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!