Читать книгу The Mojo Collection - Various Mojo Magazine - Страница 183

Record label: Reprise

Produced: Frank Zappa

Recorded: Sunset Sound Studio, Los Angeles; August–September 1969

Released: October 10, 1969

Chart peaks: 9 (UK) 173 (US)

Personnel: Frank Zappa (g, octave b, pc); Ian Underwood (p, organus maximus, flute, clarinet, s); Captain Beefheart (v on Willie The Pimp); Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris, Jean Luc Ponty (vn); Max Bennett, Shuggy Otis (b); John Guerin, Paul Humphrey, Ron Selico (d); Cliff Goldstein, Jack Hunt, Dick Kunc (e)

Track Listing: Peaches En Regalia; Willie The Pimp; Son Of Mr Green Genes; Little Umbrellas; The Gumbo Variations; It Must Be A Camel

Running time: 47.17

Current CD: Ryko VACK 1209

Further listening: Uncle Meat (1969); Mystery Disc (1998)

Further reading: Waiting For The Sun (Barney Hoskyns, 1996); Frank Zappa In His Own Words (1993); The Negative Dialectics Of Poodle Play (Ben Watson, 1996); The Complete Guide To The Music Of Frank Zappa (Ben Watson, 1998); enter the vinyl version versus CD version debate at: www.lukpac.org/~handmade/patio/vinylvscds/hotrats.html; www.zappa.com (official)

Download: HMV Digital

The arrival of Uncle Meat in the spring of 1969 made Zappa’s frustrations abundantly clear: his love of satire and talent for outrage were clearly denying him recognition as a composer. Its comparative simplicity, downplayed lyrics and a sleeve note advertising the joys of something called ‘overdubbing’ set the stage for its immortal successor six months later. The almost entirely instrumental Hot Rats was the perfect Zappa release for those intrigued by his music but bored – or possibly repulsed – by his wit and somewhat twisted worldview. It remains his biggest seller in the UK where its cover – GTO stalwart Christine Frka in an abandoned swimming pool – so perfectly captured the progressive mood of the period. Lured by the possibilities of its 16-track desk, Zappa repaired to Sunset Sound and installed the most accomplished collection of West Coast veterans that money could buy – Paul Humphrey had drummed with Wes Montgomery and Lee Konitz, bassist Max Bennett was a Hollywood studio legend who’d worked with Quincy Jones and Peggy Lee, Sugarcane Harris had pioneered R&B hits in the late ’50s as part of the duo Don & Dewey. Together they cut a series of superbly drilled compositions combining a fiercely hip (and uniquely American) technical proficiency and a peerless ability to improvise, much of its ornate embroidery the result of Zappa and Underwood’s jazz and classical influences.

‘It was extremely interesting because the music was interesting,’ Underwood reflects. It took two months of relentless multi-tracking to perfect, with many of Underwood’s original parts eventually erased by the composer. ‘Hot Rats was more about overdubbing than anything else,’ Zappa remembered. It also made much of that sonic device du jour, the wah wah pedal, of which Zappa was the absolute master. The only vocal on the entire album – the growling blues delivery of Willie The Pimp – was supplied by fellow art rock alchemist and former school friend Captain Beefheart the lyrics coming from an interview conducted by Zappa with a New York-based groupie called Annie. ‘It was kind of a turn from the way the (earlier) band had been,’ Underwood remembers. ‘It was a chance just to use a few studio musicians and try other routines out.’