Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
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Free Music Notes for Hot Rats
Free Music Review: First post-Mothers album and a great one
Hit: 5 Stars
In 1969, Frank Zappa decided to put a temporary end to the Mothers of Invention, but of course new versions of the Mothers would surface until 1976, when he decided to put an end (for good) to the Mothers of Invention name.
Hot Rats, released in October, 1969 was the first Zappa solo effort after the breakup of the Mothers. Some of the Mothers of Invention went on to groups like Little Feat (Lowell George, Roy Estrada) and Geronimo Black (Bunk Gardner, Jimmy Carl Black), while some others went on to periodically appear on some of Zappa's solo efforts and even later versions of the Mothers (like Don Preston and Ian Underwood). For Hot Rats, he retained Ian Underwood from the original Mothers, as well as Don "Sugarcane" Harris for violin duty (Jean Luc Ponty also appears on this album). He also included Captain Beefheart for vocal duty on one cut, and some jazz musicians for drums and bass. Many of these musicians only play on selected cuts, unlike a Mothers album, where the whole band generally plays together. Zappa drives home the point that Hot Rats was not going to be another Mothers of Invention album. The album emphasizes extended instrumental jams, emphasized by his guitar playing. No socio-political satire here, vocals are confined to only one cut, "Willie the Pimp", courtesy of Captain Beefheart himself. This is perhaps the one Zappa album that listeners who are turned off by his humor will come to, because it sticks strictly to music. "Peaches en Regalia" is a prime example of that, a recognizable theme, and some jams to go with. "Willie the Pimp" features, as mentioned, the voice of Captain Beefheart, who is doing something far more accessible than anything on Trout Mask Replica. Don "Sugarcane" Harris gives us some nice violin work, and most of the rest of the piece consists of extended guitar solos from Zappa. "Son of Mr. Green Genes", as you guess, is a remake from "Mr. Green Genes" from Uncle Meat, except this time it's all instrumental. The themes are still recognizable, but extended solos are added on. The rest of the album is more of the same, emphasizing guitar solos, basically Zappa in a jam band mood, but of course much more solid and tight than anything the Grateful Dead would come up with, and of course Zappa sounds nothing like The Dead. A few might dismiss this album as a bit, should I say, on the noodling side, but for those not put off by that, I certainly highly recommend this to those who are not keen on his humor or enjoy the more instrumental side of his works.
Free Music Review: Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
Hot Rats is one of the true classic albums. It is completely perfect. Zappa's intersection of pop and jazz here astounding: his compositions are fiercely sophistcated, yet apatizingly listenable.Most of Hot Rat's songs have shifting harmonies and compositional strutures that were associated with West Coast "Cool" jazz prevlent in the 1950s and early 1960s: all very complicated and subversive. But Zappa makes these ideas rock. Just listen to the way "Peaches n' Ragala" or "Little Umbrellas" shift chords like sidewinding snakes, while their melodies remain avidly hummable.
"Willie The Pimp" and "Gumbo Variations" invert this process: both are based on very simple chord changes, but the soloing is incredably rigerous. Before this album, only Hendrix had succeeded in creating solos that were this long, but maintained their logic and foucus throughout. Zappa's status as an unsung guitar hero begins on Hot Rats.
There were countless rock bands trying music like this in 1969, but they had neither the technical or conceptual abillity to pull off the polished sophistication Zappa does here. Meanwhile, jazzbos were having some success integrating rock into their music, but without Hot Rats' bite or definition. Don't come here looking for the endless meandering both camps indulged in: every move Zappa makes on Hot Rats is planned and executed seamlessly. He has an undisputable reason behind every note.
A word about remixing: there is substantial differance in the 1969 vinyl edition of Hot Rats and the CD mix, issued in 1995. Zappa deliberately mixed out Fender electric panio and added eccho to twangy guitars, both of which sounded definatively 1969. Fans can argue about the merits of this, but remember two things: Zappa always sought the best avalable technology for his music, and never thought his work should be trapped in how the world was when he first recorded it. He was emphatic that NOTHING was ever a finshed product.
Musically, Hot Rats sounds as though it were made yesterday, today, or maybe even tomorrow. Cul-Du-Sac, Gaster Del Sol and other ambitous modern bands are playing tiddly-winks when messured against Hot Rats.
If you are a music fan in that you listen to music with thinking ears, real reverance, and an invitation to make your soul dance, buy this album. Liten....Listen....Listen.
Free Music Review: Fun Listening
Hit: 5 Stars
I spent a lot of time listening to Hot Rats as a teenager trying to learn keyboards. Played it at 16 rpm to figure out the fast parts. The long stretches of instrumental improvisation were very intriguing because I had already heard a lot of live Jimi Hendrix on record. Hot Rats was similar, but different. Several of the melodies are quite complex and fast, and the horn harmonies can be quite dense. This was pretty dense stuff for a 16 year old but I really liked it in an innocent 16-year-old way and just kept playing the record over and over and it started to click. I still like it very much today. Like most of Frank's stuff, it's not easy listening music -- it definitely demands something from the listener. But, he does provide singable melodies and a good funky backbeat throughout so folks can have some guideposts as they probe deeper. Sugar Cane Harris' violin playing is excellent as are all the players contributions. Captain Beefheart's singing on Willie the Pimp (and the words) keep things from getting high brow and serious. So does Ian Underwood's sax entrance in Gumbo Variations. Ian was fully capable of playing a "sweet sound" but instead he plays a monstrously bent-reed series of notes meant to jar you out of complacency. I really like Frank's guitar playing on this. He uses a very dirty tone and technique. In places it's downright grubby. I like that.Given the compositions and the musicians he could easily have played in a mellow, polite and sophisticated "jazz guitar" style but he didn't. Instead he lets the guitar honk and make strange, raw noises that most producers would cringe at. If you listen to Johnny Guitar Watson's solo on "Three Hours Past Midnight" you'll understand the effect. I like Frank's guitar playing on this because he allowed himself the freedom to put edge and dirt into his playing as part of the composition, something he learned from a lot of the severely underappreciated blues and R&B guitar guys from the 1940s and 1950s. The guy was into contrasts. So what he did in Hot Rats is combine very talented musicians, some fairly detailed arrangements, complex horn charts and played some gut-bucket raunchy guitar over it. Some people don't like this combination, but I do. A very nice record that will challenge folks, be an inspiration to some, and be liked by many for a long time.
Free Music Review: 99% Instrumental
Hit: 5 Stars
I first heard this incredible music while listening to a college radio station jazz hour during a long drive back from a business trip. I suspect that they meant to play the jazzier Little Umbrellas but what came blaring out of the car's stereo system was the rock of Son of Mr. Green Genes. To be perfectly honest I had no idea it was Frank Zappa until the DJ meekly admitted his mistake - I went out and snagged the album on the way home and absolutely cherish it. As a prog fan, it is the good musicianship that gets me excited - Frank was an incredible player and arranger.
The varied and numerous musicians on this largely instrumental 1969 release include Frank Zappa (guitars); Ian Underwood (piano, organ, flute, clarinet, and saxophones); Captain Beefheart (extremely brief vocal on Willie the Pimp); Sugar Cane Harris (violin on Willie the Pimp and The Gumbo Variations); Jean Luc Ponty (violin on It must be a Camel); John Guerin (drums on Willie the Pimp, Little Umbrellas, and It must be a Camel); Paul Humphrey (drums on Son of Mr. Green Genes and The Gumbo Variations); Ron Selico (drums on Peaches en Regalia); Max Bennett (bass on all tracks but Peaches en Regalia); and finally Shuggy Otis (bass on Peaches en Regalia). The players are all very good and a few of them would go on to play with some of the jazz rock greats in the 1970s including the Mahavishnu Orchestra (Jean Luc Ponty). In fact Jean Luc Ponty had a great jazz rock band of his own.
The music is heavy on the rock and lengthy jamming around a few central themes (at nearly 17 minutes, the Gumbo Variations is a good example of this), but there is also some jazz too. In fact, the jazziest tracks on the album include It must be a Camel and Little Umbrellas, which features some very nice acoustic bass parts and provides good contrast with the heavier material. There is very little in the way of vocals on this album (Willie the Pimp features a very brief vocal) and the pieces are essentially all instrumental. There are some pretty intense jams on this album and the playing is generally very good.
All in all, this is a fantastic Frank Zappa album and is recommended to those folks that are just starting out with the band.
Free Music Review: I. Underwood whips it out some more
Hit: 5 Stars
The "music fan from Kansas", among others, got it right. This remix, that was overseen by Zappa, is a little disconcerting for the existing fans, as it reveals totally new colors that were not in the original, while nearly erasing original lines or "voices", that I happen to miss here (some clarinet and left hand piano parts in "It Must Be a Camel", for instance). But all in all, it is nevertheless a must-have, against which I cannot help finding my old Canadian Reprise reissue vinyl sounding so duff... Plus the amount of new bars of music this CD contains stretches it to nearly an hour running time! And mind you, these extra bars do not AT ALL sound like they had been edited out of the original master because of bad playing or waning of inspiration on the part of the performers!... Quite on the contrary, Ian Underwood's unedited tenor sax solo in "The Gumbo Variations" reminds us of what the word "funky" used to mean in the 60s and will have you try to hum it note for note before you know it! Though I have not read all of these reviews, I am surprised not to see more praises for this multi-instrumentalist's brilliant contributions to the making of this album. True, HR was created with the help of several other excellent studio and not-so-studio guns (John Guerin, Max Bennet, Jean-Luc Ponty, Captain Beefheart, Sugarcane Harris, etc.). But just think a minute: what would our beloved HR be without Ian's grand piano, pipe organ, sundry electric keyboards and array of woodwind and reed instruments, all overdubbed with an awe-inspiring watertightness? I think his contributions make up for what this album sounds like in our collective memory just as much as Don Vliet's screeches on "Willie the Pimp", or the composer's epic guitar explorations... if not actually more than these AFAIAC! Who else could have thusly devoted himself in learning and playing Zappa's incredibly complex pieces and charts (esp. tracks 1, 4 and 6) in what must have been late studio hour nightmares of takes upon takes... and still be ready to "blow his nose" with frenetic sax improvisations to boot in an RnB jam?Though a bit on the aggressive side, this remix IS a must! But I also wish dearly for a future good remastering of the original mix of 1969.