Record Reviews

FRANK ZAPPA ~ THE HOT RATS SESSIONS ZAPPA 20032 (Barcode: 824302003220) ~ USA ~ Jazz-Rock Fusion Recorded: 1969 Released: 2019 This is an archival reissue of the sessions by iconic American guitarist / composer / bandleader / visionary Frank ZappaFind albums by this artist, recorded in July 1969, which finally resulted in Zappa’s legendary debut solo album “Hot RatsFind albums with this title”. This lavishly packaged Box Set celebrates the 50th Anniversary of these recordings and includes no less than six CDs of music, the first four recorded during the a.m. sessions and two additional CDs of vault materials, related to the “Hot Rats” album. Most of the sessions material, which was later (in August 1969) overdubbed and mixed down, was finally released on the “Hot Rats” album, but some tracks, or fragments of thereof, were released on later Zappa albums. These sessions in their original raw form are all previously unreleased. All the music was composed by Zappa. The group of musicians taking part in the recording of these sessions consists of violinist Don Sugarcane HarrisFind albums by this artist, pianist Ian UnderwoodFind albums by this artist, bassist Max BennettFind albums by this artist, drummer John GuerinFind albums by this artist, keyboardist Don PrestonFind albums by this artist, father Johnny OtisFind albums by this artist on piano and son Shuggie OtisFind albums by this artist on bass and others, since Zappa used many different musicians during these sessions. The material in this Box Set is a superb historic document, which shows how the recording process developed, stage after stage (or take after take), emphasizing the complexity of the project and Zappa’s role as the great constructor, who has the final result already in his head, before it was even started. But to be perfectly honest I am not sure that an average listener, regardless how much he appreciates the music, will have the patience and stamina needed to listen to the entire material attentively and comprehend the unfolding process, which can be quite mundane. Of course for people interesting in the recording process and the creation of the building blocks of an album in the studio, this material is absolutely sensational. The music, as I have already stated repeatedly, is beyond categorization, being first and foremost the idiosyncratic creation of Zappa’s musical Genius. Obviously at the time Zappa was discovering the Jazz elements in his music, creating his very own Jazz-Rock Fusion, but the claim that he “invented” the idiom is simply not true historically, as musicians across the pond were already playing Jazz-Rock Fusion several years earlier. But music is not a horse race, so who cares who was first. It is worth to remember that 1969 was an incredibly pivotal year in music history, not only for Zappa of course, but the entire music scene in the US and Europe was exploding with unchallenged productivity. Of course every new piece of reissued vault material by Zappa expands the portrait of one of the paramount musical Geniuses of the 20th Century. Overall, this is perhaps not an absolute must have album for all Zappaoids, but it definitely is a superb and highly detailed document of the way Zappa created his masterpieces, and of course a testimony to his musical out of the box thinking and creativity.

Updated: 24/09/2021Posted: 24/09/2021

CD 6 Mini-Sleeve Box Set Recommend To A Friend