Customer Reviews

Sheik Yerbouti

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

When I look for a good Zappa album, I look for one thing above all, since just about every Zappa album (at least to me) is chock full of excellent music. It's what I call "clarity of vision". How does the album work as a whole? Is there a major theme? Is that theme brought out successfully?

Sheik Yerbouti is one of a handful of Zappa albums that manages to capture American civilization as it is (or as it will be). Zappa comments on society, government, religion, people, and music with both biting satire and insightful observation. Sheik Yerbouti's target is America in the mid-to-late 1970's. Disco is popular. Dylan is resurgent. Kiss is still wearing makeup and spitting blood. We are a nation of "Flakes", slaves to our consumerism. We are college students about to move back in with our parents.

This album takes you on a ride through 1970's musical styles, admittedly on the hard rock edge. And, last but not least, this album contains what is, in my opinion, the single greatest Frank Zappa guitar solo ever put to tape: Rat Tomago. As far as I can tell, it is a solo lifted from the middle of a live performance of The Torture Never Stops, recorded on a four-track reel-to-reel. Just guitar, bass and drums. It is whole-tone scale madness. It is Zappa unbound.

One more point on the experimental nature of some of the songs on Sheik Yerbouti: One "song", Rubber Shirt, is actually a melding of two completely separate tracks, one bass and one drums, playing in different time signatures. Also, the solo on Yo' Mama is what Frank would come to call (on the Joe's Garage album) an "imaginary guitar solo", meaning that the solo was placed over a background rhythm from an entirely different song. This experimentation cannot be emphasized enough. It led directly to Frank's re-evaluation of what it meant to improvise on the guitar. To use a Vonnegut reference, after Yo' Mama, and Joe's Garage, Frank's actual solos became "unstuck in time", leading to an entirely new form of guitar improvisation (best heard on the three-vinyl LP set Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar).

When you listen to this album, you will notice:

1. Satirical and clever lyrics. Zappa deals with sexual ambiguity, cursing, ridiculing the disco era and dating with a Jewish girl to whom not very complimentary epithets are attached. So you might think he's nasty, homophobic, misogynistic, antisemitic and anti-disco. It might be, it might not. But he's open enough not to be politically correct, and I think it is a virtue.

2. Silly lyrics. He also sings about baby snakes and "not smoking in pajamas" because "you might start a fire'n burn yer place". Well, sometimes he relies on music, not on lyrics; the latter ones are often a medium to music, so they tend to be quite silly at times. But I find them funny.

3. Musical complexity. In "Rubber Shirt" Zappa took the bass part of a 4/4 track, and superimposed it on a slow 11/4 drum track. He did the same in the "Yo' Mama" guitar solo. That's worth noticing and listening to.

4. Musical simple, rocking straightforwardness. Which is what, in my opinion, makes the album so good. You never get lost, bored or misled. You can keep your feet stomping much of the listening time. "Baby Snakes" is a highlight of this approach, I think: short, uncomplicated, and that's it.

5. Guitar musicianship. There's more than a couple of tracks with Frank doing the virtuoso part. Great.

6. Lack of "unmitigated audacity", i.e. experimental and weird sonic adventures. This is one of the Zappa landmarks that you will miss in this one. Even so, if there's no cacophony or there aren't dislocated sound collages, it will make "Sheik Yerbouti" more acceptable for first-time listeners. You can go then for "Hot Rats" (1969) or the early Mothers stuff if you're curious about it.

Conclusion: this album is the best to begin to listen to Zappa and to know most of his traits. If it gets you bored, you won't be a Zappa fan at all.

I want to first respond to the review by "A music fan from Ventura CA" who warned not to buy the album "unless you are a ... bashin' redneck who needs to yuck it up with your homophobic buddies" and asked, "Is he a HOMOPHOBE or what?!?!"

You should go pick up his book, The Real Frank Zappa. You may be offended by his lyrics, but his intentions are not to express hatred. He just likes to speak his mind, no matter how perverse YOU may find it. The only song that seems to mention homosexuality is "Bobby Brown Goes Down," but to me it's just a song about judging people at first sight and how the "All-American" jock-type men are really just as freaky as the rest of us except they repress themselves too much.

Secondly, the music is VERY "groovin'", the "grooviest" being "Yo' Mama," "City of Tiny Lights" and "Rat Tomago" in my opinion of course.

And humorous too! You might find them lyrically offensive, but I don't: "I Have Been in You" (a parody of the cheesiest Peter Frampton song of the '70's), "Flakes", "Baby Snakes," "Broken Hearts are for...," "Jewish Princess," and your favorite... "Bobby Brown Goes Down."

This is also one of the more "accessible" FZ albums. If you enjoyed Apostrophe ('), I recommend getting this one. If you have a free mind that likes musical and lyrical freedom, this one's for you. I love and miss you Frank!

A great mix of radio-friendly and not-so-radio-friendly songs, scorching guitar riffs, songs covering topics never before and never again covered, clever and often very humorous lyrics, and some really interesting improvisational work where you don't really know where the music's heading next -- that is the world of Frank Zappa. There is a little something for everybody. And the more Zappa you listen to, the more in awe of his talent you become.

There are so many outstanding songs on this album, and I would have to say "Flakes" is among my favorite of all Zappa's songs. Dylan fans may also appreciate the little homage to Bob in this one. "Broken Hearts," "Bobby Brown," "Dancin' Fool," and "Jewish Princess" always manage to put a smile on my face.

This is truly some unique music by an artist that can never be duplicated. If you haven't already been introduced to the world of Zappa, start soon--you are really missing out!

There are so many things to love about Frank Zappa. Musically, he's extremely complex. He makes a lot of material by other bands appear really simple. That's not to say they're bad, but Zappa is a true visionary when it comes to musical complexity. I also love his use of satirical comedy in his lyrics. If I were to try to get deeply into that, it would be too complicated, so, I'll let you figure out what his lyrics mean to you. But as an explanatory to them, they're quite funny.
This is one of Zappa's best works, and that's really saying something. Although I've seen the price for this one sometimes high, it's well worth it. "Sheik Yerbouti" has got something for everybody. "Rat Tomango" is a five-minute plus guitar solo with a good drum backbeat. For all guitarists and guitar enthusiasts, this is a must-own! Then, there are sing-a-long tunes that would make great pop singles, such as "I'm So Cute", a great, rapid song sung by Terry Bozzio with some rockin' guitar work, and "Tryin' To Grow A Chin", which opens with some unbelievably fast marimba work, features hilarious lyrics, and even features a rock musical sort of sing-a-long at the end! That certainly makes this album something to listen to. Also, you got "Whatever Happened To All The Fun In the World" and "Wait a Minute", a couple of 30-second clips, (featuring some use of instruments), that seem like the types of things I'd record on my cellphone.
A lot of the songs on here also seem to be prime examples of Zappa in the progressive-rock subgenre. A good deal of songs, especially on the first half of the album, all rock pretty hard and assure you're in for a ball! And believe me, I would know. Probably the best way I personally enjoy this album is to sit in my room late at night on Friday and Saturday nights and just let this thing play out. And for being an eager, teenage musician, that's a great way to end a Friday night. The only problem on this album is that some of the drumwork isn't as audible as some other instruments. The only other thing that kinda gets to me is that all the songs flow into each other, which means you need to keep a bird's eye view on the time on your CD player. However, this album is a leviathan of fun and here are some of its best tracks, which also mean some of Zappa's best works:
"Broken Hearts Are For ***Holes": Hilarious lyrics that perfectly accompany the hard-rockin' sound of the music. You even get a bit of proto-80's synthesizer on this one! How cool.
"I'm So Cute": More great lyrics that fit the fast pace and Bozzio's voice. However, it gets a little repetitive at the end.
"Rat Tomango": Like I've already stated, this is an outstanding guitar solo that you just need to listen to.
"Bobby Brown Goes Down": A lot of people are probably aware about this song. In its day, and still today, the lyrics are considered very raunchy and explicit, due to Zappa's awareness of the mentality of our culture at the time, but it's still really funny. Ironically, this is set to a tempo of a song you'd slow dance to.
"Rubber Shirt": One heck of a bass solo.
"The Sheik Yerbouti Tango": Another great guitar solo, even if it's a little shorter than "Rat Tomango".
"Baby Snakes": It's less than two minutes, but it's got something for everybody and really shines.
"Tryin' To Grow A Chin": Like I said a little before, this would make for a great pop single. The musical-like sing-a-long towards the end is one of the greatest moments on the entire album!
"Dancin' fool": Another really fun and rhythmically complex song that adds lighthearted satire to the culture at the time.
"Jewish Princess": Again, really explicit lyrics that you can't help but laugh to. Shows you that the second side of this disc is just as good as the first.
"City of Tiny Lites": A great reason to listen to this one late at night. Easily a great Zappa-styled arena-rocker.
"Yo' Mama": Very long, at twelve and a half minutes. This is probably the only one where I don't particulary care for the lyrics, and the melody makes this one sound sad. However, the middle is good and I love at the end how he says each of his bandmates' names.
Overall:
If you want to get into Zappa, you NEED to own this! A whole lot of fun to listen to, a whole lot to keep a musician impressed and satisfied, and, of course, your and my soundtrack to a late Friday night. I really hope you enjoy this one, 'cause it's one great work of Zappa's art!

I'm going to start with a confession: I used to think that Frank Zappa was an untalented clown with nothing to offer aside from childish, scatalogical novelty tunes. And then I listened to 'Sheik Yerbouti'. I have never been so wrong about an artist in my life. I'm sorry, Frank--it took me a long time to figure it out!

This man was a musical genius! Other reveiwers, more conversant with the mechanics of music than I, have mentioned the experimental nature of 'Rubber Shirt', a 4/4 bass line melded with an 11/4 drum track. Such a thing would never even have occured to me, yet it works amazingly well, like a beautiful ballad sung in a language you cannot speak. Frank's guitar chops can easily stand up to any of the conventionaly recognized 'guitar gods', most of whom I never particularly cared for anyway. Eric Clapton? I apologize if you are a fan; I simply never saw the appeal. Frank's approach reminds me of another virtuoso, Joe Walsh. Both quite capable of laying down an aural assault of smoking hot licks; both largely unsung and relatively obscure. Who knew that 'success', at least in the conventional sense of the word, should prove such an inaccurate yardstick to measure Worth!

The piece de resistance is the lyrics. Zappa takes all our hypocritical little conventions and sneers at 'em. You can either acknowledge the extent to which you, yes YOU, have also been brainwashed and laugh along, or you can prove every point he was making by leaping on your soapbox and moralizing.

This is a breath of fresh air in the fetid, oppressive PC gulag we as a Free People have created for ourselves in this brave new century. I'm sick unto death of all the thought control, the Orwellian demands that we submit, that we agree, that we do not offend! I find 'sensitivity training' a frightening concept; how much more Thought Policing will we tolerate before rising up to cast off the velvet shackles of our Busybody Overlords!? Free your mind! Think for yourself! Americans are ALLOWED to offend; that's what Free Speech IS! I want 'Bobby Brown Goes Down' played non-stop on every radio broadcast until people begin to grasp this fact. Frank, we need you now more than ever!

Every Zappa fan has been asked the same thing; "Oh I've heard he's good, what album should I get?" And every Zappa fan has winced as they answer "Err, there isn't really a best Zappa LP" because they knew they'd probably just turned someone off discovering one of the finest musicians of the twentieth century. During his life, FZ released some 60 albums, with musical styles ranging from rock, to classical, via reggae, by way of country, with avant garde thrown in for good measure. Oh and the smutty schoolboy lyrics. Such an embodiment of work could never be summed up on one title, but if you absolutely had to pick one, Sheik Yerbouti would be it. Orchestral scores, taught pop tunes, gritty rock numbers, plenty of smut and some of the finest guitar work Frank ever released are all represented here. Is it definitive? No. Do purists and newcomers come back to it again and again? Yes.

While I would have to disagree with some reviewers who recommend this as a "first" Zappa album, it is a GREAT album. I'd say buy "One Size Fits All" or "Joe's Garage" first. If you dig those and want more, get "Sheik Yerbouti" next.
Lyrically, this album is absolutely hysterical. "Bobby Brown," "Jones Crusher," "Flakes," and of course "Jewish Princess" are some of the funniest moments Zappa has recorded, and definately not for the easily offended. Terry Bozzio's vocal delivery on "I'm So Cute" and "Broken Hearts" gets me laughing every time.
Musically, this album really goes to the extremes. Simple doo-wop (Bobby Brown), mock anthem-rock (Tryin' to Grow a Chin, another hilarious Bozzio vocal), hard rock (I'm So Cute, Jones Crusher, Broken Hearts), mock love ballads (I Have Been In You), disco (Dancin' Fool), everything-but-the-kitchen-sink progressive rock (Wild Love), fusion (Rubber Shirt) - it seems that the style of the tune doesn't matter as much as the band's ability to jump all the way into that particular style. You get the sense that Zappa put together bands that could play anything he wanted them to, and Sheik Yerbouti may be the best example of that idea.
For fans of Zappa's guitar playing, there are some great solos on this album, particularly the long solos on "Your Momma" and "City of Tiny Lights".
Sheik Yerbouti is at times a challenging listen. But if you're into Zappa's earlier albums, you'll appreciate the challenge. This wasn't my first Zappa album, but it was the one that made me realize that I would be a Zappa fan for life. The only caution I would give is that if you DO happen to dig this album, be prepared to spend a ton of money on Zappa albums - you'll be hooked.

I cannot add anything to the exemplary reviews already written about this classic, but there's one thing worth pointing out: Get the EMI version of this cd (I'm not sure if it's available through Amazon). That was the European cd back in the 80's and is taken from the original vinyl mix. That means it has all 4 minutes of I'm So Cute and it lacks the right-channel audio faults this Rykodisc version has!

Sheik Yerbouti is one of FZ's greatest albums, and encountered much success. This Japanese Limited Edition has the same content as the usual Ryko edition, but has a cardboard sleeve imitating the original LP -gatefold cover.