Essential & Non-Essential Zappa

Except the OP did not ask where to start. He listed a large number of releases he had already heard and asked what of his overall output was essential and what was non essential. And yes, with an iconoclastic genius like FZ, most who love what he did love close to all of it. And pretty much everyone did say some were non essential, which is some help.

 

One Size Fits All seems to be generally recommended, so I think I'll listen to that one next.

 

I believe you're getting this album confused with "Joe's Domage"

 

Yep my bad. One Shot Deal being prominent on both confused me.

 

Kind of an all-over-the-place disc, but it is all (or mostly) FZ-edited/mixed stuff so if you like that it is worth hearing. The 1979 guitar solo "Occam's Razor" is one of the best things to appear on any posthumous Zappa release.

 

Yep...it was my introduction to Zappa back in ‘76.

 

Great choice. A ton of good advice here but yes One Size Fits All, Overnite Sensation, and Apostrophe would be the "essential" next step imho.

Also, not sure if you are a vinyl guy but just a note the recent vinyl reissues of these three are about as good as it gets sound-wise. Which is to say 10 out of 10 sound quality. Enjoy!!!

 

First few songs and last two songs are unreleased LP sides. In between are some very essential guitar solos. The only head scratcher is the inclusion of "Illinois Enema Bandit".

 

Thanks for the heaping helping of snarkitude, as always. As was noted above, the OP actually had a pretty specific criteria for what he was looking for from this thread and we seem to have arrived at a clear consensus of the top picks that he was missing. Obviously, Zappa has a very extensive, complicated back catalog with lots of different phases and line-ups, so this explains why we tend to see so many of these "Help me get into Zappa" threads. Some people love the old Mothers stuff, but not so much the later stuff, while others can't connect with his 60s output; some people dig Flo & Eddie while other can't stand that period; some prefer his vocal work, while others gravitate more towards the instrumental material. So these threads allow fans to talk about the aspects of his work that we love, as well as some of the things that we don't like as much. But why should you let any of that get in the way of your opportunity to be derisive to the forum?

 

I thought it sounded like something Gail would say...take that however you like.

 

Just Another Band From LA is essential as far as I’m concerned!

The Flo & Eddie band was gregarious, sometimes silly, but white hot as evidenced by Swiss/Cheese and Carnegie Hall releases.

 

Faced with such a vast discography, my ears have always been my best guide as to what are the essential or non essential albums for my collection.

 

In addition to the different eras/bands you could plead a case for live vs. studio.

 

...not to speak for @93curr , but maybe the female “Ohh’s and Ahh’s” are a tad excessive.

But Zoot has always been a favorite over here.

 

So 15 albums and you are still not sure? Yeah, just a couple more oughta do it. . .

Is there any artist other than Zappa where you can own 15+ albums, not be sure how you feel about him, and decide the smart thing to do is buy some more albums? (And I say that as someone else who is not quite a fan.)

 

Over-Nite Sensation (1973)
Apostrophe (') (1974)
Roxy & Elsewhere (1974)
One Size Fits All (1975)
Sheik Yerbouti (1979)
Joe's Garage Acts I, II & III (1979)

 

I don't think the word 'bought' figured in my op. 'Familiar' is not the same as 'bought'.

Also: Zappa is not just another 'rock artist'. He's unique. He probably occupies the same position to rock as Coltrane does to jazz (skewed comparison but you understand what I mean). He is 'difficult' but I feel he is worth persevering with. There are some 'major' rock acts - U2, the Smith, New Order - that I know I'll never 'get' but I don't consider myself worse off for not getting them.

 

I think we are saying more or less the same thing

 

There are 3 Shut Up/Play albums, right?

 

...correct. There’s also the album called Frank Zappa: Guitar.

On CD the Shut Up and Play albums are all combined on two discs.

 

And Trance-Fusion.

 

On a budget : essential pre 1980.
Non essential post 1980.

 

Wow - no WONDER I could never find the 3rd CD....

 

As others have said, Bongo Fury is another doozy!

 

And FZ Plays FZ