"Kids today wouldn't know good music if it came up and hit 'em!" This was Frank Zappa's explanation for ending an era in pop music, the era of the Mothers of Invention. They would do no more concerts, claimed Zappa. They had enough tapes for another fifteen album, they were sick and tired of touring, people didn't appreciate them, and so on. But now they return to the stage. (read more)

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Finally came Frank Zappa and his Mothers of Invention, after a long bout with equipment problems, necessary Zappa said “because we’re going to play some fairly complicated things for you and don’t want them to sound like ...” They did a fine and well-received set, though Zappa indulged in his well know audience put-downs. The audience left themselves open for this, however: for instance, they cheered each casual use of an obscenity, though these take far less skill or effort to say than does playing as the Mothers played. (read more)

Source: Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

For a while, it looked as though The Mothers would be a fond memory in the history of Screw Rock. It was not only a shock, but a relief, when Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman (formerly the vocalists for The Turtles) were announced to be joining ZAPPA in his reforming his notorious Mothers. (read more)

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Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band is produced by the mad genius Zappa, and is on Straight Records. It’s called “Trout Mask Replica.” The jacket cover has an appropriate picture of Beefheart in a furlined coat with the face of a resplendent rainbow trout. (read more)

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The ubiquitous, unrestrained and media conscious Mothers Of Invention have just completed their first full length film 200 MOTELS. A previous attempt was made at creating insanity on film, but was unsucessful (UNCLE MEAT - remember?). With a cast that includes Ringo Starr, Keith Moon and Theodore Bikel, Zappa is sure to succeed with this one. (read more)

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Article about planned Thanksgiving Benefit. Zappa's 200 Motels opens the day before Thanksgiving.

Source: slime.oofytv.set

I really didn’t want to like the Mothers’ new album, JUST ANOTHER BAND FROM L.A. – Zappa can be such a money-grubbing bastard. He doesn’t think twice about playing down to an audience. (read more)

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... Get this album and be amazed. Amaze your friends. Be hip. Learn to beat the crowd and buy this album. Otherwise, the record executives won’t renew their contract and we’ll have lost the best and heaviest group in the world. Do it ... Do it ... very seriously. (read more)

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You’re digging the Lone Ranger every afternoon at 4:30 and life is safe as milk. Normality – it’s dull but comfortable. And then, one day, without warning, bizarrity rears its laminated head. McGovern is nominated. A best friend reveals she has a zit-squeezing fetish. Billy Graham crowds the Stadium with his Troupe of Babbling Dwarves. And Frank Zappa releases The Album America Has Been Waiting For: the sequel to HOT RATS. (read more)

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If you’re still into Zappa as degenerate and general fun, farting frat guy, forget this album. This is Zappa as serious musician/composer. GRAND WAZOO, recorded at about the same time as WAKA/JAWAKA, is a further and more accomplished expedition into distinctly Zappa concoctions based around jazz. (read more)

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Two top-notch jazz-rock bands led by two top-notch guitarists will appear in concert May 1 at Kent State University. Frank Zappa’s new band of Mothers and John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra will headline the show at KSU’s Memorial Gym. (read more)

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Never having seen a Zappa performance until the May 1 concert at Kent State, I was thoroughly prepared for (and half-ready to forgive) one of those “I am a remote artist and you people don’t understand anything” routines. But he just wanted to play his music. He likes to play with it, break it up into little pieces and build it up again. (read more)

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It may only be some twisted sense of nostalgia. I don’t think so though. It seems to me Frank Zappa is washed up. When I remember UNCLE MEAT and ABSOLUTELY FREE, I remember Zappa as a bird-like creature who was very important to, what was then, the rock culture. He doesn’t seem important anymore. (read more)

Source: Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

Source: Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

If for no other reason, the Mothers were worth seeing Tuesday night just to witness a tight and well-disciplined band put through its paces. Zappa rules his group with an iron hand and the result is one of the tighest groups I’ve ever seen. (read more)

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Watch for miscreants carrying this record out of stores. Grab it from their hands and mutilate it. It’s the trashiest thing Zappa ever recorded. It’s got no reason for existence other than the title track, an instrumental which happens to cook. The rest is the kind of “the poodle bites it, the poodle chews it” junk that filled the previous album. Only duller. The list of supporting musicians is impressive. Don‘t be deceived. Rating: Puke.

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It wasn’t that Zappa wasn’t good: simply that he paled in comparison to Mann and company. The sets of the two bands were similar in that both found a nice blend of the planned and the improvised, but Zappa’s lacked direction. (read more)

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Zappa's keyboardist George Duke is hard to pin down. (read more)

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I feel sorry for Frank Zappa. His music has become a stereotype of itself to the extent that he’s making music for Frank Zappa fans, period. ONE SIZE FITS ALL is no different from any of the previous three Mothers albums; only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. (read more)

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Calling ZOOT ALLURES Frank Zappa’s best album in years, as I am, is not really that big a compliment. For too long, Zappa’s been getting by with bizarre humor and strange instrumentation, which, devoid of further musical enhancement, have failed miserably. Sure, he's sold some records, but the creative genius his work once reflected has seemingly been in cold storage. (read more)

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The musical setting at Public Hall last Saturday evening was unusual – for anyone, that is, except Frank Zappa. The bizarre show put on by Zappa and his crew was varied, choreographed, humorous and, most of all, entertaining. (read more)

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I attended the Frank Zappa concert, and it motivated me to write this little poem. (read more)

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Being an absolute Zappa fanatic, I, of course, instantly liked this album. But that was just anticipation. My duty is not to tell you how much I like the album, but how much you will like the album. (read more)

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This was the third time I have seen Frank Zappa perform in Cleveland. As all of you already know, he is a composer of great prolifity and he has been known to do some pretty fantastic things in his time. He also has been known to do numerous things that many people consider to be lewd and disgusting. But, Frank Zappa is Frank Zappa. (read more)

Source: Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery, ebay

Source: Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

For his second album on his latest label, Frank Zappa has chosen as a follow up to this year's successful SHEIK YERBOUTI an opera, of sorts, to be released in two installments. It seems that JOE'S GARAGE is a story taking place sometime in the near future with the government trying to outlaw music. (read more)

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It always seems to be just like one big party whenever Zappa and his band come to town, and this time was just like the others, only better. (read more)

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Since Frank Zappa went independent with Barking Pumpkin Records last year (not a subsidiary or a company owned by another major label, but Zappa's own company, lock stock and barrel), he has been using the freedom to put out records whenever he pleases. That makes Zappa fans very happy. Last year five, count 'em, five records were unleashed onto the market. (read more)

Source: Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

Source: Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

No, this isn’t a parody of Todd Rundgren’s group. THE MAN FROM UTOPIA’S title cut is a medley of two old rhythm and blues songs from the Fifties. “The Man From Utopia” and “Mary Lou.” The treatment of these two tunes is the exact opposite of RUBEN AND THE JETS. Instead of Zappa songs done doo-wop style, here are some doo-wop songs done Zappa style. (read more)

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After dwelling in the world of orchestral music for the last two years, Frank Zappa has made a welcomed return to the world of rock music. (read more)

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Like most writers, I record my interviews so that I can use the tape to get accurate quotes from the artist when I write the story. On the big day, I called the number I was supposed to, and there was no answer at Frank's room. (read more)

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Frank Zappa brought his band into town just a few short months ago to play at Blossom Music Center. Since then he’s toured Europe, released a new album called THEM OR US and made a swing back into the States for a return engagement in Cleveland. Of all places, he played the Front Row Theatre, an unusual venue for him. (read more)

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After spending two-and-a-half years away from rock and roll, Frank Zappa has put together another two-record bonanza, the kind of record that has made him great. This album is probably his best since YOU ARE WHAT YOU IS, but it’s better balanced, like SHEIK YERBOUTI. (read more)

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Here are a couple of albums that are different as night and day, but from the same artist: Frank Zappa. One is a three record boxed set of music to a Broadway show, the other is a record of baroque music performed on synthesizers. No joke! Let's talk about the bigger of the two first. (read more)

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This Frank Zappa album has been rush released in order to bring to the public’s attention the controversy over rock record lyrics and the Senate hearing concerning it that Zappa testified at on September 19 of this year. The twelve-minute opus entitled “Porn Wars” on side two is the recap of the hearing, as seen through Zappa's synclavier music computer. (read more)

Source: Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

Source: Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

In the ever continuing struggle, the present day composer refuses to die, or something like that. The struggle of Frank Zappa for the past 20 years, is to get his music heard. A self-taught musical genius, he has composed orchestra music most of his life and spent literally hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to get the music played. (read more)

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On page 5 is a short note, that the Frank Zappa show announced for March 4 has been moved to Saturday, March 5.

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SCENE: Hi, Frank. What's new?

Frank Zappa: Well, I just got a call from a guy from "60 Minutes." They're going to be doing something on this stuff. (read more)

I have never left a Zappa concert feeling less than impressed. This one was no different, but that’s where the similarity ends. Sporting an 11-piece band that includes a five-piece horn section, Frank Zappa stormed through an incredible evening of music that lasted nearly three hours. (read more)

Source: Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

Source: Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

Source: Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

Combining sharp wit with his unique fusions of jazz, classical and rock, Frank Zappa (1940-1993) set rock and roll on its ear with his late '60s band Mothers Of Invention. Off-beat and experimental, Zappa's sometimes zany yet brilliantly crafted music has provided some of the most controversial moments of the last 20 years, taking aim at everything from politics to rock and roll itself with albums like FREAK OUT! (1966), WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY (1968) and OVER-NITE SENSATION (1973). Ever the iconoclast, Zappa would probably find it highly amusing to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

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