Hot Rats
Frank Zappa
1969
Album Summary
Hot Rats is the second solo album by Frank Zappa, released in October 1969. It was Zappa's first recording project after the dissolution of the original version of the Mothers of Invention. Five of the six songs are instrumental; while "Willie the Pimp", features vocals by Captain Beefheart. In his original sleeve notes, Zappa described the album as "a movie for your ears".
WikipediaNot my personal favorite Zappa album but it may be his best in many ways. Certainly the most listenable. Peaches en Regalia is like the theme to a TV show I'd want to watch. The track with Captain Beefheart is a fucking ripper. Zappa's a true iconoclast and this album proves his versatility. Motherfucker could do anything he wanted it seems, especially play the electric guitar - holy shit. He's largely underrated in that regard. I wish he went more in this general direction over the years but this album sort of stands out in his catalog. Nice balance of exploration and focus.
It feels like I'm in a very hip '60/'70s film and I'm into it. Actually was jamming hard enough that I put the record on from the top after I finished it the first time. And with this 5 stars I am officially my father's daughter.
oh they're groovin!!!!!! they are groovin, absolutely swinging on the dancefloor! look at em go, they're just vibing!!!!! they're groovin!!!
I don't listen to Zappa that much, but when I do it's usually Hot Rats. Zappa's discography is like the Cheesecake Factory menu. There are so many options to pick from, yet you know damn well you're going to pick the same thing you're used to having. That's what Hot Rats is for me. Incredibly fun to listen to and masterfully performed.
It's been such a long time since I listened to Hot Rats that I forgot most of it. It's such a playfully groovy trip of an album with crazily long and diverse songs. I really like Son Of Mr. Green Genes & The Gumbo Variations, and It Must Be A Camel is a smooth culmination of such a fascinating album of instrumentation. Gonna have to grab it on LP. I can only imagine spinning this in the Shelter. Groove on!
9/10. the 18 minute track is a bit much but the first half of this is pure fucking quality. Peaches en Regalia is blissful, the guitar textures on Willie the Pimp are insane, and Son of Mr. Green Genes is just a really fun time the whole way through. after that it loses a bit of steam, but not that much. it's super psychedelic and just a really good time? glad it's instrumental too
This is a jazz fusion masterpiece. The guitar work on this is superb and the instrumentation is just sublime. I can listen to this record over and over. I don’t have much else to say really. Favorite song: Willie The Pimp and Peaches En Regalia Least favorite song: None boy
Familiarity: 6/10 Frank Zappa's Hot Rats remains one of his most well known albums, and as one of the greatest rock albums of all time. This album carries it's 43min runtime through only 6 songs. Starting off with beautiful guitar composition in Peaches, to a driven jam instrumental in Willie the Pimp. The album then leads into the light hearted Zappa composition, Son of Mr. Green Genes, and continues on into the soothing jazz bass line of Little Umbrellas. Finally the album closes out with the intense rock epic The Gumbo Variations and the album closer, It Must Be A Camel. Favorite Tracks: (All of it, obviously... but the stand-outs) - Peaches en Regalia - phenomenal solo work - The Gumbo Variations - that bass tho
Awesome album, not really for the faint hearted but fantastic musicianship
Instrumental and long songs (only 6 songs) so good for background whilst working
Weird, crazy, but very good. I found this album very enjoyable to listen to. Every song was great.
Je résumerais l'album ainsi: Frank Zappa superpose des sons sans aucune cohérence et demande à nos oreilles de se démerder avec le résultat.
I wouldn't describe myself a full-fledged Zappa fan. I gravitate to either his classical avant guarde phase (e.g. The Yellow Shark) or his very short prog phase (Roxy & Elsewhere). Most folks consider Hot Rats an example of the latter. Opener Peaches En Regalia has a complex structure, memorable melodies, and an elaborate and detailed arrangement. It has some rock/R&B feel, but frankly, the genre is impossible to peg. Too bad I don't like it more. Some of the sonorities feel awkward to me, and the humorous elements are unwelcome. But this is purely a matter of taste. It's certainly a competent piece of music. Willie The Pimp is another matter. I've always found Captain Beefheart's Howling Wolf impersonation irritating, certainly in a blues/rock context, like here. The rhythm section is fine, but how much you enjoy this tune will depend on your tolerance for the lengthy solos. I've never found Frank Zappa's guitar playing especially interesting. He just drones on and on with permutations of standard blues and rock licks. His tone is okay, I guess. I just can't get very enthusiastic about it. Son of Mr. Green Jeans is of the same ilk as Peaches En Regalia. If you enjoyed that, you will likely enjoy this. There's also another extended guitar solo from Frank. Sigh. I find Little Umbrellas more appealing compositionally with it's gently insinuating melody and non-standard modal content. Ruth Underwood has the solo spots here, which helps. She's a monster player. And I like the bassist on this number, too. His bass tone is fat and his note choices are tasty. The Gumbo Variations is another standard blues riff extended to over 12 minutes! I don't hate the sax player, maybe because he brings some welcome skronk to the proceedings, but 12 minutes is a long time for this sort of thing. Once again, the rhythm players do a great job of maintaining interest, but there's only so much they can do. With Don Sugarcane Harris' extended violin solo, he proves he can be just as tedious as Zappa. Thankfully, the album closes with It Must Be A Camel, which has the sort of thoroughly unconventional melodies and harmonies that I've only heard from Zappa. Drummer John Guerin has a major role here. He's by far the most tasteful and imaginative soloist on this date. Too bad the rest of the album isn't this good. Interestingly, Jean Luc Ponty put out an album of Frank Zappa compositions called King Kong the same year Hot Rats came out, which Frank also arranged, and I adore that. Go figure. How to rate? Well, the session players are fine. The three through-composed tunes (as opposed to the jam sessions) are competent and show some creativity. The engineering is first-rate. But the solos bore the shit out of me. Ditto the jam tunes. 2.5/5
This album started out SO GOOD. Then (apparently) the drugs kicked in, the saxophone came out, and everything started falling apart until, by the end, the tracks were reduced to atonal, tempo-agnostic, guitar "solos" and random horn bleating. I tried so hard to give it the benefit of the doubt (after the mandatory 1-star subtraction for saxophone solos) but it just never recovered itself. By the time the last track wrapped I was legitimately angry at Zappa for putting this nonsense out into the universe.
Good jazz fusion, maybe even a little bit of proto-prog. Some crazy instrumentation on this, sometimes to its detriment like on the opener, not in love with the weird accordion sounds, but it’s fun, it’s groovy, jazzy, and the playing is awesome
I remember Burt sharing this record in early 2000s and I listened to Peaches En Regalia a ton but neglected the rest of it. Solid jams, lots of extended instrumental bits and even a whacked out saxophone solo!
Natürlich bekannt, schon viel zu lange nicht mehr ganz gehört. Nach dem ganzen Schrott in den vergangenen 2 Wochen eine wahre Wohltat.
An absolute banger, Zappa has an album of pure gold with wild sections of oddball stuff that always works. These are some real Hot Rats.
I love Zappa, Hot Rats is great because it shows his great skills as a guitarist and bandleader.
I have a weird relationship with Zappa - a lot of his music is deeply unpleasant, absolutely devoid of charity, warmth or human spirit, and not half as funny as his aficionados would lead you to believe. Yet, now and again, he would rise to the occasion and deliver something utterly sublime. Hot Rats is one of those moments - I love the grinding violin riff to 'Willie The Pimp' whilst 'Peaches En Regalia' might be his most focused and accomplished instrumental in the rock idiom. I don't chuck the word 'genius' around much, and I don't think it applies to Zappa ultimately, but when firing on all eight he came damn close.
Kein Wunder das alles den Bach runter geht wie high kann man denn gewesen sein beim komponieren und hören. The Gumbo Variations Großartig während dem Fahrradfahren gehört habe mich gefühlt wie in der Auflösung der zweiten Wendung in einem heist movie
Peak Zappa - incredible guitar work and full of absolute tunes. Second only to Overnite Sensation in my opinion!
Good start. Of course, heard this one many times. Bitchin' album start to finish.
its actually really good to listen to nowadays... its so good couple good song some are too long
I never know what to take from a Zappa album honestly. I always try to make a few listens, and sometimes I feel like I get it. I don't. It's like being stoned, having the best idea in the world. And then you sober up, and it's sorta just gone forever. That's how I feel When listening to Zappa. Maybe I get it in the moment, but afterwards I don't have anything. Not a clue, It's just a ride, and a fucking good one at that.
9/10. Actually I really enjoyed parts of this while sitting in traffic, it must be solid.
Pretty great beats actually, so much more fun than I was expecting. Listened to it twice because Spotify un-downloaded all my music. 9/10
Very captivating listen. Favorite tracks are Willie the Pimp and The Gumbo Variations.
I’m biased as a zappa fan, but this iconic album has the perfect combination of jazz fusion and rock n roll shreddiness. Nobody does what zappa does, 5 stars.
Absolutely cracking album! Even bough the vinyl after listening to this!
Being the jazz-rock classic that it is, Hot Rats was the album that got me into Zappa. Peaches en Regalia has always been one of my favourite tracks, but perhaps I have been ignoring the other songs too often, because this time around I noticed some pretty amazing stuff across the whole album. Zappa has such a unique guitar playing style, and stands out when it come to composition and arrangement. The wild improvisations in the longer tracks do not always work perfectly, but the excellent musicianship and the energy and excitement that the album breathes makes it easy to get past the iffier parts.
I greatly enjoyed listening to this album. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed all the songs, as I don't think there's a single one I dislike.
Probably my favorite frank Zappa. album. Awesome stuff. Peaches in regalia.
flaming genius, fabulously intense - not one for listening to every day, but like many great LPs, there is an itch that only Hot Rats can scratch.
Shocking, considering how insufferable I found "Freak Out!", that I would be so taken by this album. Zappa works a lot better without words for me.
It's amazing, for a guitarist, how much saxophone is in this album. The first time I heard this album, it did not become one of my favorites. But still, it has some great songs. "Peaches" is probably one of his greatest works. Listening to that piece today I really tuned in to the drums and marveled at how well-constructed they were. "Son of Mr. Green Genes" I had heard as a live performance, with lyrics. Surprising that it was originally just an instrumental. I have the Hot Rats Session box set. I need to listen to that at some point. The album itself is important as it is listed as "Frank Zappa" and not "Frank Zappa and the Mothers". I tend to gravitate to his Grand Wazoo era and Waka / Jawaka. But as a Zappa fan, I should listen to this one more often. Great stuff here.
This is the album to introduce people to Frank Zappa with. Especially when you're a rocker and a bit into jazz this is where you start before you dive into the man's immense back catalogue. If you're into instrumental solo's, whether guitar, clarinet, bass, violin, drums, this is the album for you. This album got it all and is likely one of the best Zappa has released.
Probably the album i've listened to the most. Absolute banger. The one i always recommend to people who wanna check out Zappa but might be apprehensive due to all the yellow snow, tower of powers, and cum. The perfect way to ease them into the weirdness.
I've listen this album 100s of times. It's arguably the first true Jazz rock album and is still a masterpiece. Peaces is a Zappa standard and excellent example of Jazz Fusion. Willie the Pimp with Sugarcane Harris's and Franks blistering solos laid the groundwork for Jazz Rock, just listen Mahavishnu Orchestra.
I've heard Frank Zappa's name for most of my life. When this popped up, I realized that I had no idea what kind of music he made. I must have heard some of his music somewhere along the way but I had not idea what that might be. I put this on and fell instantly in love with "Peaches in Regalia." It's catchy as hell, the arrangements are full of surprises - I love it! Even though I didn't know what to expect this was totally unexpected! "Willie The Pimp" changes the tone quite a bit with gritty vocals and guitars and a very long and groovy jam. Really enjoyed this too. "Son Of Mr. Green Genes" I guess is not about the recurring Captain Kangaroo character... but I love it so much! It's groovy, jazzy, and so cool and unique. It’s the perfect soundtrack for a most groovy dribble to work! A lot of this music is what the nondescript instrumental rock-and-roll the kids on the Brady Bunch played was based upon, only orders of magnitude better. I have no idea why an album like this has existed for my entire life and I haven't run into it before. This is one of my favorite new musical discoveries - I'm definitely going to be checking out more from Frank Zappa!
My first Zappa album and I absolutely loved this. One of the best jazz fusion albums Iv heard.
Vitttuuuuu miten kova! 5/5 ainoot laulutkin taitaa olla Beefheartin eikä Zappan suusta
Holy fuck, come let’s get lost in music. A fascinating and exhilarating listen
Zappa is an artist I just have never listened to. I dunno why. I should listen to him since everything about him is what I like, but yet I never have. I think this was a fantastic entry into his - very extensive - discography.
Absolutely amazing find. Great instrumentals. Cosmic rock mixed with jazz.
mahti albumi KUUSI KYMMENTÄ LUVULTA... yksi sana... musicianship.. NERO, JA EI PUHUTA ROOMAN RUHTINAASTA... täyttä häkää koko tuotoksen ajan laatu on katossa kiinni son of mr green genes on yli muiden.
Hot Rats has been the only Zappa album I listen to straight through. I know it pretty well and I love it. I'm not a fan of Frank Zappa in his entirety, though. I love a lot of his songs throughout his catalogue, but it rubs me the wrong way when he pushes the 'weird' too much. This album is a showcase of Frank Zappa's musicianship, composition and production skills without ever bugging me. I concede Captain Beefhart (I really don't like his music), but even here he fits in, doesn't spoil the mood and Willie the Pimp is an incredible jam after that. I know it's a whole lot of jam on this album, but Frank Zappa knows how to carry it and that's what I come to him to hear. This got me in the mood to keep rolling, so I followed it up with Waka/Jawaka.
Incredible prog rock, very original and peculiar fusion of jazz and rock. Zappa is the genius