!), and the ones after it were all worse. Which as Charlie says, puts it right near the top. It's one of his lesser great albums, but it's certainly better than most of what was to come. (Once freed from the original Mothers, FZ unfortunately bought into the "It's the role of a genius to create, and let the rest of the world sort out what's good or not" idea.) Last time I listened to it, Underwood shone as the undisputed star of the show. The cover is one of the best of all time.

[Charlie O.]

Feb 19, 2024 13:16:37 GMT fearlessfreap said:

Much later I heard Electric Bath by Don Ellis and heard where a lot of the ideas could have come from...

The comparison wouldn't have occurred to me, but that's a great album.