Frank Zappa - Hot Rats

After Mother Superior Frank Zappa, fed up with various stressful aspects about being the leader of the zany avant-rock collective Mothers of Invention, had decided to break up the original MOI lineup in August 1969, he first went on to produce an album on his own. The sessions in August-September 1969 with several LA studio cats along with the former Mother, talented multi-instrumental genius Ian Underwood, who FZ retained for his virtuosity on keyboards and several woodwind instruments; proved to be fruitful and shortly thereafter, Hot Rats was unleashed to the wider public.

While the original Mothers already had shown signs of serious jazz-rock innovation that rivalled what other big acts in the field had done (check out "King Kong" on Uncle Meat album, which the MOI performed onstage as early as 1967), Zappa on his own took it even further on this album with added finesse (especially thanks to the fine rhythm section work and the absence of the overbearing weirdness characterizing earlier Mothers albums) and the textural polish, as the 16-track recording technology allowed to add multiple layered overdubs in the mix. Ian Underwood adds many sax, clarinet and keyboard overdubs, at times sounding like a small one man orchestra backed by a jazzy rhythm section. Zappa himself adds electronically treated, often sped up percussion overdubs. The result is a timeless classic that embodies two disparate aspects of jazz fusion: the elaborate arrangements and orchestration; and grittier improvisational side.

The orchestrated side shows up right on the album opener, "Peaches En Regalia". It's a multi-layered, concise and colorful composition with several memorable melodic sections along with shifting textural focus, from the classic sped-up bass guitar intro to tight horn riffs to guitar-and-flute led section and so on. Three minutes of prime Zappa melodicism. "Willie The Pimp", with Captain Beefheart cameo along with a lengthy guitar solo shows the gritty, blues-infused approach. "Son of Mr Green Genes", a reprise of "Mr Green Genes" off Uncle Meat, combines the colorful orchestration with guitar-based improvisation. Zappa's guitar is entirely absent from "Little Umbrellas", an under-rated jazz ballad with haunting melodies, complex keyboard layers in the middle section and that larger than life sounding one-man-big-band-horns finale. This is Ian Underwood's showcase all the way, as he's only backed up by the rhythm section. 17-minute (13 minute edit was heard on the original vinyl, CD version restores the full version) "Gumbo Variations" offers long tenor sax, violin (from Don Sugarcane Harris) and guitar solos over a funky one-chord vamp. "It Must Be A Camel" might not be as instantly memorable as the previous compositions, but it's still a rewarding listen on its own right with its sax, clarinet, keyboard and guitar parts. Jean Luc Ponty (who would join a later Mothers conglomeration in 1973) makes a cameo on violin.

In 1969, this album was a true landmark. While jazz influences would continue to inform his sound later on (and he would return to Hot Rats type instrumentation and compositional approach on Waka/Jawaka and Grand Wazoo in 1972), Hot Rats is an island on its own in the vast discographic landscape of Frank Zappa, with or without the Mothers.