Frank Zappa 'Hot Rats' Vinyl LP RS-6356 Bizarre Gatefold 1969

$

19

Stock photos are not used. Photos of actual item serve as a description of sleeve condition. Look at them. There is a reflection of light on some of the vinyl ~ not a scratch. 

Hot Rats is the second solo album by Frank Zappa, released in October 1969. It was Zappa's first recording project after the dissolution of the Mothers of Invention.

It features the work of several artists in addition to Zappa, including one former member of the Mothers of Invention, Captain Beefheart, and Don "Sugarcane" Harris. Five of the six songs are instrumental; the other, "Willie the Pimp", features vocals by Beefheart. In his original sleeve notes, Zappa described the album as "a movie for your ears”.

Background[edit]

Because Hot Rats largely consists of instrumental jazz-influenced compositions with extensive soloing, the music sounds very different from earlier Zappa albums, which featured satirical vocal performances with extensive use of musique concrète and editing. Multi-instrumentalist Ian Underwood is the only member of the Mothers to appear on the album and was the primary musical collaborator. Other featured musicians were bassists Max Bennett and Shuggie Otis (who was only 15 years old at the time of the session); drummers John Guerin, Paul Humphrey and Ron Selico; and electric violinists Don "Sugarcane" Harris and Jean-Luc Ponty.

This was the first Frank Zappa album recorded on 16-track equipment and one of the first albums to use this technology. Machines with 16 individual tracks allow for much more flexibility in multi-tracking and overdubbing than the professional 4 and 8-track reel-to-reel tape recorders that were standard in 1969.

Zappa dedicated the album to his newborn son, Dweezil. In February 2009, Dweezil's tribute band to his father, Zappa Plays Zappa, won a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for their rendition of "Peaches en Regalia".[8]

In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album was number 13 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".[9] It was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[10] In 2000 it was voted number 123 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[11]