What are some of your favorite compositions by Zappa? I just can't get into him at all.
I would suggest Oh No, which he used throughout his career and is the basis of the original Lumpy Gravy suite, which due to contractual issue got withdrawn from sale immediately after release and led to Zappa cutting it up with spoken word and releasing it 14 months later as the edited version we know but the original is much better and sensible...........
"Lumpy Gravy is the debut solo album by Frank Zappa, an album of orchestral, electric and concrete sound written by Zappa and performed by a group of session players he dubbed the Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra. Zappa conducted the orchestra but did not perform on the album. It is his third album overall: his previous releases had been under the name of his group, the Mothers of Invention.
It was commissioned and briefly released, on August 7, 1967, by Capitol Records in the 4-track Stereo-Pak format only and then withdrawn due to a lawsuit from MGM Records. MGM claimed that the album violated Zappa's contract with their subsidiary, Verve Records. In 1968 it was reedited and reissued by MGM's Verve Records on May 13, 1968. It consisted of two musique concrète pieces that combined elements from the original orchestral performance with elements of surf music and the spoken word. It was praised for its music and editing."
Larry Fanoga (Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood) - vocals, chorus
Victor Feldman - percussion, drums
Bunk Gardner - woodwind
James Getzoff - strings
Philip Goldberg - strings
John Guerin - drums
Bruce Hampton - chorus
Jimmy "Senyah" Haynes - guitar
Harry Hyams - strings
Jules Jacob - woodwind
Pete Jolly - piano, celeste, harpsichord
Harold Kelling - vocals
Ray Kelly - strings
Jerome Kessler - strings
Alexander Koltun - strings
Bernard Kundell - strings
William Kurasch - strings
Michael Lang - piano, celeste, harpsichord
Arthur Maebe - French horn
Leonard Malarsky - strings
Shelly Manne - drums
Lincoln Mayorga - piano, celeste, harpsichord
Ted Nash - woodwind
Richard Parissi - French horn
Glenn Phillips - vocals
Jerome Reisler - strings
Emil Richards - percussion
Tony Rizzi - guitar
John Rotella - percussion, woodwind
Joseph Saxon - strings
Ralph Schaeffer - strings
Leonard Selic - strings
Kenny Shroyer - trombone
Paul Smith - piano, celeste, harpsichord
Tommy Tedesco - guitar
Al Viola - guitar
Bob West - bass
Tibor Zelig - strings
Jimmy Zito - trumpet
