Zappa?

Peter mentions "Chungas Revenge", an album that seems to mark a transition of sorts (there were many), one of my favorites. The dirty wawa blues licks on "Road Ladies" stopped my buddy in his tracks when I played it for him. He was a Jimmie Page fanatic, but suddenly he took FZ seriously as a player, something he had not considered.
You might think about trying some earlier FZ first just to see where he was coming from. Whatever you do, dont forget his early stuff, even the silliest songs are great. Also anyone notice that "Burnt Weenie Sandwich" shows up on the "Filmore" and in "200 Motels" among other albums in various forms?

Guaranteed, if you buy enough Zappa, you'll be offended and/or disappointed, he was all over the place, from do-wop, fusion, classical, jazz and in between.
My favorite is Hot Rats, terrific fusion-y without much vocals.
2nd choice is where they put two of his albums on one cd - Overnite Sensation and One Size Fits All which is in his rock with humor style.

FZ's output covers a prodigeous amount of sq. footage. Hot Rats 2, (Waka Jawaka) is about as close to Grand Wazoo as yer gonna get. Both measure real high on the spiff o meter. Like other posters have said, nearly every Zappa record has something great on it.

i was sittin here re reading the post's & listening to fz 'the legend of the illinois enema bandit'when it hit me that most new zappa fan's arent hip to all of the talent that was in fz's band's.

most people think of fz as a drug crazed mad man or just a weird hippy who made silly funny music & never realize that there were juliard trained musician's in some of his band's & other musician's that were part of the miles davis line up who later went on to form & play in some of the best band's ever like king crimson & return to forever.

a smoking hot jazz album to check out is 'jean-luc-ponty plays the music of frank zappa,king kong'if you like fusion jazz king kong will not dissapoint you.

mike.

I grew up on FZ & saw him 5 times. Saw some of the greats he had in his band..Napolean Murphy Brock, Captain Beefheart...

It's a crime he died so young. It's also a shame that his "hits" that went commercial painted him differently in the public's eyes than he really was. Personally I think he'll stand the test of time with some of the great composers of the past. A girlfriend I had many years ago had never heard of FZ (she grew up in a rather sheltered world) and happened to be a classical pianist...she's since played in the UK for the Queen and a number of other similar venues in EU & China...also placed very well in Van Cliburn's competition.
..anyway

I played some FZ for her a couple times and even though the music seemed very far from her world she perked up as soon as she heard it..."WHO IS this guy?" She thought he was pretty incredible.

If you're into FZ-once removed you might want to look into the Omibus Wind Ensemble's recordings of FZ compositions...very nice.

http://www.opus3records.com/list.html#Chamber

I'd also put in a vote for Chunga's Revenge, Zoot Allures, I don't think Bongo Fury has been mentioned(excellent), Hot Rats, One Size Fits All, Joe's Garage..., Roxy & Elewhere..others..