Frank Zappa

The Hot Rats Sessions

ZAPPA/UMC

Pioneering jazz-rock classic expanded.

In the late 60s/ early 70s, when carrying a bunch of vinyl albums under their arm the ‘I’m hip and I want you to know it’ rock fan always made sure Hot Rats was the one on the outside (that or Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica). Many of them didn’t actually like the music. Those who did thrilled to a record bursting with inventive songwriting and virtuoso musicianship: the acute-angled melody of It Must Be A Camel, the complex but warm instrumental harmonies of Little Umbrellas, the jaunty Son Of Mr Green Genes, the expansive and evolving The Gumbo

Variations, Zappa’s still brilliant arrangement of Peaches En Regalia… It was rock-meets-jazz in a head-spinning, often breathtaking fashion, as exciting as it was groundbreaking.

This 50th-anniversary issue comes loaded with works-inprogress pieces, feet-finding takes, tracks of isolated instruments and more, which offer a fascinating fly-on-thewall view of the finished album taking shape: Natasha is effectively Little Umbrellas with just rhythm section and piano; Prototype, Section 1, Jam and others show the laying of the groundwork for Peaches; there’s a greasy unedited Willie The Pimp and a couple of guitar overdubs for it, and a rollicking unedited master of Big Legs, later edited and re-titled The Gumbo Variations. There are also tracks from the sessions which didn’t make the cut. Basically, everything recorded at the July ’69 sessions is here. And it’s fantastic.

Scoring is difficult. While this box set is a must-have for Hot Rats fans, its appeal to the uninitiated (apart from carrying it under their arm) is minimal. ■■■■■■■■■■