Joe's Garage Act l (studio album) by Frank Zappa

From Sandrof1969 02/15/2018 19:07

L'ambientazione sembra essere negli anni cinquanta, ma la sua personale visione di disco music e reggae tradisce la sua reale provenienza seventies. Impegnativo e leggero insieme, come spesso riesce a Zappa.

Zappa fans can be broken into two basic categories -- those who think his music went downhill after 1975 and those who think Joe's Garage and Sheik Yerbouti are two of his best albums. Since I fall into the former camp, I rate Joe Garage Act 1 low. Crew Slut, Wet T-Shirt Night and Catholic Girls are crude and unsubtle. I thought it was great when I was 14, but feel the opposite now.

From Mother Nature's Son 04/27/2014 14:34

Okay, this actually might be the album (all three acts and not only the first act as shown here) that finally made me appreciate Frank Zappa. I agree, it's a mess and the humour is also pretty dumb, but it definitely also has its charm including some actual quality music - ranging from super silly reflecting its lyrics to beautiful guitar soloing. Especially want to recommend "Watermelon in Easter Hay" (in act III), which might be Zappa's finest 9 minutes!

Also, it seems there's some confusion about the release of the album(s), which is fully understandable. "Joe's Garage Act I" was released in 1979, the same year as act II and III, which were included in one album. Not until 1987 were all three acts included in one triple album. It does explain why the album that contains two thirds of the whole rock opera is rated so much lower than this album that only contains one third.

Frank Zappa's three-act rock opera "Joe's Garage, Acts I, II, & III" demonstrates a perfect balance of humor, satire, and serious tone while elaborating on extremely complex musical undertones. As a complex and complete set of many perfected musical specialties, it also a prime example of one of the most underrated albums this era.

The original three-LP set was a concept album / rock opera released in response to stupidity of governmental and social norms of operation. The album is somewhat a prediction, somewhat a sarcastic joke, and somewhat a humorless reminder of the moral and enforcemental problems present in a modern day society.

Throughout the development of the plot, a "Central Scrutinizer," much symbolic of mankind's imperfect judging force, elaborates on the cheesy image of a man named Joe; this protagonist is a musician who will soon learn that music, a terrible force to the nature of humanity, will cause him great destruction. Throughout the development of the absurd plot (almost as rickety as Twain's "Huck Finn"), the amazing compositional beauty of Zappa's style comes to what some may call his quintessential forefront.

The album begins with the dark, fantastically-arranged, percussion feature introducing the narrator. Mixing simple rock tunes like the title track, beautiful melodies in 9/4 ("Watermelon in Easter Hay"), and bewildering backing tracks (like the 19/16 and 21/16 work in "Keep It Greasy"), Zappa blows the audience away with his originality, bizarre and beautiful music, and absolutely astounding lyrical diction.

The musical destruction of everything builds to a sarcastic climax reminiscent of Country Joe & The Fish's anti-Vietnam piece. Through suddenly changing musical passages, beautiful ballads, and stunning guitar solos, Zappa's stunning work shines light on what will happen when music is made illegal - and more importantly, why.

From Jasonconfused 02/11/2013 03:08

Near perfect starts and endings, but it falls into a bit of a slump in the middle. Still an amazing work of art by Mr. Zappa.

From paladisiac 01/17/2013 20:00

This is one of those albums that most people wouldn't know what to do with. It's part broadway musical, part dr. demento -sounding parody, part discombobulated doo-wop-r&b-synth-arena-rock with a lot of interspersed narrative. It's a perverted mess. Sometimes i really like it. Sometimes it just tries too much and falls awkwardly flat. It's also a concept album about Joe and his garage...

Zappa's masterwork. Epic in every sense. His definitive musical and social statement.

From electraburn 07/10/2012 13:09

Funny as hell when I was a kid. Still funny as an "Adult"!

I'd love to see this on Broadway. Great album.

From Hayden 04/25/2012 22:22

Great, but not perfect. It might be the inconsistency that was mentioned before, not sure. I really liked it though, even though it's almost 2 hours long, there's almost no filler. I still need a few more listens to fully comprehend the entire thing as a whole. Good job as usual Zappa.