I'd heard of him before of course, but never really listened to him until I went random youtube surfing this evening. Top stuff! Recommend me some albums of his to get please.
Whichever way you look at it, there is a fair bit to go at 🙂
It is a very broad church....
Strictly Commercial is an excellent compilation.
Over-nite Sensation & Joe's Garage Act 1 are my favourite for top tunes.
Maybe the obvious answer but Hot Rats; Willy The Pimp is a great track.
His output varied over the years. I like the 60s stuff best listen to it all.
Joes garage ,you are what you is , hot rats are greT , he did over 100 albums in many different styles
Hot Rats. Because it is the obvious answer some die hard fans may sneer, but it is at least one of his high water marks.
Personally I also like Roxy and Elsewhere, and Shut Up and Play Yer Guitars.
Over-Nite Sensation
Apostrophe
You Are What You Is
Tinseltown Rebellion
...are 4 of my favourites.
You can't go wrong with Zappa.
Thanks for all the answers, especially Lodious, I did a search, but didn't go back far enough. Got a bit of listening to do. Some of his stuff seems a bit jazz odyssey, but the rawer stuff is great!
“I whipped off her pants, and stiffened my thumb, and applied rotation to her Sugar Plum, but I still couldn't make that Dina Mo hum, Dina Mo hum”
“Gonna raise me a crop of dental floss, just me and my Pygmy Pony. With my Zircon-encrusted tweezers, all the other wranglers will say, “he's mighty fine!” ”
Good old Frank!
I remember asking my mate, a Zappa completist, the same question a few years ago. He actually rang me back and asked me if I had any idea what I was getting myself into! Haha!.
Anyway, he suggested The best of Frank Zappa, as a taster, which I did. Then I picked up Hot Rats, Apostrophe and Over-nite Sensation. His repertoire is mind-blowingly broad, but great fun. I personally like The Grand Wazoo a lot.
Once you've really listened to a bit of Zappa you realise what a musical bloody genius he was and he'll always be one of your favourite artists. He'll also keep you busy discovering music for years!
Enjoy! As Terrahawk said, you can't go wrong with Zappa.
Speaking of Willie The Pimp, you might be interested in checking out some Captain Beefheart. I haven't really been there yet, just scratching the surface still.
I would go for The Man from Utopia and Sheik Yerbouti, followed by Have I offended Someone, the some of the "You cant do that on stage" series.
No matter what your tastes or mood you will eventually find something that suits
he did over 100 albums in many different styles
Not sure about that. Well if you include the bootleg stuff maybe, I have 60 odd.
Got most of Captain Beefheart's output too including Lick my Decals of Baby.
As the Indian of the group once said:
The difference between his music and Frank's was like night and day. Frank was avant garde, but Beefheart was the real thing, totally left-field.
Having listened to oceans of zappa, some of which I liked and some of it I hate, I came to the conclusion that he definitely existed.