[Guns_LotsOfGuns]

Ive been meaning to get into Frank Zappa after hearing a few tracks i liked, picked up the "Best Of" and i love it, dude was a genius.

Now i want to get into all the albums but there are soooo many, any one have any reccomendations where i should start?

[amgard]

My personal favourite is "We're Only in it for the money" - the one with the Sgt Pepper rip-off cover - some magic tracks on there

Reminds me,I bought tickets to see MoI at Newcastle, for me & my GF, when she found out she immediately finished with me strange girl

[technoman28]

Where do you start! the list is endless as is the variety, "joes garage" has a beautiful track called "watermelons in easter hay" along with much strangeness, which tends to feature a lot on Zappa albums. "Tinsletown rebellion" also has some very good tracks on. The Zappa/Beefheart album "Bongo fury" has some interesting tracks, "Zoot allures", good studio album, "Filmore east" old live album which is good. "Apostophe" another good studio album as is "one size fits all", "Roxy and elsewhere" and "live in New York" both good live albums.
The problem with recommending Zappa, is the variety, you will probably find that on every album there will be stuff you love and stuff you just can't get into, purely because they are so different, and usually weird, ie there is a track on "weasels ripped my flesh" that is pure noise. Starting out on the Zappa trail can also be expensive as there is so much material out there.
As a side note, two people who featured on the '71 (I think) "Filmore east" live album were known as "Flo and Eddie" who were (and still are I think) "The Turtles", and were backing singers on the T-Rex song "Get it on". They released a few albums as "Flo and Eddie", "Illegal, immoral and fattening" includes some live stuff that is in a very similar vein to Zappas live humour/musical adventures. I think it is quite hard to get hold of, I managed to get a vinyl from America.
Hope this helps you out a bit, I would recommend trying to listen to an album before buying, as some are harder to get into than others, and it really depends on what you are into. You will find stuff you love, you may have to do a lot of listening to find it though, good luck, and as Frank would say "Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow!"

[mylostmarbles]

Joes Garage (triple album)
Sheik Yerbouti

My two favorite albums.

[overkill]

As above, every album has it's phenomenal highs, but be wary, because as Zappa never ceased to experiment, they often had real lows!

However, the following are excellent (if a tad wierd!)

We're only in it for the Money
Weasels Ripped my Flesh
Hot Rats (my fave!)
200 Motels (wow this one is off the wall! )
Apostrophe (another masterpiece)
Overnite Sensation
Zoot Allures
You are what you is
Sheik Yerbouti
Joes Garage (parts 1,2 &3)

Bongo Fury is also 'interesting'.

[mylostmarbles]

Anyone ever get into Tinseltown Rebellion. I found it quite hard-going, but some may think its a cracking listen..?

[@@@@]

I know Frank had a very Bizzare sence of humour Can anyone tell me is it true he Made an album or track about a serial Enema bandit that stalked women in the USA. What was it called.

[technoman28]

Yep, it's true. It is on "live in New York" I think, and is called (strangely enough) "the illinois enema bandit", with an introduction by Don Pardo. The actual bandit was called Michael Kenyon, or so Don Pardo says. I don't have the album anymore, but it kinda sticks in your memory

[Philly112]

Originally Posted by @@@@

I know Frank had a very Bizzare sence of humour Can anyone tell me is it true he Made an album or track about a serial Enema bandit that stalked women in the USA. What was it called.

It was called 'The Illinois Enema Bandit', and is a track off 'Zappa In New York', from sometime in the mid Seventies.

It contains one of Zappas great wahwah guitar solos if I remember correctly. The rest of the album is mostly pants, although it contains the only authorised version (I think) of the wonderful 'Titties and Beer', another deep and thoughtful extrapolation of mankind's innermost desires.

As an aside, I saw the Zappa band on their last tour in the mid eighties, when I think he had just been diagnosed with the prostate cancer which eventually killed him (although it was not public at the time). I remember a load of women in the audience standing up with teeshirts on and each teeshirt had a letter on, which all together read... 'titties and beer'.... Unfortunately they kept the shirts on, and weren't drinking beer, but hey, the thought was there.
On that tour the band also played 'Stairway To Heaven', in which the brass section played Jimmy Page's guitar solo note for note. Very clever, but just too clever dicky by far really. Far rather see Zappa play his own solo.

Anyway, to answer the original OP question - if I had to get one album, not having heard anything, I'd get 'Sheik Yerbouti'.
Not his best maybe, but pretty accessible, and contains some great songs, good guitar, well recorded, quite modern sounding. And full of pervy political lyrics, which is always a good sign on a Zappa album. IMO has one of his best recorded guitar solos on 'Rat Tomago' - just so powerful and wild.
'Hot Rats' is a great late sixties jazz fusion type album. But Zapperised. Maybe a good second or third purchase, as it's mainly instrumental.
'Overnite Sensation' possibly the best album he has recorded, but... well, I would just get Sheik Yerbouti - if you don't like it, just don't buy any of the others, as this will give you a good taste as to what the guy's about.

Phil

[@@@@]

Thanks you two guys i googled it found these gems

http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/songs...ma_Bandit.html

http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/index.html

complete index of albums

http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/index.html

[amgard]

Originally Posted by Philly112

It contains one of Zappas great wahwah guitar solos if I remember correctly. The rest of the album is mostly pants, although it contains the only authorised version (I think) of the wonderful 'Titties and Beer', another deep and thoughtful extrapolation of mankind's innermost desires.

As an aside, I saw the Zappa band on their last tour in the mid eighties, when I think he had just been diagnosed with the prostate cancer which eventually killed him (although it was not public at the time). I remember a load of women in the audience standing up with teeshirts on and each teeshirt had a letter on, which all together read... 'titties and beer'.... Unfortunately they kept the shirts on, and weren't drinking beer, but hey, the thought was there.
Phil

somewhat off-topic, but if you ever get a chance to see Nick Harper live he does a splendid solo acoustic guitar version of Titties & Beer.

[overkill]

Originally Posted by amgard

somewhat off-topic, but if you ever get a chance to see Nick Harper live he does a splendid solo acoustic guitar version of Titties & Beer.

He does indeed....................

[Kenny Glasgow]

You could always start out with or the Best of Frank Zappa

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Frank-Z...0478384&sr=1-1

the title of which Frank would have found amusing

my fav's are Hot Rats, Sheik Yerbuti and Overnite Sensation

for something a bit different try Lather and the 3 CD set Shut Up & Play Your Guitar is great if you like FZ's guitar solos

The DVD-Audio discs of Halloween & Quadiophilliac are well worth getting if you have a surround system

[Guns_LotsOfGuns]

Thanks for all the suggestions, i think im going to start off with the following.

Joes Garage I,II & III
Sheik Yerbouti
Hot Rats
We're only in it for the Money
Over-Nite Sensation
Apostrophe

Then fill in the blanks from there, does that look like a good cross section?

Its amazing how prolific he was, really looking forward to exploring his work

[huwg]

Apostrophe and Overnite Sensation can often be found together on the same CD.