Frank Zappa United States
One Size Fits All is a milestone in Frank Zappa ´s discography and a favorite of mine. The weird humour, the tightly played fusion rythms, the bluesy guitar licks and soloing, the clever vocal arrangement and funny lyrics. It´s all there to make One Size Fits All one of Zappa ´s best albums. Inca Roads is probably the the song that Zappa wrote that comes closest to the classic definition of progressive rock, but imidiately after that song ends we´re treated with the silly but extremely humorous Can´t Afford No Shoes . All songs are of high quality but the aforementioned Inca Roads, Floentine Pogen and Andy really makes my blood boil. Evelyn, A Modified Dog Always make me roll over with laughter, even after listening to the album countless times. All in all this is probably the best place to start if you´re new to Zappa . A masterpiece.
One of the best Zappa live albums. I greatly enjoy this hilariously funny, extremely wellplayed and essential Frank Zappa album. Lots of classics on this one including Cheepnis, Penguin in Bondage, Echidna´s Arf ( Of You) and the 16:40 minute long Be-Bop Tango with audience participation and the legendary Zappa comment: "Jazz is not dead. It Just Smells Funny".
Unlike the other YCDTOSA double albums (which are loose collections of unreleased live tracks) this is one entire concert: Helsinki, 1972. It shows Zappa and the band in perfect form, and apart from Dupree's Paradise and the Finnish song everything is very nice. A real highlight is the Village/Echidna/Don't You Ever... package, performed at much faster pace than on Roxy & Elsewhere. Especially Village of the Sun is hilarious. The whole albums is very humorous, with many funny conversations and jokes, and of course the legendary "Whipping Floss" version of Montana.
Tracks
| 1. | |
| 2. | Stinkfoot 4:18 |
| 3. | Inca Roads 10:54 |
| 4. | RDNZL 8:42 |
| 5. | Village of the Sun 4:34 |
| 6. | |
| 7. | |
| 8. | Pygmy Twylyte 8:22 |
| 9. | Room Service 6:22 |
| 10. | It's simply hilarious ... humour really does belong in music.: "The father's a nazi in congress today ... the mother's a hooker somewhere in L.A." |
| 11. | Cheepnis 4:29 |
| 12. | Approximate 8:11 And now for something completely different - a hilarious vocal version of the song, followed by a really melodic one (well, as melodic as Approximate can possibly get). |
| 13. | Dupree's Paradise 23:59 |
| 14. | |
| 15. | T'Mershi Duween 1:32 |
| 16. | |
| 17. | Uncle Meat 2:28 |
| 18. | Building a Girl 1:00 |
| 19. | Montana (Whipping Floss) 10:15 |
This double live album is a great mix of humor and musicianship. Especially Cruising for Burgers and the two versions of Black Page are very dense and demanding pieces, while Titties and Beer or Punky Whips are more comedy than music. I also really like the Illinois Enema Bandit, which is the most straight forward Zappa Blues song that I know.
A very good album to get to know Zappa!
Tracks
| 1. | Titties and Beer 7:35 |
| 2. | Cruisin' for Burgers 9:12 |
| 3. | An awesome instrumental rendition of the tune, very spacy and mellow ... perfect! |
| 4. | Punky's Whips 10:50 |
| 5. | |
| 6. | |
| 7. | I'm the Slime 4:23 |
| 8. | Pound for a Brown 3:41 |
| 9. | Manx Needs Women 1:50 |
| 10. | Black Page #1 3:51 What a brilliant idea to have a drummer play a normal song. It sounds like an improvised drum solo at first, but if you listen closely you'll find out that it is indeed a song. In the second half the other instruments join in. There are many versions of that song, including the "easy listening" version on this album. |
| 11. | Big Leg Emma 2:17 "There's a big dilemma about my big emma" ... I simply love Frank's madcap humor! |
| 12. | Sofa 2:56 |
| 13. | Black Page #2 5:36 |
| 14. | The Torture Never Stops 12:34 |
| 15. |