Another record @ 50 - Hot Rats

When writing about four records which were made in 1969, which I heard in 1969-70 and still listen to today with enjoyment, Frank Zappa's 'Hot Rats' was inexplicably left out. Thinking about it today, there are three reasons why I didn't think about this record: it's by an American and is almost completely instrumental, but the crowning reason is that there was no continuation. I have purchased uncountable albums by Fairport, Van der Graaf, 'Crimso' and the Beatles, but this is the only record by Frank Zappa that I ever purchased and the only one which I enjoyed. I did listen to other records that he made, but the 'satirical' (or scatalogical) lyrics and general style turned me off. This record really is unique in his catalogue.

I think that it's also relevant to state that it was the only one of the five which was made with a 16 track tape recorder (although VdGG's 'After the flood' was also recorded on 16 track). All the others were recorded with 8 track machines, which whilst allowing greater freedom that the previous 4 track machines ('Sgt Pepper' not withstanding), were still somewhat restricting (although not necessarily so for Fairport, who didn't indulge/require multiple overdubs). The wiki article explains how the 16 tracks allowed multiple instrumental overdubs by Ian Underwood, resulting in a very rich sound.

'Peaches en regalia' of course is an excellent overture, but I enjoy the closing track, 'It must be a camel' even more; there's something wonderful about those piano chords. Zappa's son, Dweezil, has been touring the 'Hot Rats' album, and somewhere he wonders how on Earth papa Zappa come up with that music.

The only thing that I dislike about the digital version is that there are several versions of it! Zappa felt free to edit his performances after the original record was released and as a result the version that I have is slightly different to the one that I remember (bought in April 1970). Apart from a few extra minutes added to 'The gumbo variations' (I would have preferred that several minutes be removed from this track), there is a very noticeable edit (to me) in 'Willie the pimp', and I'm fairly certain that bits of 'Son of Mr Green Genes' have been remixed, as I don't remember the horns being so prominent at the end.