Zoot Allures

Artist: Frank Zappa
Label: Zappa Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording remastered
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 014431052323
EAN: 0014431052323
ASIN: B0000009SQ

Release Date: 1995-05-02

Zoot Allures

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Tracks:

Wind Up Workin' In A Gas Station
Black Napkins
The Torture Never Stops
Ms. Pinky
Find Her Finer
Friendly Little Finger
Wonderful Wino
Zoot Allures
Disco Boy

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Customer Reviews:

Straight ahead rocking CD from the master of muffins.......2006-12-12

How do you steer someone curious about Frank Zappa to a good place to start exploring his amazing career? Possibly the most prolific modern artist of all time, Zappa wore so many shoes it boggles the imagination.
Unlike some other classic Zappa albums that truly take getting used to, like "Weasels Ripped My Flesh" or "One Size Fits All", this CD rocks more than most anything else he did, with a minimal (in number, not ability) band to back him up. And, befitting his underappreciated guitar mastery, which easily is on a par with Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix for originality and overall excellence, "Zoot Allures" features plenty of Zappa guitar work, erasing any doubt to his brilliance.
Like all his material except for his instrumental works, Zappa was sarcastic, misanthropic and sometimes downright juvenile in his attacks on society in general. That acidic commentary is present here, but the real gem is the title track, "Zoot Allures", without question one of the most breathtakingly beautiful guitar instrumentals ever. It is indeed shocking to hear such elegance and sublety from a man not known for his restraint.
After this CD, one can leap virtually anywhere in the immense Zappa catalogue, but this reviewer recommends "Hot Rats" as his next stop and then perhaps "Shiek Yerbouti" or the "Joe's Garage" series. Zappa was a genius, and deserves more attention.

Must have at least for three titles.......2006-02-09

Three songs contained here entered the Frank Zappa alltime favourites hall of fame. "Black napkins", "Zoot allures" and "The torture never stops". These three tunes are gems. Apart form these tunes, the album is really a basic rock kind of album not so special. A tribute to heavy metal? I don't know, I love heavy metal of the period and I don't find this album close to the true metal spirit. It's something different, it is Zappa in a basic form. It is alot less dramatic than metal and more grotesque and ironic. That's it. I think this is even not one of the best works in Zappa's discography because to me he expressed his potentials the most when he played the director's role with large ensembles (think Wazoo, Waka, Jazz noise here, In NY etc). Some songs here (disco boy or wind up .. for example) are even irritating. But the three that I talked about are absolutly stellar Zappa's music examples, so they alone justify the price ticket. If you are a newcomer in the Zappa's Universe go for Wazoo, Waka, Hot rats, or better than anything else probably, the exceptional big apple live concert, "Zappa in NY".

Great Album, Excellent Tour.......2005-10-18

This one brings back loads of memories. I was one of the many that was waiting for this record to hit the shelves. We were part of the cult, the mass of regulars that made as many concerts as we could and knew all of Frank's inside jokes. We thought we were cool, but of course we weren't. This disc caused descent in the ranks. For some of the old school FZ fans, this was the last straw and they walked away muttering about how it was all downhill after the original Mothers were gone.

I was pretty much old school, having started out on Freak Out and progressing album by album, thanks to an old burnout that got me started into Frank's music at the bright young age of 12. But I didn't cling to the old school rant - new was OK and this, when it was new, sounded VERY good to me! The live show of this album tour that we saw was excellent too. For perspective, I was alcohol legal by the time of Zoot Allures... Some of the tunes hit me right in the face. I was working at a gas station while in college and took that minimum wage paycheck to pay for this disc. I worked at the gas station with a reject named Jerry that was a thief. He'd steal money out of the register and we'd all have to make up the shortage out of our paychecks, so nobody wanted to work with Jerry. So I remember hearing "Wind Up Workin' In A Gas Station" and thinking I should go play it for Jerry. I also wanted to go play "The Torture Never Stops" for one of my literature profs, because it reminded me of his class.

To get more to the review, just consider this: the album is a work of synergy in that the whole is much stronger than any individual portion. One could point out Black Naspkins, The Torture or the title track as being particularly strong, but it is the flow of the album that takes over once you get to know it. As usual, Frank was writing from his Amateur Anthropologist point of view (he should have been given an honorary degree in the field) in many of the songs, such as Gas Station, Ms. Pinky, Find Her Finer, Wonderful Wino and Disco Boy. It all weaves together perfectly and the playing and singing are outstanding.

great.......2005-10-11

This album is stripped-down zappa. His tribute for heavy metal. Released in 1976, most of this album is done by Terry Bozzio on drums, and Zappa singing on most of the songs, playing guitar and drums. There's some appearances by Roy Estrada, George Duke, Ruth Underwood, and more. There was a lot of songs played live from this album. But I think that "The Torture Never Stops" is kind of too long. The rest of the album is really good. It has stripped-down tracks like "Wonderful Wino", "Ms. Pinky", "Find Her Finer", and "Wind Up Workin' In A Gas Station". It has guitar solo tracks "Black Napkins" and "Friendly Little Finger". "Zoot Allures" is difficult to play. And there's an anti-disco song "Disco Boy". This is really a great and underrated album, and I really recommend it.

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