There are certain artists that I like on levels beyond their music, or you might say, in spite of their music. I'm not into the Ramones at all, but Douglas Colvin's autobiography is one of the most gripping I've ever read so when Greg goes on about the band, I'm all ears. I only like 2 songs that Neil Young has been involved with but I have his autobiography and when documentaries involving him are on, I'll watch. I find him interesting. I feel similarly about the Doors, Mott the Hoople and a load of others.
Frank Zappa kind of fell into that category for me. I listened to some of his stuff stoned as a young man, had a laugh, didn't really go for it, but I found
him and his concepts rivetting so I'd read biogs, interviews and watch documentaries.
Then I bought "Piquantique".
I had just come off a solid 2 year jazz
fusion kick where I had bought loads of albums and immersed myself in a lot of new stuff and that year I was solidly into Irish folk & folk rock when I read about Zappa acquiring bootlegs of his gigs and putting them out as official albums coz he was tired of bootlegs. The sheer audacity of and humour in the situation tickled me so much and when I heard Jean Luc Ponty was in the band on violin and George Duke was on keyboards and they played jazz rock, I thought, "I've got to hear this album !"
I wasn't disappointed.
I love the album. The thing that really stands out is that although it probably is really complex and it's unclear how much is written and how much is improvised, it hangs together so well. It has wild moments, funny moments, wonderfully melodic moments, baffling moments, they're quiet, they rock out in a great piss take way and it's accessible all the way. Some of the titles are so stupid like "Father O'blivion" and "Mershi Duween", which I incorporated into my phraseology for a while in the early 90s.