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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Joe Zappa, September 12, 2004
This review is from: Joe's Garage Acts 1-2-3 (Audio CD)
Frank Zappa is one of the most interesting and talented persons in the history of music. That people are still writing reviews of his music more than 10 years (and counting) after his death is only partial testament to that fact.
Some of the rest of the proof lies in this album. Nowhere else in his recorded history, save perhaps for "Freak Out!" were Frank's warring perceptions of life more on display for all to hear.
Zappa's dislike/disdain/contempt for all sorts of things are in ready supply in Joe's Garage, but unlike many of Frank's other works where deliberately offensive (depending on one's point of view) lyrics were surrounded by equally, er, peculiar music, there is a strong counterbalance of humanity interlaced; primarily through the sympathetic treatment of the doomed musician "Joe" in the musical and lyrical compositions.
Zappa was coming out of an exhausting legal battle with Warner Brothers in which he put out three intentionally uncommercial largely instrumental albums together to fulfill his contractual obligations (SD/ST/OF), and after taking some pointless swipes at cultural dislikes (in SYB), he was ready to articulate his real soul.
That soul was, of course, all about music and freedom. Zappa rails with real passion lyrically and musically against repression; against religious, corporate and governmental control and censorship of any kind.
So in between your titters or scowls at the various explicit scatological/sexual references; listen for the heart of Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage (love of music), Lucille (innocent love versus painful - no pun intended - realities), Sy Borg (love of technology, so to speak), Outside Now (anger, despair), Packard Goose (a shout-out to his fans, another poignant ode to music and a wicked stab at music "critics") and finally Watermelon in Easter Hay (resignation about the state of humanity -- one of the saddest and most beautiful songs ever laid to vinyl/digital).
A last comment about this album - you are not likely elsewhere to hear any drumming quite like what you find on this album - an impressive blend of composition, technology and technique. Zappa ALWAYS had great musicians playing with him, eager for the challenges that were provided for them by playing in his band...
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quintessential Zappa, December 5, 2006
This review is from: Joe's Garage Acts 1-2-3 (Audio CD)
I have been a Zappa fan since I snuck a listen to Apostrophe/Over-nite Sensation from my Dad's collection 20 years ago. Like much of Zappa's music, this album, perhaps his finest overall work, can be oversimplified and categorized ascetically (as a previous reviewer attempted to do).
This is not just "silly and crude humor music" and it does not fall into a "1,2,3,4 category" of Zappa listener. Joe's Garage, as a complete work, attacks and obliterates those individuals/organizations who, through various means of censorship, insidiously undermine the purpose of creating music.
He accomplishes this with direct attacks on the political right (e.g. the Central Scrutinizer), conservative religious parties (e.g. Catholic Girls), the media and all other pseudo-intellectuals (e.g. packed goose), and, really, anyone whose sensibilities would lead them to censorship of creativity. Consider the historical context here: the attack on music throughout the 1980's/Tipper Gore's The Parents Music Resource Center was founded in 1985. The content of Joe's Garage is intended to offend all these people.
Like all art, one can make a judgment of whether the overall piece appeals to their ascetics, which Joe's Garage does for me - definitely five stars, and leave it at that. However, true analysis of real art should leave one with questions on intent, message, and composition which Joe's Garage also does very effectively.
Through this analysis, one can realize one object of Frank Zappa's argument: freedom of expression (in this case music) is important and socially relevant; hence the aforementioned party's desire for censorship. Beautiful use of irony through music Frank!
"Eventually it was discovered that God did not want us to be all the same. This was bad news for the Governments of the World... Mankind must be made more uniformly if THE FUTURE was going to work out... It was about this time that someone came up with the idea of TOTAL CRIMINALIZATION, based on the principle that if we were ALL crooks we could at least be uniform to some degree in the eyes of the law. Shrewdly our legislators calculated that most people were too lazy to perform a REAL CRIME. So new laws were manufactured making it possible for anyone to violate them at any time of the day or night... which is one of the reasons why music was eventually made ILLEGAL."
--Frank Zappa, liner notes from Joe's Garage, Acts 2
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71 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A demanding and sometimes frustrating listen - but very good, September 18, 2002
This review is from: Joe's Garage Acts 1-2-3 (Audio CD)
Zappa fanatics already own this and newish Zappa fans already have it on their "Wish List," so I'll direct this review to any Zappa newcomers, cork sniffers, or plain ole curious types. Like most Zappa albums, this album is a mixture of some deadly serious & artsy genre-bending jazz/rock/fusion music and some silly and crude "humor music." To be honest, Zappa makes the listener really work as there are occasionally irritating moments on the record ("Sy Borg"), some VERY profane moments ("Keep It Greasy"), some catchy stuff ("Joe's Garage" and "Why Does it Hurt When I Pee") and some downright beautiful stuff ("Watermelon In Easter Hay"). I think Zappa fans fall into about four groups: 1) Fanatics who think every recorded moment is brilliant 2) Those who prefer the silliness and weird lyrical content, but aren't so big on the extended instrumental noodlings. 3) Those who prefer the extended instrumental noodlings, but aren't so big on the silliness and weird lyrical content. 4) The curious who buy a few albums, never quite find the hook, and loose enthusiasm. Be advised that if you fall into group 2 or 3, Zappa is VERY DEMANDING. He makes very little effort to be approachable, has no qualms about indulging a melody or an idea and is sometimes intentionally grating and anti-aesthetic. This album is no exception. I think it starts off very well, has some of his best songs in "Joe's Garage," "Why Does it Hurt . . . ," "Packard Goose" and "Watermelon . . ." I also think it drags a bit in the middle and that some of the "humor" is almost too crude at times. I'm no prude at all; but . . . well . . . one has to be in a certain mood to revisit some of the more explicit moments. Still, in summary, I think this is in the top handful of Zappa's Post-Mother's work. It's an incredibly ambitious work that rewards a dedicated listener with something new on each repeated listen. Though parts of it drag a little, it's still an amazing and very adventurous work.
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