Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar [Original recording remastered]

Frank Zappa | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 30, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Zappa Records
• ASIN: B0000009T2
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,609 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #16 in Music > Indie Music > Rock > Progressive

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Five-Five-Five

2. Hog Heaven

3. Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar

4. While You Were Out

5. Treacherous Cretins

6. Heavy Duty Judy

See all 7 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Variations on the Carlos Santana Secret Chord Progression

2. Gee, I Like Your Pants

3. Canarsie

4. Ship Ahoy

5. The Deathless Horsie

6. Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar Some More

See all 7 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Beat It with Your Fist

2. Return of the Son of Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar

3. Pinocchio's Furniture

4. Why Johnny Can't Read

5. Stucco Homes

6. Canard du Jour

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: ZAPPA,FRANK
Title: SHUT UP 'N PLAY YER GUITAR
Street Release Date: 05/26/1995
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frank's mind shines through, January 12, 2000

By 

Mike Pierry (Southington, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar (Audio CD)

I had to write this review because I found it alarming that the average was only 4 out of 5 stars. There's no need to be a guitar player to appreciate this album, although it certainly doesn't hurt in one's appreciation of just how unorthodox FZ's style was. But the whole point of this set is NOT to showcase how good a guitar player Zappa was, but of how good a musical mind he had. One of Frank's favorite things to do was improvising solos; it was an interesting challenge to him, to spontaneously come up with musical events worth listening to. Lest you think this set is self-indulgent, be aware that Zappa was very critical of his abilities. He considered most of the solos he played to be failures; what you hear on these discs is a collection of the ones which he thought were worth sharing with the world. In fact this was originally a mail-order release and was eventually licensed to CBS for sale in stores due to overwhelming demand. It seems even Frank didn't know how good he was. So how to approach an album like this? We know we're not listening for guitar gonzo show-offy pyrotechnics. We're listening for musical ideas. It's improvised and there is sensitive interplay between FZ and his rhythm sections, but it isn't jazz. It's sort of weird avant-rock, in a very unique style. Nothing else sounds quite like it. It's like beautiful electric improvisations from Mars.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Lyrics Whatsoever, But Frank's In Fine Voice Regardless, August 27, 2001

By 

El Kabong - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar (Audio CD)

Little-heralded progressive masterwork from a visionary who straddled many genres and transcended them all. Even if you were one of those folks who didn't care for Zappa's smirking cynicism and unorthodox (to say the least) arrangements - he didn't go out of his way to be popular - nobody questioned the man's god-like chops. This 3 CD set of absolutely flabbergasting guitar solos is one of Zappa's amazing 'xenocrony' productions (the liner notes describe this process in detail; typically for Zappa, it's backbreakingly painstaking and requires innate musical ingenuity). All 20 selections collected flow more or less continuously, generally seperated by spoken-word snippets or a short burst of static. To the non-initiated who are dipping a toe into the water and ripe to dive in, let me assure you this blows the doors off every Satriani/Malmsteen-type shredfest combined, and will stun, delight and enthrall ANYBODY with a CD player and a brain, both in working order. Essential as oxygen.

57 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shut Up & Buy Shut Up & Play Yer Guitar, April 2, 2003

By 

Joseph Kimsey "Fareastnibelung" (Pac NW) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar (Audio CD)

For our anniversary, my beloved girlfriend bought this set for me. I've never received a better gift. Zappa released too many masterpieces to have a single one consigned as "his best work". But, for the bean-counters, Shut Up is among his top 5. Most rock guitarists spend their careers (if they're lucky enough to have one) recycling Stones & Zeppelin riffs (my god, why?) and running up & down pentatonic scales & tremelo picking three notes furiously for guitar solos. Why settle for that boring excrement? Frank Zappa had more nuance & versatility in his playing than all of those classic-rock radio cretins combined.

Nearly all of these solos are electric, but there is a bouzouki duet with Jean-Luc Ponty (Canard du Jour) that may be the best performance on the set. Zappa's ultra-eclectic technique veers from fusion to metal to eccentic blues so deftly that I, as a semi-guitarist, am filled with self-loathing. Although they are worlds apart in technique and style, Zappa reminds me of Fairport Convention's Richard Thompson and George Harrison in that all of their guitar solos can actually be considered compositions in their own right, rather than a supplemental solo tacked on during a lull from a vocalist. Zappa was/is rock music's most versatile genius. Please go buy this.