Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Frank Zappa

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 30, 1995)
• Original Release Date: May 1982
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Zappa Records
• ASIN: B0000009T2
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,422 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Guitar solos and nothing but. Meticulously culled and assembled by Zappa from live recordings made between 1979 and 1980, this three part set features some of the most dynamic and musical guitar work recorded anywhere by anyone. From the rhythmically dazzling "five-five-FIVE" to the unique lyricism of the three title tracks, Zappa proves beyond doubt that he belongs among the most elite of rock's guitar virtuosos. The remarkable interplay between Zappa and Vinnie Colaiuta--some consider this to be the drummer's best work--provides this album with some of its most memorable moments. --Andrew Boscardin

From the Label
100% guitar solos. The Rosetta Stone for axe players. Everyone else will be illuminated by the blindly exquisite improvised compositions, mostly culled from live performances 1979-80. A 3-CD box set with artwork that recreates the original 3-LP package.

Backed by a host of different bands, Zappa makes his instrument express stuff more blasphemous than any mere words could convey. "Five-Five-Five" and "Hog Heaven" draw his most brutal and metallic tones; "Ship Ahoy" puts Zappa's distorto-funk shuffle over a cooking rhythm section. "Canarsie" lays Zappa's sinuous SG against bizarre rhythm passages featuring Warren Cucurullo's sitar. "Treacherous Cretins" finds him soloing over a reggae riff; "Variations on the Carlos Santana Secret Chord Progression" lives up to its title with the band aping a Latin percussive groove; "Beat It With Your Fist" is two minutes of maximum-velocity metal. But there's also some prettier moments here, like the reflective "Pink Napkins" and "Canard du Jour," an improvised duet with FZ on bouzouki and Jean-Luc Ponty on violin.

Originally released only by mail-order, SHUT UP became one of the more popular Zappa items and promoted a two-disc sequel, GUITAR.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 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" (Renton, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

18 of 18 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

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.

17 of 17 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

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.