# What is your favorite Zappa album? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648 "2016-06-17T23:12:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/1 "2016-06-17T23:12:45Z")
Ok, I admit it first: this thread is just an excuse for helping me to get more into Zappa. I was a bit late to the party, maybe 25 years ago a friend gave me _Roxy And Elsewhere_ as a birthday gift, and I was hooked (of course I knew of him before, but hadn’t any of his albums). So over the course of time, I added some of his albums to my collection and have listened to others online, but you know how extensive and diverse his work is, and I was never able to get a thorough overview of his work. But now I have an account on [deezer.com](http://deezer.com) and access to most of Zappa’s work, but don’t know where to go next. So please tell me your favorite album and why I should listen to it. It will then be a pleasure for me to check out your suggestions and listen to them myself. Ok, me first: Of the maybe twenty albums I know my favorite still is _Roxy And Elsewhere_: it’s funny and has great, great songs. There’s so much on it that I like, but my favorite moment is the blending over of _Son Of Orange County_ into _Trouble Everyday_. I love Zappa as a guitarist, just love his tone, and _Trouble’s_ got one of my favorite solos. I’m always irked about the fact that it fades out mid-song every time I listen to it. I wanna hear more, dammit! I even hunted down the 50’s sci-fi movie _It Conquered The World_ some years ago because Zappa quips about it in the intro to _Cheepnis_ (you know, the scene with the inverted ice-cream cone with fangs on the bottom :D). So please provide me with some more Zappa. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/2 "2016-06-17T23:27:08Z")
I’ll start it off by not going very deep into his catalog. Apostrophe is the first Zappa album I heard and still my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/3 "2016-06-17T23:38:23Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’ll start it off by not going very deep into his catalog. Apostrophe is the first Zappa album I heard and still my favorite. That’s one of the albums I’ve long had, and I love it too (my copy is on a twofer CD with _Overnite Sensation_, which is also great). ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/4 "2016-06-17T23:46:50Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > That’s one of the albums I’ve long had, and I love it too (my copy is on a twofer CD with _Overnite Sensation_, which is also great). I’ve got that two-fer. Only Zappa I have, except for a _Mother’s_ album which I do not like. I’ve heard a bunch of _Joe’s Garage_, and that seems pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/5 "2016-06-17T23:46:55Z")
Hmmm…as an album maybe the largely instrumental and jazz-fusiony [Hot Rats](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKWNVXwlAk4). But I like a lot of his output, with a strong emphasis on pre-1980’s instrumental stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/6 "2016-06-17T23:52:47Z")
HOT RATS is my favorite, from a jazz perspective. Also very fond of ZOOT ALLURES from the mid-'70s, which has so many great songs, and is anchored by the brilliant “The Torture Never Stops.” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/7 "2016-06-18T00:08:12Z")
Hey boys, all the suggestions so far are albums I already have and love :D! Seriously, _Hot Rats_ is great, as is _Zoot Allures_, although I’m a bit uncomfortable with _The Torture Never Stops_. I have a thick skin (you gotta have it with Zappa), but man, that’s drastic. For the record, the only other album I know really well and also like is \*Sheik Yerbouti \*(boy, also some drastic stuff there). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/8 "2016-06-18T00:09:25Z")
_You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol 2: The Helsinki Concert_. The whole set is excellent, but I like Volume 2 the best. Or _Joe’s Garage_. Lots of fun to sing. Or _Sheik Yerbouti_. And _Strictly Commercial_ for the car. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/9 "2016-06-18T00:11:04Z")
Oh, and for something completely different, _The Yellow Shark_. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/10 "2016-06-18T00:17:59Z")
“Zoot Allures” is probably my favorite Zappa album, although I usually skip through “The Torture Never Stops” once the screaming and moaning starts. I also like “Hot Rats”, “Joe’s Garage” (“Watermelon In Easter Hay” is maybe the best guitar solo ever) and “Tinseltown Rebellion”. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/11 "2016-06-18T01:17:30Z")
The album with “Dynamo Hum”. I’m not a big Zappa fan but I recall that one from a big party weekend at a friend’s lake cottage. It was a crazy weekend, that album got played a few times over the course of the festivities. I have “200 Motels” on vinyl but never listened to it much. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/12 "2016-06-18T01:36:57Z")
Zappa fan since 1967 when **We’re Only In It For The Money** jumped off the shelf and bit me. Had never heard of Zappa or the Mothers, but the cover with Jimmy Carl Black in drag demanded investigation. Bought it, went straight home and listened to it, loved it from the get-go. My seventeen year old musical sensibilities were permanently recalibrated. For most of that time my top fave has been **Hot Rats**. Still is. I’ve always felt it could/should have been labeled a Frank Zappa / Ian Underwood album. My top five others, all statements of “best” obviously being opinions: - **Uncle Meat** - **We’re Only In It For The Money** - **200 Motels** (the single best Rock/Classical album ever, soundtrack to one of the very worst movies ever made) - **Just Another Band From L.A.** (featuring Frank’s greatest band, in which Howard Kaylan delivers the best performance by a male vocalist ever). - **One Size Fits All** ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/13 "2016-06-18T02:15:48Z")
It’s hard to choose. I would lean toward _Burnt Weenie Sandwich_ or _Hot Rats_ or **Weasels Ripped My Flesh**. I started with _We’re Only in it for the Money_, but the lyrics seem a bit puerile to me now. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/14 "2016-06-18T02:55:40Z")
Probably _One Size Fits All_, but I also have a soft spot for \*Apostrophe, Hot Rats, Uncle Meat, \* and _Absolutely Free_. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/15 "2016-06-18T03:01:00Z")
Just Another Band From L.A. _Billy The Mountain_ is my favorite Zappa song. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/16 "2016-06-18T03:01:29Z")
Also, for late-career stuff, I enjoy _Man from Utopia_. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/17 "2016-06-18T05:01:30Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I’ve got that two-fer. Only Zappa I have, except for a _Mother’s_ album which I do not like. > > I’ve heard a bunch of _Joe’s Garage_, and that seems pretty cool. I first heard it on my brother’s LP but the version I bought was the two-fer. Over-nite Sensation is a great album too. It’s my understanding that they were recorded during the same sessions but ONS was released as a Mother’s album and Apostrophe was released as a Zappa solo album. Fifty-fifty on Over-nite Sensation has a Jean-Luc Ponty solo that is one of my favorite solos on any album from any instrument. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/18 "2016-06-18T05:02:28Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > The album with “Dynamo Hum”. I’m not a big Zappa fan but I recall that one from a big party weekend at a friend’s lake cottage. It was a crazy weekend, that album got played a few times over the course of the festivities. That’s Over-Nite Sensation. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/19 "2016-06-18T05:09:42Z")
I’ve liked Zappa since the late 1960s and _Freakout_ and _We’re Only in it for the Money_. I have 30+ albums. My favorite album is definitely _Joe’s Garage._ It has so many fantastic songs with instrumentals like _Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up_, _Outside Now_, _Packard Goose_, and _Watermelon in Easter Hay_, plus hilarious pieces like _Sy Borg_ and _Stick It Out._ After that, my favorites are the jazz albums like _Hot Rats_, _Waka/Jawaka_, _The Grand Wazoo_, and _Weasels Ripped My Flesh._ Nearly all of the albums, though, have some pieces I really love. ---
**Author:** ![ch51](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ch51/32/3111_2.png) [@ch51](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ch51)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648/20 "2016-06-18T05:11:54Z")
Absolutely Free (the original Mono mix) is my favourite followed by Apostrophe. Both are so funny and so quotable! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-zappa-album/757648.md?page=2)