Frank Zappa: When Did He Jump the Yellow Shark?

I'm not the only person who thought this was an album title of his. There's no way.

i think broadway the hardway but some people swear by that album

"Joe's Garage" is great so it has to be after that.

And then, I might have voted for "Lumpy Gravy", which was NOT great like a lot of his output. But that would have been madness, as lots of great stuff followed after it.

I have only ever owned Freak Out and I've always loved it. I'm scared to move forward.

Except for that lengthy jam towards the end, "Freak Out" is probably the most straightforward thing he ever did.

Conventional wisdom, I know, but Wazoo/WakaJawaka is where I stopped caring. Those two are great albums though.

But "One Size Fits All" is great! "Inca Roads" is for me his best moment. Maybe because I love Genesis and Yes. :)

I actually remember the night John Peel said "Y'know, I don't think I can be bothered with Zappa any more . . "

Tinseltown Rebellion, perhaps? Not a Zappa believer myself, and never was, so it was actually kind of a relief, but I did clock it as a kind of historic excommunication at the time.

Jumped it first time with the Flo & Eddie comedy music, recovered completely with the jazz albums and the '73-'74 band, jumped it again after the Warners legal hassles turned him into even more of a sour asshole than he already was. The musical highs after that weren't as high, and he indulged in too much social commentary and not enough composing.

I put Burnt Weeny Sandwich because I like a lot of the Mothers stuff, I love Hot Rats and Uncle Meat. I don't care about anything else he ever did.

I have a peel show taped where he played "I don't want to get drafted", so take your cue from there.

By jazz albums, do you mean Waka/Jawaka and Wazoo?

ship arriving too late is my fave great late-ish work

the quick brown ship arrives too early to leap the yello shark

xpost -- yeah.

Yeah that sounds about right,then.

I own most of the 60s/70s stuff, ending at Orchestral Favorites. I've only heard bits and pieces of Joe's, Tinseltown, You Are... and beyond. My interest in him petered out at the dawn of the 80s. Maybe I was too focused on punk/new wave, maybe he put out too many mediocre records, I dunno.

voted for Lumpy Gravy because it and WOIIFTM both suck, although he had some decent songs (even some decent albums) afterwards

No wai, Lumpy Gravy is one of his greatest works.

lumpy gravy one of my favorite records ever.

I think the Yellow Shark Jump in terms of the thread question took place around the time of Lather, so I guess Studio Tan. By Sheik Yerbouti all the trademark bad things about Zappa are firmly in place. I still like stuff after that - some of "Joe's Garage" and the guitar series for sure - but the signal to noise ratio is greatly reduced for me.

actually Them Or Us is so good it makes me think that Thingfish might be a better dividing point. Must reconsider.

yah thing fish fucking stinks

I've only really heard one Zappa album that I love - Hot Rats. What albums would you guys recommend for some more Peaches en Regalia - type stuff?

The Grand Wazoo is awesome and kind of has the same musical sensibilities. Fillmore 1971 has an amazing live version Peaches.

anything after studio tan is total buyer beware country.

I'm with Scott.

Zoot Allures was where he stopped using the Mothers tag, but it was a great novelty record. Studio Tan is old recycled recordings and everything after that was all over the place.

nicko, chaki is right on re: Grand Wazoo, and Waka/Jawaka from the same period is also great -- it also has my favorite pedal steel solo EVER. You'd probably also like You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 2, which is a single 1974 concert with omg wtf playing, esp. on "Inca Roads" and "RDNZL." And it's thankfully short on the comedy bits, though the room service routine is actually pretty funny the first couple of listens.

You could probably get about one 80-minute compilation of really good stuff out of all of the post Warners albums.

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Even though he had some dicey recordings in the 80s, he had enough good stuff for me to choose the "Never" option.

first "big name" live show I ever saw was MoI opening for Cream in 1967, followed a few months later by Canned Heat & FZ/MoI in a small club. I stayed faithful even in the Flo & Eddie years (Ruth & Ian Underwood were amazing musicians). I looked a the list and immediately thought "Sheik Yerbouti" but overall I think the pattern is that FZ would put out some good/really good stuff and some utter crap (and ThingFish is one of those). I don't think he cared much for the static, fixed nature of most recorded documents, and I don't think he gave much of a shit for record buyers either. But he typically put on great shows, even later on.

Bongo Fury, by virtue of being a Beefheart record!

Them or Us is the last album of "new" material that I still listen to. All the You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore records are must owns in my opinion.

There's a few good instrumentals on that "Shut Up & Play Yer Guitar" box. Other than that, I never really dug much Zappa. Had "Apostrophe(')" when I was in like... 7th grade, and the lyrics seemed juvenile and stupid even then. That said, it wasn't bad music, necessarily. Just didn't do much for me, I suppose.

I have a rougher time dealing with Zappa fans than with Zappa's music.

we're very passionate men!

Um. Yes. To say the least... *cough*

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