by Mott the Dog
***** 5 Sparkly Stars
Basically just dropping the name ‘Mothers of
Invention’ and releasing this as his first solo album, Mr. Zappa showed
who had been boss all the time and let the unsuspecting music world cop it
in the teeth with this blast of basically instrumental work. Gone were the
dropping off into the world of parody or spoken word humour that had often
enlivened, but more often marred ‘The Mothers’ albums. A joke is only
funny the first couple of times, but soon becomes annoying, especially
after repeated playing in between bits of your favorite music.
But here on ‘Hot Rats’ Mr. Zappa surrounds himself
with some of the finest musicians in the United States of America, who
just happened to also be his best friends, and went from cult figure to
international superstar. In the highbrow student world of 1970, if you
didn’t have the Hot Rats poster in your bed-sit, you were considered
very square. The album was an absolute ‘must have’. (Mind you it was
also required to wear your hair down to your ankles, platform boots 2-foot
tall, huge bell-bottom trousers that hid them anyway, say things like
“cosmic” or “groovy” a lot, and end every sentence with “man”.
Eat your heart out Austin Powers, looking back it all seems terribly
complicated now.)
But that was one thing that Mr. Zappa had mastered,
although all of the playing on this album is intricate in the extreme,
with great lolloping extended solos and each song has a terribly gripping
hum able tune that makes your fingers twitch and your feet tap.
The first piece of music presented here for your
edification (it would almost be an insult to label them down as just plain
old songs) is the wonderfully monickered “Peaches En Regalia”, where
Mr. Zappa on guitar, and multi-instrumentalist Ian Underwood get to flex
their musical muscles. These two musicians are the only two to appear on
every track. “Peaches En Regalia” is certainly one of Mr. Zappa’s
most commercial and popular tracks and, almost certainly, one of his best.
In an amazing way the album starts, leading us into a treasure trove of
sound. Yes, this was what started what is called ‘Jazz/Rock’, but at
the time it was just a convenient label for journalists to put it under.
Mr. Zappa should not take the responsibility for the drivelling of some
who tried to follow in his footsteps.
Next up is the infamous “Willie The Pimp”, the only
vocal track on the album sung by the esteemed Don Van Vliet, better known
as ‘Captain Beefheart’, and what lyrics they were too!
“I’m a little pimp with my hair gassed back
Pair of khaki pants with my shoe shined black”
You can hear the gleam in the great Captain’s eye,
the guitar solo that follows will take the roof off your head every time
you hear it. And remember, Steve Vai was an apprentice of Mr. Zappa’s
for many years and has never been able to step out of his shadow.
After “Son of Mr. Green Genes”, and for this album
the short “Little Umbrellas”, you get the full version of “The Gumbo
Variations”. This had to be severely edited for the vinyl release due to
time constraints, but now with the wonders off compact discs, you get the
whole thing re-mastered from the original tapes, all but seventeen minutes
(what’s three seconds between friends), where the soloists, Mr. Zappa
guitar, Ian Underwood everything, and Sugar Cane Harris on violin, all vie
for the spotlight, holding your attention with every nuance of sound.
Then finally we get “It Must Be A Camel” (the title
of which sounds like something J.K. would say out on the golf course after
a bad night), where the legendry Jen Luc Ponty joins the fray to bring it
all to a fitting climax.
A truly magnificent collection. If it’s not in yours,
make it so.
You may notice the artist referred to as Mr. Zappa
throughout this review commanded a fair amount of respect, did the Guvnor.
Musicians
Frank Zappa - Guitar, Octave Bass, Percussion
Ian Underwood - Piano, Organus Maximus, All Clarinets,
All Saxes
Captain Beefheart - Vocal on Willie The Pimp
Sugar Cane Harris - Violin on Willie The Pimp & The
Gumbo Variations
Jean Luc Ponty - Violin on It Must Be A Camel
John Guerin - Drums on Willie The Pimp, Little
Umbrellas & It Must Be A Camel
Paul Humphrey - Drums on Son of Mr. Green Genes &
The Gumbo Variations
Ron Selico - Drums on Peaches En Regalia
Max Bennett - Bass on Willie The Pimp, Son Of Mr. Green
Genes, Little Umbrellas, The Gumbo Variations & It Must Be A Camel
Shuggy Otis - Bass on Peaches En Regalia
Track Listing
1. Peaches En Regalia
2. Willie The Pimp
3. Son Of Mr. Green Genes
4. Little Umbrellas
5. The Gumbo Variations
6. It Must Be A Camel
To contact Mott the Dog email: [email protected]
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