![]() “Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up” is a semi-serious reggae song about a girl that seduced Joe then abandoned him after he developed feelings for her. ![]() The song is quite the juxtaposition of 3 distinctly different styles that Zappa loves to combine to create his own unique genre. This composition contains a marvelous Carlos Santana-like guitar jam outro.įollowing the trajectory of Joe’s story so far, the next song asks the obvious question, “Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?” This is a purposely juvenile, AOR-type rock song with lavatory lyrics but with a complex bridge that reminds you of Genesis or King Crimson at their most bombastic. ![]() Even if the lyrics offend, there is always the brilliantly complex music chugging underneath. Mary is also the central figure in the following funk-rock-pop-samba, “Wet T-shirt Nite”. Portrayed by Dale Bozzio, a later founding member of Missing Persons. The story introduces a new character, Mary, who is the innocent “Catholic Girl” of the aforementioned song, and chronicles her ominous evolution in the next song the raucous blues number “Crew Slut”. Zappa name checks two members of his band, master drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, later of Missing Persons and Duran Duran fame. Joe’s band starts getting their first gigs at church functions and Joe sings about the virtues of their original fans, the “Catholic Girls”, in this intricate drum-workout song with the 9/16 time signature breaks. The plot chronicles the journey from the first band practice to the eventual record deal, followed by changing musical trends, the subsequent loss of the record deal, and then nostalgia for the innocence of the old garage days. This song accurately describes a typical teenager’s first trip to his friends’ garage to jam with his buddies. The protagonist, Joe, doesn’t heed the government’s warning and sets out on his journey on the title track, “Joe’s Garage”. He warns us that it will not be an easy life if we chose to go down that path. The narrator tells us what can happen if we choose a career in music. The rock opera starts with a spoken word narrative by “The Central Scrutinizer”. Ike Willis, Dale Bozzio, Al Malkin, Terry Bozzio, and The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen – Vocals & Chorus Vinnie Colaiuta – Drums, Combustible Vapors, Optometric Abandon Warren Cuccurullo – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals Recorded: Villiage Recorders, Hollywood, CA, April-August, 1979 Released: Act I released on Septem(Zappa Records)Īcts II & III released on Novem(Zappa Records) Joe’s Garage Acts I, II & III by Frank Zappa This concept piece wove the material Zappa had already recorded with other songs he’d written over the weekend. The following Monday, he was back in the studio with Joe’s Garage. “I’m going home and writing an opera this weekend,” he told the skeptical staff. According to one studio staffer, Zappa claimed to have exhausted his supply of written material, but asked to extend his stay nonetheless. By the first of June, he and his entourage had completed a dozen tunes. Zappa described this album as a stupid little story about how the government is going to do away with music.įrank Zappa moved into Village Recorders on Applanning to record a couple of songs and leave. Joe’s Garage is noted for its use of “Xenochrony”, a recording technique created by Zappa that takes guitar solos from older live recordings and overdubs them onto newer studio recordings to produce random musical coincidences. It is highly creative, imaginative and above all, quite a bit of fun. This particular outing is a brilliant mix of stellar musicianship, social commentary, melodic pieces, scathing lyrics, guitar improvisation, detailed production and humor. Joe’s Garage was comprised of 3 records – Act I was released in September and Act II & Act III were released together two months later. He released seven LPs’ worth of new material in the course of a year. Joe’s Garage, Act I and Acts II & III are release numbers 28 & 29 in Zappa’s 62-album discography.ġ979 was a very productive year for Zappa. But the primary focus on this particular outing is story-driven rock and roll in the tradition of The Who’s Tommy. JOE’S GARAGE is a semi-political rock opera containing a variety of styles. However this particular ‘project/object’ collection contains all of the Zappa benchmarks that his fans love: Musical virtuosity, social parody, pop satire, compositional complexity, stylistic diversity, crude lyrics and a wicked sense of humor. He makes little effort to be approachable. If you happen to fall in the latter category and want to give his music another try, a good place to start would be Joe’s Garage. ![]() ![]() Frank Zappa is one of those musical figures that people either get or they don’t. ![]()
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