This video has been so popular for me that I created another one to discuss The 5 Best Guitar Solo's by Frank Zappa. Check it out! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/o5qbnqh4psyanps.html

All of FZ's album's are essential.

Overnite Sensation is classic and probably his most accessible album. Joe's Garage was always my personal favourite. I was lucky enough to see Frank live 2 nights in a row back in the mid 70s. There'll never be another artist like him.

Awesome video man! My introduction was Willie the pimp and I’ve been hooked ever since. Zappa is easily in my top 5 guitarists of all time, my favorite improviser hands down. Huge influence on my own improvisation as well, nobody played a guitar the way Frank Zappa did. One of the things I love about this man is that once he starts a guitar solo, all of the humor and satire he’s known for goes right out the window. It becomes pure soul music and pure expression. I definitely can’t make a list of 5 Zappa albums, just wanted to comment on your great content and give this man some recognition. I feel a lot of people really only look at him as a non conformist without really recognizing what a badass composer and guitarist he truly was. Peace!

Can’t Stand Looking at Sick Frank ! He was Such a Big Part of Me growing up from the age of 12 in 1966 after hearing Freak Out ! AS EACH ALBUM WAS RELEASED I WOULD BE AT THE RECORD STORE BUYING IT, TAKING IT HOME LIKE IT WAS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT !!! DEVOUR IT FOR MONTHS AND WAIT FOR THE NEXT !!! MY COLLECTION IS MASSIVE !! LOVE AND APPRECIATE IT ALL !!!

My favorite album of Frank's is Hot Rats, and my favorite song is on that album, The Gumbo Variations I have listened to that song more than any other song. Great horn, violin and guitar solos, but the rhythm section is just killer. And nobody ever mentions Ruben and the Jets in their lists of top Zappa albums. It is a great tribute to / parody of Doo Wop music.

My favourite album is One Size Fits All and my favourite song is Inca Roads

I wore out my first press copy of We’re Only in It for the Money. I still have it. “ Whizzing and pasting and pooting through the day, Ronnie helping Kenny helping burn his poots away. And all the while on a shelf in the shed, Kenny’s little creatures on display.” Ah, my vanished childhood. Suzy, SuzyCreamCheese........ R.I.P., Frank Zappa

This video is itself a great introduction to Frank's albums. Nicely put together!

- One Size Fits All - Hot Rats - Roxy & Elsewhere - Bongo Fury - Chunga's Revenge

Awesome video dude! I must chime in and add one more to the list. Frank Zappa, Joe's Garage 1, 2 & 3 Maybe Roxy & Elsewhere. Another amazing album.

Brown shoes dont make it should be our National Anthem!

You're so right about it being hard to pick from all of his releases but for the most part, I agree with your selections. Congrats on the mention of your name in the MOFO release. I, too have been a Zappa fan since the Freak Out release.

The world misses you Frank Zappa!!

Favourite Zappa album? Easy. It all depends on where my mind is at when I reach for his music. Currently: The Grand Wazoo.

So cool. I have Freak out Hot Rats and Overnight Sensation on vinyl. Always loved Zappa but never had the albums

Great review, I’ll revisit my Zappa stuff now.

Great video. I love FZ, and have done all my life. I did get to see him live several times, and if I had a time machine, I’d use it to go back to those.

Im a devoted listener to Frank's music for over than 35 years now. When I first came into contact with his work I was first hooked by albums like Roxy & Elsewhere, Apostrophe, simply put the 1973 - 1974 band with George Duke, Chester Thompson, Ruth Underwood etc. In these days I started collecting his whole work. But looking back now, the albums which I still like the most for their anarchistic humour are the early Mothers - Freak Out, Absolutely Free, We're only in it for the money, Uncle Meat and also Lumpy Gravy.

Great work with this video. Of course Zappaphiles will quibble about which five albums are essential, but I think you made some great choices as an introduction. My only change would be swapping out Yellow Shark in favor of one of the live albums. A live album would give the new listener a taste of the full Zappa experience. I was fortunate to see Frank 5 times in concert, including the 1988 final tour ("The Best Band...", and I was at that Providence show!!) The relationship with the audiene, the band working with each other, lyric improv with current events, and Frank's studio enginneering to make the best recorded live experience, the live albums are just so much fun. "Music is the best!:

Just watching this 2014 doc on Zappa tonight...2.5hrs! Nice. And I've paused 'cause I was suddenly wondering who thought what might be the top album in the entire, monster catalog of FZ music. And your first choice is CR!!!! Dude. That has ALWAYS been my fav album. How reassuring... Great vid

1-One size 2-Sheik yerbouti 3-them or us 4-absoluty free 5-joe garage + bonus Overnight sensation

My top 5 are: 1. Zoot Allures 2. Apostrophe 3. Over-Nite Sensation 4. Sheik Yerbouti 5. One Size fits All

What a cool list to stumble across as a fan of F.Z. I will always favor "One Size Fits All", as it was my real introduction to Zappa. I had heard "Bongo Fury" at a friends house a few years before but was somewhat stultified at the time and hadn't connected the dots. But as a 19 year old recruit in the Air Force at Barksdale AFB I borrowed two albums from the library in 1985. One was a beat up copy of OSFA and the other was "Safe as Milk", not realizing that these people were linked. I fell in love immediately with both records and eventually stumbled across TMR which is the medicine. It was great to hear you pick "Chunga's Revenge" as the first pick!

interesting choices. thanks for giving me an idea of which FZ album to listen to now... my choice? Sleep Dirt... (your Hot Rats comments inspired me...)

"Dance Me This" -- an absolute masterpiece. Thank you for this video!

I love burnt weeny sandwich its a classic for me. Great stuff my friend from a zappa fan.

We're Only In It For the Money was my intro to Zappa. You are so right on it being the best introduction. Hilarious and poppy.

Good shout, great albums on the list. It's a difficult one to call, given his output, the line ups and talents of the individual band members other than Frank..

Dude! You need to know that the pronunciation of Sheik Yerbouti is *Shake* Yerbouti, which was a parody on the KC and the Sunshine band's huge hit (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty. Also, in the Arabic culture, the proper pronunciation is, indeed, shake.

You are a great dude....love watching young people finding Frank.

GREAT VIDEO!! IMHO

Congratulations! Kisses from Brazil!

Glad you mention Apostrophe, it's a great "first Zappa album", not too out there, killer playing, clever and quite funny. Perhaps you could say the same about Overnight Sensation - "sister album" as you say is a good description, released earlier; the two albums have been sold on a double CD. Zappa In New York is a great one, a good "second Zappa album", also very listenable to the uninitiated and contains, as far as I know, the only unedited version of Titties And Beer.

Liked your preference and reasons for calling "Money" over "Freak Out", I tend to agree, much as I adored FO when it came out.

NICE guitar collection. I see that Dano Sitar

Great list! I would recommend the same ones.

So glad the classical album you chose was yellow shark. I read that Zappa wasn't going to do it but ensemble moderne promised to practice, practice practice and they followed through with their promise which really got Zappa on board

Thank you so much for your informative FZ choice. I bought Money when it came out and and S pepper. I loved both albums. I have since bought many more Zappa albums but Money and Overnight Sensation are the ones I like the best. Chunga Revenge I have never heard or Yellow Shark. Thank you for your appraisal of FZ music. Without him my life would be so dull.

I loved Frank soon as I heard "Help! I'm a Rock!" at age 14. My usual introductory recommendations include some of yours, but it kind of depends who I'm talking to. For some, I might Recommend The Yellow Shark first. Usually, I recommend Overnite Sensation, We're Only in it For the Money (the original mix!), One Size Fits All, Apostrophe, and The Yellow Shark, probably in that order. My own personally inspiring records would have to also include Uncle Meat, Absolutely Free, and of course Hot Rats. I'm not that fond of Chunga's Revenge, or much else from the "Turtles period." But there's great stuff on all his records. There are 75 of his songs on my iPod, and I could probably add at least that many more.

Dude! Your love of Frank is obvious. At 54, I'm just starting to appreciate his music. (can you believe that crap?) Thank you for this video!!!

Almost every fan will give you a different list for the first 5 Zappa albums to listen to. So this list would not be mine, but your list is good. I approve.

Hey, Weird you get that Freak Out box set? I can't find it.

For all the people I'm trying to turn onto Zappa besides Apostrophe, I always give them One-size-fits-all!

If I had to choose 5 FZ albums, they would be (in no particular order): - Sheik Yerbouti - Joe's Garage (I-II-III) - Roxy & Elsewhere - Apostrophe - Overnite Sensation But there's so much incredible stuff in his catalog, this could change at any time.

My introduction to FZ was "Over-Nite Sensation", and that's what I recommend to other people for their first Zappa experience. That and "Apostrophe" are probably his most accessible albums. BTW, I'm sure someone must have mentioned this by now, but "sheik" is actually pronounced: "shake", not: "sheek". I mispronounced that album title for years before I found out.

I agree with the first 4 you selected and am particularly glad you included Chunga's Revenge. How great is the Nancy and Mary Music! I would only replace your last pick with the Live at the Filmore. Maybe because I saw it live and Flo and Eddie's Happy Together ble the roof off the place. Uncle Meat also is worthy of note, so clearly you can see I'm an old timer.

What a fun and interesting video. My personal favorite is One Size Fits All, which I consider a perfect album. Living in Utah gives Po-Jama People a whole new meeting. Random question, is it possible to be a Zappa fan but not a Can fan?

I saw FRANK ZAPPA Two times live years ago. Awesome live performances!!

The first Zappa album I heard was Hot Rats on 6 March 1971 and I was knocked out. I remember the date because the night before I’d seen Led Zeppelin in Belfast, and next day we visited some friends at the university who introduced us to Zappa. That was a musically formative weekend for the young me, just turned 17. My first concert by a really big band (my ears were ringing for three days) and my first experience of Zappa.

Interesting choice of five.

My intro to FZ was through Strictly Commercial and One Size Fits All. Needless to say, I was hooked. My 5 essential albums might be(in no particular order): Hot Rats, Roxy and Elsewhere, One Size Fits All, Zappa in NY, and The Grand Wazoo.

I guess mine is out of the box, but I liked Weasels Ripped My Flesh

Apostrophe, Sleep Dirt, One Size Fits All, Grand Wazoo, Shut-Up and Play Yur Guitar (All 3 albums)

sheik was my entry point to his music, has so many iconic moments. apostrophe, overnite and joe are my all time favorites. absolutely free is underrated, for the money is crazy. fillmore east '71 is so unique and hilarious. thing is there is so much material out there the well is limitless

If I may ask how’d you get involved with the cd and being on the list of names ?

The first zappa album I heard was Roxy mothers and elsewhere. I listen to it once put it away for 2 months played it for a friend and fell in love with Frank's music. My top 5 albums #1 overnight sensation #2 hot rats #3 Joes garage # the grand wazoo.# yellow shark album.

I was 14, heard One Size Fits All, it made a great impact on me. Been a Zappa fan since.

Great analysis....Just when I was worried you were going to leave out "We're Only In It For The Money"......#1.....CHEERS

This is a tough call. My decision will be guided by the nostalgia of when I first heard the album and my Zappa record collection titles that may not be common choices of equal brilliance. 1-Zoot Allures 2-Joes Garage Acts II and III 3-You are What You Is 4-Ship too Late to save a Drowning Witch 5-Jazz from Hell

As Frank said, his alternate entertainment was not for everyone, nor did he expect even fans to like all his work. My essentials: Uncle Meat, Lumpy Garvey, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Roxy & Elsewhere, One Size Fits All, Bongo Fury, Make a Jazz Noise Here, Everything is Healing Nicely, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore (1-6), Lather, Road Tapes (Venue 1-3), The Yellow Shark

i have about 30 zappa albums on vinyl. bought Freakout in the deletes bin for $1.50 with a hole thru it. Absolute favourite album is Wakajawaka. i know it inside out. Saw him live in Ottawa twice then Montreal twice after he stopped touring to ottawa. mid-late 70's. my favourite was the last one in ottawa, some where late in the show he sat on a stool with his food smoking away tucked in between the strings at the head of the guitar, and just improvised for 20 or 25 minutes solid, with a little signal to the band every now and then to change the tempo or switch to a new theme or style and just cooked and cooked. it was so incredible. I had friends who saw him in the late 60's when he'd show up at an after hours jazz club at 2 in the morning and play with whoever was there. wish i'd seen that

I bought Apostrophe at a yard sale. It was my first Zappa album. I fell in love with the track Uncle Remus. When will 200 Motels be rereleased on CD? I had the Ryo Disc released long ago but stupidly sold it. I still have it on vinyl but would like to have it on CD again.

My personal top 5: One Size Fits All !!! The best ever! 2, Grand Wazoo 3, Hot Rats 4, We're only in it for the Money. 5, everything else Frank ever played or composed. I want Sofa Nr. 1 played at my funeral. In fact, I would like to be listening to it when I die. What a beautiful way to go. BTW I reccommend all you Zappa fans come to the Zappanale festival in Germany next year (or whenever corona allows). If you love Zappa, you'l love the Zappanale.

Does your copy of Sheik Yer Booti have the initials SR somewhere on the back cover? If so, it's mine!

Thanks! I think Hot Rats should be in your list. It's a seminal work in the field of jazz rock music (with Bitches Brew, Miles Davis). With that fabulous Willie the pimp which looks like a blues (with the Captain Beefheart voice).

I love the mid 70s line up of the Mothers with George Duke, Ruth Underwood and Chester Thompson. They were an amazing live band. So I would go for the Roxy and Elsewhere and the Token of his Extreme live albums. Joe Garage is pretty good too.

@7:06 Interesting... I always thought Hot Rats was kind of lofi!! I think the copy my family had was from a peach crate of LP records that survived a fire... Smoked Zappa! I guess I will have to listen again! (and again, and again, and again, and again... !!!)

Great Googly Moogly!

His transformation into Zombie Woof occurred during Chunga's Revenge release, eh? He also wrote & released Waka/Jawaka & The Grand Wazoo while convalescing from that horrible attack. All of his equipment was torched in that infamous fire, by the way....and Apostrophe over Overnite Sensation, huh? (That is OBVIOUSLY Jack playing bass) Tough call....but OS has to take it based on two of Frank's most jaw-dropping guitar solos ever recorded - I am referring to his solo on "Zombie Woof" & the solo on "Montana", which, imho, is the single greatest electric guitar solo of all time ever. Oh yeah, I said it....and I am an expert on that subject. Also I'm glad you included The Yellow Shark -- you have a touch of class, young man. My favorite FZ album? Gosh, that is an impossible question/answer for me. I'm going to say I can't answer that right now for the simple fact that I haven't yet heard every single note Frank ever created and/or made available for consumption. Is this a cop out? Perhaps - but you got to pick 5 whereas I'm only allowed 1- this is hardly a level playing field, but it is your channel, and I offer no complaint.....merely observation.

I forgot to add that IOWA PUBLIC RADIO'S classical Station would play bits from Zappa's Yellow Shark lp when it came out.

I liked your selection, Chunga's Revenge is probably the only one I would swap out and I'm not sure for what. I also agree that Money is a better early example Mothers than Freak Out. For me it's really inventive and an amazing critique of the culture of the time. I don't think it's fair to blame McCartney for the hold up of We're only in it for the Money. According to Barry Miles Paul was fine with it, but the sleeve image was owned by EMI not the Beatles themselves, so he couldn't just clear it with Zappa over the phone.

Love Zappa. First album I heard was Joe’s Garage. Still one of my favourites.

I saw him Live He has so many albums but really an original guitar player..crazy guy and one of the best.

Don't totally agree My 3 favorites 1 One size fits all 2 Apostrophe 3 Chungas revenge

My sorta 5 essentials: - Freak out! - Absolutely Free - We're only in it for the money - Overnite Sensation / Apostrophe (') (One CD) - One Size Fits all I want, but I can't fit Hot Rats in there. There are others, but these have the best and most accessible songs of the 60s and early 70s, which I think was his best. I have things like Joe's Garage, Man from Utopia and Yellow Shark, and Civ phase I - III.

So I’m this huge Zappa fan… I have all the original albums on vinyl (first pressings of course) something like 35 of them. Anyway I used to have a recording studio in Burbank and my partner at the time would rehearse his band there and I was just hanging out and they are setting up and Bunk Gardner shows up and I’m like what the **** he’s playing with you guys?? They literally didn’t know he was a Zappa alum. And I’m like “we’re only in it for the money…” to him and he’s like “oh ****” I guess he’s trying to be aloof… so I’m cool I’m not in this band so I went home and when they had their next rehearsal I’m there with my copy of the album and he’s like ok… so he autographed it to me said something nice wrote a little staff of music on it. As far as great Zappa records “Joes Garage” I think it’s kind of a forgotten gem. I think it’s great it’s a very modern sounding record and full of making fun of everyone (especially scientology) I think the albums after that were a bit misguided and angry so I think Joes Garage is his last great record

The only one I’m missing is Chunga’s Revenge. I have the others. Every time I listen to Zappa I am amazed and delighted. I have been for 45 years. Thanks Frank.

Inca Roads is on One Size Fit's All, as you know. I'd swap out Yellow Shark for One Size, because (how do I say this?) it's not really representative of the music I grew up with. If you want to hip a new generation to Zappa, let them find Yellow Shark on their own. We're such geeks.

I just always loved apostrophe ('), the man from utopia, and joe's garage best in terms of what I want out of Zappa

Good choices.

My top five- Apostrophe Overnight Sensation Them or Us Joe’s Garage Part One We’re Only In It For The Money And a special shout out to Man From Utopia as it was my first Zappa album.

good list, although to be honest you could imho chronologically pick any 5 consecutive albums from 1966 to the late 1970s by zappa and still have a solid list

My top 5 FZ albums 1. Freak Out 2. Hot Rats 3. Roxy and Elsewhere 4. Burnt Weeny Sandwich 5. We're Only In It For The Money Love FZ'S music it's all timeless

I read that ( at 4:15) from Barry Mile's bio "Zappa" as well.

You were involved in the MOFO project? Then perhaps you can explain to me whose genius idea it was to include exclusive tracks with the 2-disc version that are NOT on the big. sexy 4-disc set?

FZ forever ✌!!! Hello from Belarus 🙋!

I've been listening to a number of Zappa interviews (Cavett one is really good) and realize how far ahead of the time he was politically and culturally. Now getting into his music seriously for the first time, since I grew up in a time when he music was not played on the radio (I think Yellow Snow got some airplay).

Honorable Mention Early Album: Burnt Weeny Mother Live at the Filmore Hot Rats Roxy Honorable Mention Middle Album: One Size Fit's All Joes Garage Tinseltown Honorable Mention Late Album: Civilization (discovered something on the album which led up to me getting a Honorary Doctorate in Musical History)

Okay, you have all the stunt guitars: whaddya play?

In 1968, I traded my Crazy World of Arthur Brown for We're only in it for the money. Both lps plus the Doors strange days changed my outlook towards my parents.

I saw him at Knebworth in the 70's when I was 19 in the UK The Tubes were top of the bill I think

I remember many years ago on a radio interview where Zappa said that his ideal recording would be to record a symphony orchestra where each instrument would have it’s own track. That was in the days of pretty limited analog set-ups, so not likely to happen.

I personally started with Hot Rats and it convinced me to listen to more however since Zappa always tried new stuff it's not easy to go on if you settled down for a certain musical style. My dad showed me Sofa Nr.2 which sounded great and I heard Bobby Brown on the radio once (the only song you get on radio lol). Even if you don't listen to the albums as that, collections of music, you can still appreciate the idea, style and atmosphere to each one. I guess they really are the "Mothers of Invention" ;)

So many great Zappa albums, hard to pick favorites, but..... Weasels Ripped My Flesh --- Always loved the artwork, album title, & the music..... Zoot Allures Freak Out -- Enormously influential album Sheik Yerbouti We're Only In It For the Money Burnt Weeny Sandwich Waka/Jawaka Hot Rats Apostrophe I guess I better stop........there's plenty more though......

I've had "Hot Rats" in some format since 1971. I hope someone will play it as I lie dying ... just to make me smile.

The Yellow Shark, We're Only in it for the Money, and Overnite Sensation would definitely be in my top five, too, if I could even narrow it down to five. But I would have to include Uncle Meat and One Size Fits All. For me, Frank's "Turtles period" (Fillmore East 1971, Chunga's Revenge, and 200 Motels) was his weakest stuff, but it got him a whole new bunch of new fans who were titillated by the "adult" humor, which I think is kind of a shallow reason to be fans, if they don't really appreciate the genius of the music itself. Anyway, narrowing it down to the five I mentioned would be really difficult, because I would want to include so many others, like Absolutely Free, Hot Rats, Roxy and Elsewhere, Waka/Jawaka, Ruben and the Jets, The Man From Utopia, You Are What You Is, and others I'm probably not recalling right now. I was a fan from age 15 when I heard "Help, I'm a Rock" from Freak Out at a friend's house in 1966 (yeah, I'm pretty old). He hated the album so he gave it to me. I bought eveything Frank put out after that, up until the '80s, when I got more into other stuff. I didn't care that much for Sheik Yerbouti or the Joe's Garage collection anyway, but I've remained a fan and have to credit him as a major inspiration in my own music and guitar playing. You do realize, don't you, that "Sheik Yerbouti" is a play on words for the disco phrase "shake your booty"? It seems some people miss that. 🤓

The grand wazoo is a great album as well as bongo fury

For me I would say, my top 5 Zppa tunes are : Zoot Allures, The Torture Never Stops, Bobby Brown Goes Down, Help I am Rock, Muffin Man....All Of Hot Rats and Freak Out, Apostrophe among others!!!

1. Over night sensation 2 Apostrophe 3. Weasels ripped My flesh 4.Sheik Yer booti 5.Joes Garage