Hot Rats

Proof that with Zappa, jazz is not dead, it just smells funny.

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.

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.

oh they're groovin!!!!!! they are groovin, absolutely swinging on the dancefloor! look at em go, they're just vibing!!!!! they're groovin!!!

Rats could have been hotter.

It might not deserve a 5 but I've had to listen to 2 albums by The Fall in the last 3 days so this sounds like a flawless album.

Not 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.

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.

hot rats hot rats hot rats

In the early 90s, when I was about 20, I worked at Scratches, a small record store in Newtown that sold a lot of second-hand records. One of my tasks was to test play all the second-hand tapes and CDs before they hit the shelves to make sure they were in playable condition. It meant that I spent a lot of time listening to records I would not have otherwise chosen. One day, it was my responsibility to listen all the way through to "Shut Up and Play Your Guitar", a double CD of over two hours of Frank Zappa live guitar solos. No songs, just solos, all edited together. It was interminable. A lot of my friends were really into Zappa. Dave, for example, would invariably play Weasels Ripped My Flesh whenever he could control the stereo. I was complaining to another friend, Jeremy, about listening to two hours of unrelenting Zappa guitar solo, and he replied that he had, in fact, himself attempted to make cassette compilations of Zappa solos from bootlegs and other live recordings. A professionally edited CD would be ideal, in his opinion. I couldn't believe there was a market for such a thing. Personally, I was never convinced about Zappa I mean, I can admire what he does, and it was a relief that he didn't take everything _too_ seriously (at least by way of comparison with most jazz-rock or prog, which is a pretty low bar for levity). But I was never able to buy into the cult. Hsi arrangements were too ostentatiously clever. His famous 'sense of humour' was never actually funny. You only have to watch his ill-fated appearance on Saturday Night Live to see that. Or read an interview with him. Or about him. I watched the Zappa documentary, and he didn't actually seem like a bundle of laughs. Mark Allen wrote in Classic Rock: "All the boys in my house at college thought it was hilarious ... a cryptic genius working at the coalface of the avant garde .... But the girls thought different. To them, Zappa was a grotesque and irksome pervert whose soulless music knotted the knees and brought dance floors to a shuddering halt." The girls were right on the money, in my opinion. Some random observations about Hot Rats: - the general lack of vocals means that the most egregious failings of Zappa's 'humour' (mean-spiritedness, intellectual snobbery and sexism) are largely avoided - Willie the Pimp is the best thing Captain Beefheat ever appeared on, and it's got a terrific blues rock riff - while heralded as "jazz-rock", this is improvisational rock, and not a lot of jazz in it - Zappa can squeeze out a passable guitar lead, but he really only has a limited range, and it starts to get a bit dull after a while - Gumbo Variations and It Must Be A Camel can be a challenging slog to get through, but not nearly as obnoxious sounding as many people say Hot Rats is a listenable record (especially side 1), but I'm not in love. I'm certainly not going fight Zappa-freak collector scum to pay $100 or more for a vinyl copy.

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

lukewarm mice

Zappa chads won... They fucking won....

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

Zappa’s Hot Rats were not bad company today, though after a first listen only enormous indifference stopped me from finding something else to play. Beefheart’s intro to one of Z’s long jams was my highlight, and I’m sure that the rest would go well with attendance at some school sports event; here I hope Simon can advise me. Until the happy day my scion rolls up to beat his schoolmates up at ice hockey or interpretative dance or somesuch, I shall not listen to this again. A lot of skill to admire here, all at the service of lecturing me with notes.

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!

Hot Rats Wow, I was not expecting this to be so great. I had vaguely heard of it but didn’t know anything about it. I was thinking it would be something in the vein of the MOI’s deliberately abrasive outsider contrariness, but I was very surprised that it was a relatively straightforward psychedelic jazz rock album, with a nice dash of eccentricity and a massive amount of improvised guitar high jinks. There’s a recognisable little pattern in Peaches en Regalia from about 0.22 to 0.39, it sounds like it’s from Freak Out or We’re Only In It For The Money, but then the songs moves off gracefully into a different space, played absolutely fantastically with some brilliant refrains and passages. Love Willie the Pimp, Beefheart really suits it, and the fiddle and guitar riff is great on the first half before it branches out into the jam section with some excellent guitar. Like every song on here the rhythm section is superb, locking into a fantastic groove, and I’m not normally that into improvised guitar workouts but on here it is absolutely brilliant. It’s the same story on Son of Mr Green Genes and the superb, mesmeric The Gumbo Variations. Another fantastic pocket that the rhythm section hit, and I love the reappearance of the fiddle. Little Umbrellas I like too, a more traditional jazz style song, but it’s got a vague feeling of underlying uneasiness to it, as does It Must Be a Camel, with its great piano and slightly frantic bass. Some great passages in that too. I thought this was absolutely fantastic, one of the best surprises so far, hypnotic, graceful, a bit odd and full of great moments and passages. Can’t be anything but a 5. 🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀 Playlist submission: The Gumbo Variations

"Hot Rats" is the second solo album by American musician, composer and bandleader Frank Zappa. The album was the first after the dissolution of the Mothers of Invention with five of the six songs being instrumentals. An apt description is instrumental jazz-influence compositions with extensive soloing. It was one of the first albums to use a 16-track recorder. Frank played guitar, octave bass and drums and his main collaborator, Ian Underwood, played piano, organ, flute, clarinets and saxophones. There were a lot of other musicians who also contributed. Commercially, it hit #9 in the UK and #173 in the US. One of Frank's most well-known songs "Peaches en Ragalia" opens the album. A drum and piano roll starts the song which goes to horns and keyboard for the melody. The song moves around....well, all these songs do. There's a great horn mid-section. Ron Selico killing it on the drums. Captain Beefheart sings the only album vocals on "Willie the Pimp." A down and dirty sound opens things up....more bluesy. Frank has an absolutely epic seven-minute guitar solo. Another highlight is Don "Sugarcane" Harris on the electric violin in the intro and outro. "The Gumbo Variations" has a nasty, bluesy guitar intro with the sax in the background. This nearly 13-minute long song is one of horn and guitar solos. I think Underwood used every horn he had. Some of the solos are layered. Some more stud drumming...this time by Paul Humphrey. The album closes with "It Must Be a Camel." The structure is pretty much the same with individual and layered solos of guitar, piano and horns. Jean Luc-Ponty on the violin. This song more in jazz area. This is a complex album with instruments coming in and out. They're layered at times. It is evident that Frank took full advantage of the 16-track recorder. Of course, the musianship is just top notch with some impressive solos especially Frank's guitar ones. This is one of my favorite Frank albums. Besides, some of the song titles, there's nothing gimmicky or sarcastic going on which can annoy me in some of his albums. An album worth listening to if only for the musicianship and/or the wonderful "Peaches en Ragalia."

1969 was arguably the greatest year for music ever and this album is definitely one of the main reasons. Frank Zappa's Fusion of Jazz with Psychedelic Rock stands still today as one of the greatest albums in either genre. The album itself is very complex in its structure without being too weird or Avant-Garde. Zappa shines not only as an incredible guitar player but as a true composer. The arrangements outside of the typical Rock instruments like the flutes on Little Umbrellas work perfectly within the songs context and do not feel like they were put in for the sake of it. Additionally, the album is mostly instrumental with only Willie the Pimp featuring vocals in the first half and these vocals done by Zappa's longtime friend Captain Beefheart work perfectly in the songs context although the song looses a lot of what made it so great at first in the second half. Even the lengthy Gumbo Variations has enough variation to still be entertaining the whole way through. Hot Rats is one of the most diverse and fun albums ever created and is one of my favourite albums EVER. favourites: Peaches on Regalia, Son of Mr. Green Genes, The Gumbo Variations least favourites: Willie the Pimp (second half), Little Umbrellas Rating: a strong 9 to a *10*

Man. This was really cool. That first track is out of this world! I can totally see the appeal. This must be one of the foundational Frank Zappa records that started us off on the absolute roller coaster of records that were to come. There are certainly peaks and valleys, and not everything is perfect, but… I can’t stop thinking about how unique and singular this album’s sound is. It sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard— free-wheeling, very bizarre, improvised and off-kilter and seemingly made in a daze, but also so obviously composed, obviously written out with all the intention of a mad scientist dictating his every perverse thoughts. I have no idea how this could have been made, because it sounds too planned to be totally random, but also too “live” to not be done in a super loose and freeform way. There are definitely better and more complete “albums” that Zappa gets into, but this one struck me as this perfectly insane, bizarre concoction that I don’t quite understand. For musicians and writers like me who are all about jamming, improvisation, this seems positively genius. For someone with a jazz background, I’d bet you couldn’t help but feel that there’s some insane method to this that we’re all missing. Zappa before the absurdism really took hold, but also a really convincing, *good* piece of music that defies the laws of gravity somehow. I’m gonna be thinking about this for a while. It’s 1969 and this kid is blowing my mind, 5/5

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

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

Having grown up with a progressive rock bend, I’ve always been a fan of Frank’s… I see a lot of "jazz fusion", and "improvisational jazz" labels being placed on him – but he is a progressive rock artist – first and foremost in my mind… Gun to my head, my favorite Frank album is 1974’s “Apostrophe (!)” which I think is an absolute classic – though I am familiar with a fair amount of his more popular work… Have listened to “Hot Rats” before, and knew a few of these tracks – so it isn’t surprising given my natural bend, plus being familiar with some of this material already, that I really enjoyed this album… The song that is referenced as one of his best all the time is “Peaches En Regalia” – which is absolutely fine IMO – but there were so many other tracks on this album that I enjoyed more… Have always been a fan of “Son Of Mr. Green Genes”, as there are some spectacular live versions out there, as the JamOn Sirius XM station back in the day, used to play a lot of Frank… Besides the quality of the music, the humor behind writing a track based on an urban legend about you (i.e. Frank was rumored to be the son of Mr. Green Jeans from The Captain Kangaroo kids show in the 60’s – unfortunately not true…) says a lot about the fun side of Frank – which permeates his approach to music… Really enjoyed “Willie The Pimp” – especially the jam over the last half of the song, and “It Must Be A Camel” is a great closer… My favorite track on this album – even more so that every track I’ve referenced so far, was “The Gumbo Variations” as the jam on that one is just so well-done… I’m sure a lot of folks might be turned off by 8 to 12 minute songs, but in the progressive world – that is sort of that standard… Try experimenting with worrying less about how long a song actually is, and truly listen to the music with 100% of your attention and focus - and you just might find that the song ends much earlier than you wanted it to… : ) Since I’m going to give “Apostrophe (!)” a 5, I’m gonna slot “Hot Rats” in just a little lower – so definitely a solid 4 for me, and an album that I recommend that everyone give a listen to!

This was absolute trash

Holy God but I was NOT prepared for quite how hot these rats turned out to be.

Woah. This is right up my alley. Rock with the backbone of jazz? Jazz that rocks? Hoooooooly Toledo. Obviously I've always known the name Frank Zappa, but little did I know that this guy would probably make for my perfect next musical obsession. This is very, very, very cool. Intelligent, diverse, and solid all around. Looks like I have a lot more listening to do.

An outstanding jazz fusion album. Peaches En Regalia into Willie the Pimp are such a hype way to start the album. The second half if the record never comes close to the highs of the beginning, but the whole album feels like a technically played warm hug. 4.5/5 - 5/5

Damn, I didn't know Zappa was chill like that. It feels like a 43 minute long guitar solo, and I say that with every ounce of appreciation in my heart. Damn good funk.

Finally some Zappa!! 5

I didn’t get any Zappa as a kid because it wasn’t on the radio. I had to hear it as an adult when I could afford the albums. Too bad I missed a lot. This was great to hear again.

I love going back to this album. It starts with a bang and doesn't let down. Hearing Captain Beefheart on "Willie the Pimp" got me to thinking "Bongo Fury," so that album got a listening, too. Amazing.

Anything by Zappa gets 5 stars from me.

This is crazy! Might be the best Jazz-Fusion album of all time and definitely Zappa's best work. The guitar with it's jazzy chords and the beautiful arrangements make this a truely one of a kind experience. Like Peaches en Regalia is sooo good and Willie the Pimp is the only song with vocals and Zappa isn't even the one singing it's fucking Capitain Beefheart!!! I really don't get why a lot of people don't like this album on this site: It's perfect through & through! favourites: Peaches en Regalia, Willie the Pimp, Gumbo Variations & the rest too least faves: none... really none rating: light to decent 10

Weird, crazy, but very good. I found this album very enjoyable to listen to. Every song was great.

Wow - Haven't listened to this before and was pleasantly surprised!!!

loved it

Instrumental and long songs (only 6 songs) so good for background whilst working

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.

Awesome album, not really for the faint hearted but fantastic musicianship

Really good stuff. The bass is especially sick. The end of the album got a little noisy and annoying to me, but I also listened to it while putting together IKEA furniture, so it could've just been that. You'd think in the age of chat gpt, IKEA could handle writing out instructions in multiple languages instead of making me play pictionary with their fucking generic instruction manual.

🎶Jazz Fart, Jazz Fart Everybody’s listening to the Jazz Fart🎶

Never really listened to a full Zappa album other than Apostrophe. The musicianship is crazy. Very entertaining and interesting.

Not a big Zappa guy but I think this is one of his better ones. I love his collaborations with Captain Beefheart, like Willie The Pimp. I don't know many - or any, actually - Zappa fans who are not males musicians. It's weird because when people say, for example, that Rakim of Eric B and Rakim is your favorite rapper's favorite rapper, that makes you want to check out Rakim. But when they call Zappa a "musician's musician" it has a negative tinge. It's explaining why you might not like it, where I guess the thing about Rakim is explaining why you need to check him out more.

I like the idea of Frank Zappa. I feel he is spoken about as a musician with integrity and personality. But his body of work is quite intimidating. 'Hot rats" is apparently at the more 'accessible ' end of his spectrum. And, sure enough , it has a progressive jazz feel from the off. I'll listen again and I'm sure it will grow over time.

I knew Frank Zappa's name before starting this project, but I didn't know anything about his music. I've reviewed one Mother's of Invention album so far, but this will be my first Frank Zappa solo album to listen to. I enjoyed Freak Out!, so I expect I'll like this album as well. Overall, this album was pretty good. I liked the jazz structure to the songs, and the musical arrangements were varied and interesting to listen to. These songs had an experimental feel to them, but they still managed to feel accessible. I enjoyed the first half of the album a bit more than the second half; I felt like the second half was a bit more restricted in terms of structure and sound than the first half, and the overall sound suffered from that. I wasn't really expecting something like this from Frank Zappa, but I don't think this is the type of album I'd listen to again. It's not that it was bad, but it's just not really my style.

Knocking a star off because halfway through Gumbo Variations I was feeling very jam band-ish. That being said, I like the music! Have never listened to Frank Zappa. I understand why he is a favorite and probably inspiration to Trey Anastasio. I liked Son of Mr. Green Genes best, Little Unbrellas least.

Nr. 169/1001 Peaches En Regalia 4/5 Willie The Pimp 2/5 (2x) Son Of Mr. Green Genes 3/5 (2x) Little Umbrellas 3/5 The Gumbo Variations 2/5 (3x) It Must Be A Camel 3/5 Average: 2,89 Actually liked this better than expected. Still won't listen again.

Not what I was expecting … Honestly, I kind of enjoyed this one. Nothing earth shattering, nothing that’s going to make the rotation for me but, it was enjoyable. I would describe it as jazz fusion, and again, that is not what I was expecting …..

envie de jouer au solitaire en ligne

Je résumerais l'album ainsi: Frank Zappa superpose des sons sans aucune cohérence et demande à nos oreilles de se démerder avec le résultat.

If you’re out of your mind on any number of substances, I bet this is great. I’m not, and it wasn’t.

This sucks. I hate frank zappa.

So Zappa is like the original jam band guy? But with trumpets? Dislike. And I was really bummed to see another entry featuring one of the only artists I've given one-star on this list (Captain Beefheart). Blech.

This was mostly inoffensive until it wasn’t. I’ll never be high enough for Frank Zappa I don’t think

What a strange ass album. Grateful that Borno sent me down the path to listen to his congressional hearing on parental advisory music. Additionally, Linc Dawg showed me one of this better songs: Watermelon in Easter Hay

1. Peaches En Regalia - Really nice piano intro, the kind of thing i'd write tbh. Not too sure about the synth melody but I think the song owns it. Sounds like midi wood winds as well, and an organ, which the organ sounds really cool I think. Might be a fun jam song to play, but I feel like it lacks a fair amount of melodic substance, like each instrument isn't stream lined with one musical theme. Definitely a style I haven't heard much of, and would certainly dig in specific moods. 2. Willie The Pimp - Really awesome guitar playing, feel like the intro started off a lot more dicey, but once you ease yourself into it the groove is quite enjoyable. I don't really dig the vocals that much but I understand the kind of style that they are going for. For a nine minute track, the guitar playing manages to stay pretty fresh throughout, can't say it felt like it was dragging along, mainly due to the several registers and styles the guitar explored. Nice parts of drums throughout the track, really cool and unique ways of carrying the groove that I haven't heard much before. Near the end might be my favourite part, when they bring the tempo back and play more on the beat, pretty groovy. The drums and guitar also communicate to each other quite well. 3. Son Of Mr. Green Genes - Feeling a very big stylistic contrast between all the track on this album which is pretty cool. Like the overlapping melodies on this one, feels very well put together. Really nice guitar part coming in as well, would've love to hear a different tone or style than the last track but thats alright. Am I hearing a Glockenspiel? or some kind of Synth? pretty cool little scales it's playing though. The horns are super cool, loving the line coming from the Tuba, with that slight growly edge to it is pretty nice. The tempo of the track is almost suggesting a jazz/rock hybrid, but feels a lot more like a jam styled genre than a rock album. Each note on the guitar sounds pretty crystal, and the bass line is nice and complicated. Interesting use of scales as well, diverting from the blues scales to other modes, and then falling backing into the blues. Briefly plays 'Come Together' for some reason, but you know what good for you I guess. I like the outro, the piano chords are pretty crunchy and cool, as well as the harmonic switch going to a primarily major sequence. 4. Little Umbrellas - The double bass naturally creates a much more jazzier feel, sounds a lot less like King Krimson at the moment. I like the little melodic dissonance between the saxophone and the supporting instruments. The Organ has a simple yet quite effective little solo, I feel like it may overstay its welcome within the song, the recorder coming in on the ending line does make for a good finish though. 5. The Gumbo Variations - My notes unexpectedly quit and did not save, and the song itself is simply not worth listening to again. Felt like Pink Floyd on crack. 6. It Must Be A Camel - Super cool drumming on this track, very refreshing going to a more refined song after listening to jam tracks like the Gumbo Variations. Keys and horns compliment each other quite well. Like all of the other tracks, the instruments seemingly switch between diatonic and dissonance a little too often and with no warning. For me, its too jarring and especially for tracks that demand an uncommon level of attention (compared to that of modern song formulas) it is difficult to enjoy the song the entire time. I'd say the two most best and most consistent parts of all the tracks have been the drums and either the guitar or sax, otherwise, the tunes aren't strong enough to stand on their own. Overall, there was a lot of interesting and unique arranging and concepts within this album, but I can't imagine giving it a second try personally. It sits in an uncomfortable position between art music and rock, blues and jazz, which unfortunately blends into ideas that to me don't sound completely cohesive. Rating: 5.2/10

Anyone complaining about today's pop music will have to explain to me how people in the 60s voluntarily listened to 45 minutes of annoying guitar wanking. Edit: and now also saxophone wanking, for fuck's sake.

I fucking hate that fucking woman I think she’s gonna die in that HOUSE.

ugh, prog

Listen

1) Jazzy intro. *** 2) Funky beats. Nice bass tone that carries the rhythm section. Zappa's guitar wiggles through the spaces in time. ***** 3) Nice shifts of pace. Strong organ and piano segments. ***** 4) Interlude - tidy **** 5) Equal parts incoherent and sublime. The drums are fantastic and keep the frantic pace. I'm not a big sax man but can appreciate the licks. I'm a big sucker for an organ however, and those little short sharp tones that cut in from 8 minutes are a thing of beauty. Zappa is going off on one here... The drop at 10 minutes into drum and bass only is lovely. ***** 6)Not sure I needed this after the previous track. Still - nothing wrong with this one either. *** This one is probably going to be 4.5/5. It's everything I like and my first foray into Zappa. Only 133 albums to go!

I have a hard time getting into a lot of the Zappa canon somewhat due to not usually caring for his boomer brand of satirical lyrics. Albums like this and "The Grand Wazoo", where the focus is basically entirely on instrumental improv rock, are his best material for my own tastes. 9/10.

Love this record! Some of the little pinky riffs and solo phrases are deeply embedded in my brain. Such awesome free phrasing. And yet - it feels very nicely planned and arranged and quite formally composed in a lot of places. I always feel like it zips by so quick and am surprised to remember that it's a standard album length

If you are ever in danger of taking this whole 1001 Albums list too seriously, or believing it to be an actual arbiter of quality and essentialness when it comes to the history of popular music, consider that the list contains no less than three (3) albums by retro regressive, nostalgia riding, classic rock cosplaying dorks The Kings of Leon and just one (1) solitary entry from the long, wild, weird and bogglingly amazing discography of Frank Zappa. Zappa was many things - virtuosic, iconoclastic, scatalogical, pig heading, insanely prolific, prolificaly insane - but you can never say he wasn't forward focused. He would've hated KOL. Zappa deserves far more representation on this list. This album slaps hard. Listen to it and remember to distrust all authority, including this list.

I usually cringe and hide from frank zappa because , honestly I don’t get it. I appreciate him but for the most part it sounds like noise. This album was OUTSTANDING! Pure excellence! I loved it!

I'm not really sure there are words to describe this. Loved it though

We know is album is fire. If you don't like Zappa, you can cut through some of the corniness of some of his other work and just listen to the sick talent that is Zappa and his crew.

Yes! I'd forgotten how joyfully loopy Frank Zappa albums are. I went through a definite phase in my 20's, but it has been a very long while. I had a blast revisiting this gem.

9/10

This was a great listen. Loved this album.

Having never heard this or really Zappa, I was expecting something much more divisive! Coming off the back of a weekend where I went to see Maruja, a band that combine elements of jazz into rock, this makes perfect sense to me and makes it perhaps fairly unsurprising that I think this is brilliant! A great, captivating energy throughout, underpinned by a groovy bluesy rhythm and those piercing moments of jazzy guitar, keys and brass. I basically had to stop work for about 40 minutes to just listen to and appreciate it.... why did nobody tell me about this?! The 3 extended jams are the best 3 tracks on here and its hard to pick a fave between them.... but it's all good!

Zappa zapped it!!!

Love! Purely love!!

Favourite Songs: Willie The Pimp Son Of Mr. Green Genes Little Umbrellas It Must Be A Camel

Veldig kult, spesielt for alderen

Overall: 5 Consistency: 5 Originality/Innovation: 5 Enjoyment: 5 Virtuosity: 5 1. Peaches en Regalia - 5 2. Willie the Pimp - 5 3. Son of Mr. Green Genes - 5 4. Little Umbrellas - 5 5. The Gumbo Variations - 5 6. It Must Be a Camel - 5

my one and only fav zappa record

shortlist for den noe gjevere lista "10 album du må høre før du dør." musikk har aldri vært så gøy -- hverken før eller siden.

Super!

Great jazz

Unexpectedly good and fun, jazz and instrumental psy rock together. Who would have thought!

This album changed my life.

A complete left field album for me. I never like this kind of stuff but it's so good, fun and challenging and frightening and ridiculous at the same time.

This just felt COOL! Interesting grooves, great playing, was overall just a great listen. 4.5/5 will (and have already) listen again

muuuy jazz

I will be the first person to talk about how much they hate Frank Zappa, the avant-garde anti-popularity nonsense, the better-than-thou-ness, and the general vibe. That was until today when I listened to Hot Rats for the first time, this album is not only fun but is also interesting and catchy.

Unyielding symphonic funk rock jam explosion. Hard to believe this came out only a year after We’re Only In It For The Money, which exhibited relatively little instrumental and compositional prowess. Peaches in Regalia is a towering masterpiece that is not matched elsewhere, but high points abound, like the single most shredding violin solo ever put to tape. Zappa called this a ‘movie for your ears’ and he did not oversell it.

One of the best albums ever!! Have lived this album since 1969. For the time, nothing came close to the recording quality. Musicianship unreal!!! Songwriting excellent!!! Beefhart great vocal on classic Willie the Pimp!!!!

All time banger

Best Songs: Peaches En Regalia Son Of Mr Green Genes The Gumbo Variations

Genial. Zappa tiene el toque perfecto para que, un álbum que podría considerarse muy para especialistas y conocedores, sea accesible, divertido y emocionante para todos. Le llega bien tanto al conocedor como al que no le ha entrado tanto a estos géneros. Tiene algunos tracks con toques jazzísticos que son una locura, y los momentos extendidos con durísimos solos de rock, son para volarle la cabeza a cualquiera. Discazo.

Aguante el ruock

I didn't think I liked Zappa. Still not sure, but I liked this album.

I've been on a huge jam band kick for a while, and I've recently been getting into Jazz Fusion and the like, so this is exactly what I needed. Just some incredibly high-energy soloing for 40 minutes. This album feels like everything that came out of late 60s experimentation put into Jazz, and the results are amazing. I love that all of the really experimental 60s bands looked at a saxophone and went "yeah, that's probably experimental" and then went totally apeshit on some random song, really adds a lot. It's astonomically rare for a saxophone to make a song worse, so sticking a sax player in every song and giving him 80% of the runtime makes the album way better, especially with all of his honking on The Gumbo Variations. I was honestly scared the entire album was gonna be way worse than Peaches en Regalia, given the fact that my dad never shuts the hell up about that song and how the school played it at his graduation a few times, but the whole album carries its energy and does a lot with it. Like I said, nothing but high-energy soloing for 40 minutes.

Frank Zappa is an artist who so many of my favourite artists has cited as a major inspiration, so I was happy when this album came up to delve into his music. And I bloody loved it. A beautiful journey through the mostly instrumental tracks, which were so beautiful layered and textural. I could hear the direct influences to music I love so much. Definitely listen to again and inspired me to listen to more of his work.

This is an all time great in my opinion! It’s a no skip album to end all no skip albums. It’s insanely deep with a TON of variety and energy. It’s wild to me that this album exists at all. It’s some of the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard while also being classic Zappa silliness. But with this album the humor and sarcasm doesn’t take away from or distract from the album. It’s just pure perfection! Genuinely I think peaches en regalia and little umbrellas might be two of my favorite songs of all time. This is genuinely the greatest accomplishment of Frank Zappa’s entire career!

Of course the best Frank Zappa album is the one where you see as little of him as possible. Or like most notable, or most well-known Zappa album? Something like that. What I'm trying to say is this album is awesome, but I didn't expect it from the guy who made "WHO ARE THE BRAIN POLICE???" and that kinda makes it more awesome. So just to start off, "Peaches en Regalia" is a fucking revelation. Not even 4 minutes but so much energy and life packed in. It's so uncharacteristically lush for Zappa, and so so SOOO beautiful. I saw somewhere that it's supposed to be a "movie for your ears" and damn if it doesn't sound like it. Every like 15 seconds something completely new turns up and it's astounding to hear. The saxophones, the flutes, the strings, it's all so pretty! "Willie the Pimp," while a much different song, is quite similar in its excellence: it just keeps changing slightly as it goes on and on and on.... the fiddle is also a really great touch. It gets so crazy near the end to the point where it begins to become almost like a really drunken, bluesy krautrock song. "Son of Mr. Green Genes," while great, is much less of an outright revelation than the first two songs, and more of a regular, everyday 8-minute jazz fusion track. Same with "Little Umbrellas," though that's only 3 minutes. "The Gumbo Variations," though... another insane song! I still can't believe how long this song goes on and still manages to be interesting. It's so incredibly layered! 13 minutes and not a dull fucking second! And then the last song functions sort of the same way that "Sunday" from Nick Drakes Bryter Layter functions, a nice little instrumental outro. So basically how this album functions for me is that it has 3 songs that blow everything else of the water, with the slightest bit of dead space, and a lovely little outro. Very beautiful! 9.6/10

Top album

For my money, one of the greatest guitar albums of all time. The arrangements are top of the line and the musicianship is unmatched. Easy 5/5

A l'époque j'empruntais beaucoup de CD à la bibliothèque du cégep Marie-Victorin. J'étais tombé sur Hot Rats un peu par hasard, la couverture m'intriguait et je connaissais Zappa de nom parce qu'un autre étudiant en jazz en parlait. Je l'ai fait roulé en boucle et j'aimais bien le mettre le midi quand j'animais la radio étudiante. Toute qu'un énérgumène ce Zappa!