Customer Reviews

Zappa: A Biography

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Too much of this book, especially the first two thirds, is simply a history of events, i.e., Frank did this and then he did that. Sometimes the facts are jumbled: he and his first wife are separated, then a few pages later Frank's parents move in with them. The biggest let down is the discovery that nothing in this book is the result of primary research. No one--no one!!!!--was interviewed by the author in this endeavor. So this reads kind of like a competent college research paper based on other research. Miles provides us with notes of his many sources, including some of his own interviews from 30 years ago, but its mostly all stuff that's been out there in other books and magazines and websites. When he finally gets around to drawing some actual conclusions of his own, its mostly to tell us Zappa's Catholic upbringing made him a pervert or Zappa was a fairly heartless capitalist without feelings for his bandmates or Zappa was a misogynist recluse or Zappa sabotaged his serious work with titles too pornagraphic for ears. Crimeny, you'll wonder why anybody would care about the guy. By the end of the book, however, Miles seems to be contradicting himself by reciting all of the accolades Zappa received throughout his career from everyone from the Chieftains to Eastern European statesmen. Let's see, he's a soulless capitalist taskmaster pervert but meanwhile he's courted by band directors, musicians, and statesmen. I'd like to have read more about the upside. I'd recommend that you skip this book, save your money and go buy another Zappa album instead.

I enjoyed the book, and felt that it was successful in what it attempted to do, describing and analyzing Frank's life with its ups and downs. I'm a Zappa fan, and I learned a lot of new info.

Zappa's biggest fans, like fans of any highly-talented unique person, have fervent devotion. As such, it's completely predictable that even the smallest criticism will be categorically rejected by these fans. Just look at the Online Devotion Forums for any artist - as soon as anyone gets off the track of total adulation, others will swoop in and even start flaming until the worship gets back on track.

I like Frank's music very much. I've played some of his tunes in bands. He's hilarious, too. But having heard him interviewed on the radio, seen his bands several times, and having read his comments in print, I'm not shocked that he may be just a wee bit controlling, possibly a little self-centered, and may have preferred machines to humans. I have read and enjoyed Frank's autobiography a couple times and enjoyed it too. But could Frank be just a little low on introspection? Maybe. Do many autobiographers write in a self-serving manner? Just possibly.

I also noticed the oft-quoted time sequence problem in the book. Does this, in and of itself, nullify all the contents? No, it just means that the author and editor messed up. Nearly all the new books I read have loads of typos and other problems. It's clear that editors don't get the time they need to do the job all that well anymore. But that's a universal problem that's not specific to this book.

This is a biography. If we have nothing but praise, it would be a puff piece, or press release. Miles does attempt to analyze Zappa's motives, and takes a stab at finding clues to them in his background. Does he speculate? Yes, that's what biographers do. Short of analyzing the person's brain and seeing a word-for-word copy of everything that ever happened, nobody really knows anyone's motives. You can't even take the person's word for it in many cases. So you have to take a chance and speculate based on observation.

Miles lavishes praise on many things Zappa did. I guess a lot of people just didn't notice. Those who want their biographies to have blind adulation without questioning anything, and without any critical analysis - this is just the type of person that Frank strafed with his lyrics.

The other reviewers have already said this in so many words, but the fault of this book is that there is nothing new in it. IT is a cut and paste job pure and simple. Even his opinions, such as that liberal comedians don't so much talk truth to power as they do mock their own liberal mores come from otherbooks. If you've read the other Zappa books and are well read generally you don't need to read this book -- you could have written it.

If you were going to write a biography of a person, you should at least be able to get the date of death correct.

This book had more glaring errors than perhaps any other I've ever read. Too many misspellings (inconsistent ones at that; sometimes the author gets it right, other times he doesn't, often in the same paragraph!) of crucial names and song titles, plus myriad typos and grammatical errors are greviously distracting; both the author and editors did an unbelievably sloppy, amatuerish job here.
Precious little light is shed on the compliacted relationships he had with such central figures as Herb Cohen, Captain Beefheart, Ray Collins, Don Preston, Jimmy Carl Black, etc.
Although the book offers a few fascinating insights into Zappa's history, character and relationships with family and fans, crucial analysis and discussion of classic Zappa/Mothers albums are given short shrift at the expense of his later, grandiose (and ultimately far less important) symphonic and computerized work.
The definitive Zappa bio has yet to be written; avoid this second-rate book.

Other reviewers have already dinged this book for its inacuracies, lack of original research, and opinionated conjecture. I agree whole-heartedly. I found the prose to be rambling, and the overall treatment to be superficial. The book focuses almost exclusively on Zappa the man, with very little about the music. In other words, don't expect to learn any new "conceptual continuity" clues. Even then. I knew most of what was in this already, which was probably the biggest let-down. I can't recommend this: it's the type of "rock journalism" Zappa himself railed against.

Overall, this is a good book. It tells a lot about the man and his music, his views, and how others in his circle viewed him.

But, there are some glaring boo-boos in this book. Trivial, maybe, but a little irritating. Any fan of The Mothers Of Invention knows the original singer's name is Ray Collins, and the original bass player's name is Roy Estrada, but Miles has this tendency to call the bassist Ray Estrada. Denny Walley (slide guitarist with the 70's line-ups) is called Danny a few times, and even though Keith Moon has a part in Frank Zappa's life, there is a segment about FZ's family, and at first I didn't know what Keith Moon had to do with babysitting Frank and Gail's kids. I had to re-read it until I realized the passage was about Zappa's daughter, Moon Unit. Miles calls her "Keith Moon" here; it's the part about dancing in the kitchen. In 1970, two members of The Turtles, known to audiences as "Flo and Eddie," joined the regrouped Mothers, and Mark Volman's stage name was "Flo." Howard Kaylan's stage name was "Eddie," but the book has their names reversed. The notes on the rear cover tell of Frank's marriage to Gail Sloatman lasting over thirty years, but they were married in 1967. He died in 1993, twenty-six years after the wedding, so here you have yet another goof. These things abound, but it is still a fairly good book, because I learned a few things reading it that I hadn't already known, such as how percussionist Ruth Komanoff (later Ruth Underwood, after her marriage to Ian Underwood) was referred to Zappa outside the Garrick Theater in New York by her brother, to her acute embarrassment. He (Ruth's brother) just accosted Zappa on the sidewalk, and told him how talented she is. He said to come backstage and audition, and she then found herself in the band. These things.

But, as long as you read this book with a grain of salt, knowing that it isn't 100% factually accurate, it is still pretty good reading.

I read it in two evenings.

Well, I'm glad I didn't rush right out and buy this by mail - I was pretty excited to first see it on display at a bookstore and would have bought it then, but upon reading several chapters and parts of the book I was really put off by it.
First off I enjoy celebrating the life of this genius, but a large later portion of the book deals with Frank's illness (in sad detail) and it just comes off as a bummer instead of the joy you get from Frank's work. Don't get me wrong, I love bios, but when it comes to Frank, you're much better off getting his quasi-autobiography, 'The Real Frank Zappa Book' - which, while it does not cover the latter years of Frank's life, and is not your typical autobiography, it's filled with his thought, wisdom, gripes, creativity and insight into the man as artist. It's also funny as hell!!
As far as the chronological data of album releases etc. there's way better sources for getting this info, then from this book.
First and formost, to really get into Frank Zappa's head, just start at the beginning and purchase his early albums with the Mothers of Invention, from there you'll no doubt be hooked and can follow his later releases as you choose.

Plain and simple: this book is not an interesting, fun, avant garde nor Zappaesque book.

I would recommend this book to anyone but the most hardcore Zappa fans. But bring your filter. It's obvious that Miller didn't understand. Yes, he introduces the reader to the chronology of Zappa's work and that is what the book is good for. The book is a good base or starting off point for a Zappa annotated discography but doesn't come close to understand the man's mentality.
Miller repeatedly illustrates his ignorance of Zappa's philosophy and confuses his public persona with Zappa's personal beliefs.
He attempts to discredit Zappa because the man made money, then he tries to imply that he's hypocritical due to Zappa's attacks on the Flower Power hippies of the 60s.
Miller would have been better off keeping his opinion to himself and just presenting us with a history of Uncle Frank's music.
I plan on reading Zappa's own biography next and went into this book (Miller) with the intention of comparing the two as I - as a reader - can no more trust Miller to give me 'just the facts' than I can Zappa.
Remember - ALWAYS BRING YOUR FILTER!

This definitive bio of Zappa is something that's long overdue and very welcome. Other authors have made very adept attempts at writing about the varied nature of Zappa's music, but this focuses purely on the man himself. A few things are very striking here, not the least of which being the way Zappa's diverse influences and attitudes came together under what was the roof of a very conventional family. It's also inspiring in revealing the dogged determination that drove Zappa to perform, compose, conduct and direct while often under (early on) dire financial limitations and other obstacles. But the very deep flaws of the man are also revealed, perhaps the most jarring of which being the dismantaling of Frank's image as devoted family man. If you thought his descriptions of his cold attitudes towards conventional family life in his autobiography were upsetting, you'll be further disturbed to discover that he was only scratching the surface there. Barnes makes the case that Zappa virtually ignored his kids, inflicted his uncoventional attitudes about school upon them (without gauging whether they were justified or not) and his casual (almost abusive) attitude toward sex justified leaving sexually explicit materials in easy view, while Gail Zappa virtually cajoled the kids into early (perhaps premature) sexual encounters with their young friends. Also the fact that Zappa viewed his marriage as being completely &quot;open&quot; caused a lot of family friction over the years. &#60;br /&#62;<br /> &#60;br /&#62;<br /> Apart from that most unsettling aspect of the book, it's also disapointing to discover just how relentlessly arrogant, egotistical and downright self-centered Zappa was toward the musicians he employed. He seemed to believe that if he was paying the bills he was supreme commander and chief and therefore not beholden to criticism or even giving credit for the work of others.&#60;br /&#62;<br /> &#60;br /&#62;<br /> For a longtime fan like myself, the mosty interesting parts of the book come early, as we see Zappa forming his identity. The latter parts were fairly depressing, and to a degree, the man's slide into ever more risque lyrics and potty humor song titles, compromised the overall integrity of his work. Worst of all Zappa wanted it both ways. He wanted to be the anti-censorship libertarian, but also gain acceptance in the classical music world, where song titles like &quot;Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?&quot; would clearly not fly. An odd struggle of biting the hands that pat you on the back for a job well done.&#60;br /&#62;<br /> &#60;br /&#62;<br /> I definatley recommend this book to anyone interested in Zappa. Just know that, like any truly great biography, you get the WHOLE picture. Big 'ol warts and all.