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130 of 135 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Childhood Distorted By Zappa Album! Film At 11!, November 9, 2002
This review is from: Apostrophe (Audio CD)
Whenever anybody asks me what the best album to buy as a first Zappa album, I tell them either "We're Only In It For The Money" or this one, and I usually give this one a little higher boost. Why? Because this is the album that got me into FZ at the tender age of 11 years old. By accident.... One balmy spring day in early '75, my (then) uptight, Catholic, ex-John Birch Society mother came home with a stack of records from the local Ridgecrest library that she thought looked appropriate for kids. My sister and I looked through the stack until.....Apostrophe! We looked at each other in shock: Mom brought home a ZAPPA record! At that time, only kids with hipster bros & sis's had heard his records. We knew the rumours: he talked about "naughty" things on his records! Was mom "letting her hair down"? No. She just thought that "the guy on the record cover looks like a jazz musician with a sense of humor", and "the song titles are funny". Cool! Diane & I ran to the record player & were therein initiated into the universe of Frank Zappa. Of course we giggled through the obligatory scatology of "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" & the adventures of Nanook, but there were other songs here that made some slowly emerging gears in my 11 year old head start to turn. What was so important about "St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast"? What was "Cosmik Debris", and why was the man "jiving" him with it? Why did I like the instrumental "Apostrophe", and why did I feel in my gut that it was different somehow that other rock solos? Why did the man have the argument with the dog after the discussion of the importance of personal hygene in "Stink Foot"? My pre-adolescent brain began to burn with one of the most subversive things that rock n' roll ever did to kids. Sex? No (well, okay, maybe a little..). Drugs? No.
The frightening answer was......questions!! I was beginning to THINK FOR MYSELF, stimulated by Zappa's imaginative absurdity!! Now, as an adult, I 've figured out those answers. "St. Alfonzo's" is a satire about religious hypocrisy & behaivior.
"Cozmik Debris" is a stab at mocking the "new age", and its voodoo b.s. "Apostrophe" is a solo in the Lydian mode, highly unusual. And the dog & the man were arguing about semantics. Thanks, Frank, for making this guy think. Too bad, other adults didn't get warped like I did. It's not too late. Buy Apostrophe.
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4.5 stars - Great stuff but not as great as other Zappa material hence lower rating, August 11, 2007
This review is from: Apostrophe (Audio CD)
Look, I have to be objective here. I'm a big Zappa fan. I especially love his work with the original Mothers (ALL of it) and the work he did with his big band (Waka Jawaka, Grand Wazoo, Imaginary Diseases) as well as the Roxy and Elsewhere band. All of those aforementioned CDs get 5 stars in my reviews - some I would give 100 stars if I could. The ONLY reason I'm not giving Apostrophe (') 4.5 stars is it just isn't as good as the aforementioned material... but it IS good and worth adding to your collection.
Apostrophe (') is good fun and there is some great music here. But let's be honest, this release was used to finance more serious works by Zappa.
Yellow Snow and Nanook Rubs it are funny the first couple of listens.
St Alphonzo and Father Oblivion is at once humorous and very good music
Excentrifugal Forz is one of the high-lites but it is very short
Apostrophe (') is a great jam with Jack Bruce but it's just a jam, there's no serious writing here.
Cosmik Debris is another favorite and a indictment of new age mumbo jumbo.
Uncle Remis is a great commentary on the loss of focus and priorities when it comes to civil rights (whoa, are we movin' to slow? I can't wait 'til my 'fro is full grown - and so on and so forth)
Stink Foot falls into the same category as Yellow Snow and Nanook.
So yeah, this is a good Zappa CD. Is it essential? I guess that depends on what you are looking for in a Zappa release. It's good fun but the music simply isn't as good as that found on Roxy and Elsewhere, Waka Jawaka, Uncle Meat, Freak Out! and so on and so forth.
4.5 stars
BY THE WAY: Dweezil's Zappa Plays Zappa band is playing material from this release. Last night I saw this band and it was FLAT OUT AMAZING! Cosmik Debris and Uncle Remus (with Ray White singing!) were included in the very generous 2.5 hour set. If Zappa Plays Zappa comes to your town, for God's sake, GO SEE THEM! You will not be disappointed as this show rivaled the concert I saw in March 74 with Zappa and his Roxy and Elsewhere Mothers. Dweezil's band REALLY IS THAT GOOD!
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Concise but comprehensive, March 25, 2004
This review is from: Apostrophe (Audio CD)
Zappa took a compositional turn with this album. It's in the genre of "Over-Nite Sensation," but further developed towards whatever it is musicians think of when they hear "Zappa," and there was more like this and even further developed material to come. This album has a definitive main thread, even though it features four different drummers and four different bass players, because it's very bluesy. Even if the songs aren't played with typical blues progressions --with the exception of "Cosmik Debris"-- there's a bluesy feeling pretty much throughout, which mainly the guitar solos lend. But there's more than a feeling of blues to this album; the songs are complex to an unusual (yet not extreme) degree, but make sense, and are very well performed. "Apostrophe (')" is, in a way, an album in a genre of it's own - mainly for the highly individual compositions "St. Alfonzo" and "Father O'Blivion," but also much because of "Uncle Remus" with its feeling of soul and gospel that isn't much heard anywhere else in Zappa's discography. Many think that "Stink-Foot" is not a highlight, and while I understand that point of view (since it fills a fifth of this 32-minute album and doesn't have a compositional quality like the other songs) I still find it highly entertaining and needed because of its groove. Don't let the length of the album scare you, btw - the material on it is worth the money. 4 1/2 stars.
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