| | Frank Zappa Hot Rats CD Frank Zappa Discography of CDs
 (6 Customer Reviews)
HOT RATS was digitally remixed in 1987. "The Gumbo Variations" has been extended an extra 4 minutes from the original LP version. All of the tracks have been remixed, and in some cases sound quite different.
Having temporarily disbanded the Mothers Of Invention, Frank Zappa recorded this exceptional solo album. His group was renowned for musical satire, but here the artist opted to showcase his prowess on guitar. Aside from "Willie The Pimp," which features a cameo vocal by Zapppa's old friend Captain Beefheart, the set is comprised of instrumentals. The players, including Don "Sugarcane" Harris, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Ian Underwood, are uniformly excellent, combining to provide a solid jazz-rock platform for Zappa's compulsive soloing. Here the guitarist relishes a freedom which, while acknowledging past achievements, prepares new territories for exploration. As such, HOT RATS was a pivotal release in Zappa's oft-misunderstood career.
Recorded from August to September 1969.
Personnel: Frank Zappa (guitar, bass, percussion); Captain Beefheart (vocals); Jean-Luc Ponty, Sugar Cane Harris (violin); Ian Underwood (clarinet, saxophone, piano, organ); Max Bennett, Shuggie Otis (bass); John Guerin, Paul Humphrey, Ron Selico (drums).
Engineers include: Dick Kunc, Jack Hunt, Cilff Goldstein.
Rolling Stone (3/7/70, p.48) - "...If you're eager for a first taste of Beefheart or interested in the new approaches to instrumental style and improvisational technique being developed these days, this is as good a place to start as any..."
Entertainment Weekly (12/17/93, p.36) - "...This album, Zappa's first without the Mothers, is his attempt to make jazz appealing to non-fans....lush instrumentals still sound up-to-the-minute. RATS also includes Captain Beefheart singing the epic 'Willie The Pimp.'..."
Q (8/95, pp.150-151) - 3 Stars - Good - "Secure and melodious, this captures Zappa's art as it lost the febrile nature of the early Mothers and ossified....into easy-listening jazz-rock. Nice tunes, though."
Option - Highly Recommended
Record Collector (magazine) (p.105) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "HOT RATS saw Zappa, in his first proper album without the Mothers, perfectly melding jazz and rock....Full of power, this down-and-dirty album delicately fuses both genres successfully." Frank Zappa Hot Rats Songs Hot Rats Music Review Average Rating: (3 out of 5 stars)   List All Reviews Not Rats!
This album was not merely remastered, it was remixed and badly.
Imagine hearing your favorite song with the melody removed!
The original Hot Rats was a masterpiece.
I wish some record company would released it on CD, like they did with the original version of We're Only In It For The Money.
I don't care if Zappa himself preferred the remix of Hot Rats.
In my opinion, this current Hot Rats CD is an abomination.
Submitted by a reviewer (Boynton Beach, Florida)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 2 of 2 found this helpful.
PEACHES IN REGALIA
THIS SONG IS PLAYED BY THE BOSTON PHILHARMONIC....THEY ONLY PLAY CLASSICS
IF YOU ONLY BUY THIS ALBUM FOR THIS SONG ALONE...THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST SONGS EVER COMPOSED
Submitted by FOURITISWRITTEN (KANSAS ,CITY ,KS) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No  Taking it seriously
Frank Zappa had a serious musical side, as 'Weasels ripped my flesh' demonstrated. Before he descended into increasingly self-parodic material in the seventies, Frank's 'Hot Rats' was a serious attempt to take rock into the sphere of serious progressive music and it pretty much succeeds beautifully. Backed as usual by the wonderful Ian Underwood and with a hot rhythm section including John Guerin on drums, Frank rocks out while also making some grand statements. 'Peaches en Regalia', the opening track, reminded this listener of Prokofiev's March of the Three Oranges, for instance. Frank liked his violins and Sugercane Harris and Jean-Luc Ponty feature on a few songs, while his old mate Captain Beefheart does the vocal honours on the down and dirty 'Willie the Pimp'. A treat from start to finish.
Submitted by a reviewer (Sydney, Australia)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
Bring Back the Vinyl!!
after all the years of living without a turntable, i finally replace one of the greatest recordings ever with the CD version only to find it sounds like a cheap knock-off! take 2 of the gumbo variations (as stated on sheik yerbouti) bites the big one!!!!!
Submitted by lonewolf (columbia, sc, usa)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Not as good as the original vinyl
I agree with another reviewer. This has been remixed and is not so good. Indeed, in The Gumbo Variations, there is extra stuff in the opening and sax solo which in my opinion add absolutely nothing to the original. Do what I've done, digitise the original album and get the CD purely to complete your FZ collection. I know which one I'll be listening to!
Submitted by KevinB (Wimborne, UK)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No List All Reviews | Have you heard this album? |  |
Purchase Hot Rats CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention Freak Out! CD (1966) Remastered
Hot Rats
For Sale Pre-Order Now! Available: Tuesday, November 17, 2009
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Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention: Frank Zappa (guitar, keyboards, percussion, vocals); Ray Collins (vocals, harmonica, percussion); Elliot Ingber (guitar); Roy Estrada (bass, vocals); Jimmy Carl Black (drums, vocals).
In 1966, when even the Doors and the Grateful Dead were still at a garage band level, Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention took great pride in being the ambassadors of freakdom. The hippie/flower ...
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While performing at England's Rainbow Theater on December 10, 1971, Frank Zappa sustained a serious injury when an overzealous fan pushed him off the stage. Zappa was forced to keep a low profile while recovering from this traumatic event, but he was in the middle of a very fertile recording period--his classic albums HOT RATS, BURNT WEENY SANDWICH, and CHUNGA'S REVENGE had all recently been released. Instead of moping around, Zappa immersed himself in writing new music, and 1972's WAKA/JAWAKA was his first album to appear since his accident.
Although not as instantly rewarding as the aforementioned HOT RATS, WAKA/JAWAKA is still a solid Zappa album. Like its predecessors, the album contains elements of Frank's instantly recognizable jazz-rock fusion. But due to its gritty rock production, the four-song album (two tracks are very lengthy, the others ...
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This album appeared within the same year as WAKA/JAWAKA and continued Zappa's exploration of the possibilities for composing and arranging material for a big band with a hefty brass and reed section. Both albums were produced during the period in which he was recuperating from injuries sustained when he was thrown from the stage during a London concert the year before. THE GRAND WAZOO still sounds like a fresh and equal marriage of Zappa's already developed and apparent musical sensibilities with large ensemble ...
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Even with musicians such as George Duke and Jean-Luc Ponty and several horn players, the album is more rock than jazz. Awash with references to tweezers, dental floss, dandruff, ponchos, poodles and dwarves, OVER-NITE SENSATION is laugh-out-loud funny. The opener, "Camarillo Brillo," which recounts a nutty sexual encounter, is full of intricate wordplay, and the more explicit "Dinah Moe Hum" surely delighted legions of brainy high school boys when it was released. The wonderfully demented "Dirty Love" belongs in the pantheon of great Zappa songs, as does "I Am the Slime," a hilariously astute, prescient take on couch-potato culture, ...
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