Frank Zappa ‎– Hot Rats

My runouts are RSLP 6356 A1 AND RSLP 6356 B1 and it as KINNEY RECORD GROUP LTD on the back. I think these runouts appear on another version but not for Kinney Records. Maybe mine as got mixed up at some stage in its life.

Fantastic reissue.

Gatefold quality is solid.

Disc is as vibrant in sound as it is in colour! VERY QUIET copy, can only hear the most minimal of noise at the end of the tracks. Probably one of the best sounding discs in my collection!

Somehow my discs label has a tiny rip in it's edge yet the actual grooves seems perfect, and that's what matters more of course! Just an interesting observation that i've not encountered from a mint copy before.

Also comes in an anti-static inner for the cherry on top!

Excellent pressing. No surface noise whatsoever and all the instruments just seem to come alive. The pink color is very pleasing to the eye as well.

Really good pressing, no surface noise whatsoever, super crisp sound.

Disappointing there is not even a download code celebrating FZ's legendary 1969 solo outing.. :-/

Hot Rats is an album that’s forever been enticing to me, yet one that I’ve been on the fence about for the last fifty years. For the most part Hot Rats is an instrumental album, laced with vocal performances by Captain Beefheart, most notably on the song “Willie The Pimp.” Add to that, that this is the first time we hear Zappa featured as a guitarist extraordinaire, not that his playing was absent on The Mother’s previous albums, it’s just that here he resounds and exudes a singular confidence and dare I say graciousness and objectivity. In addition, the record was recorded using a sixteen track tape machine, defining a singular dense orchestration, revealing a timbral clarity and a most desirable placement within the stereophonic field that is both expressive, visionary and lively.

That said, many were turned off by his aggressive time signatures and heavily distorted guitars, moving Zappa from a crazed rock musician to that of the avant grade, marching headlong into uncharted territory. These pieces of music were extremely long and nearly demandingly focused, taking aspects of free-form jazz from the likes of Ayler and Coltrane, yet bending them to suit his needs and aspirations, building this outing around a solid rock based background that incorporated the environment of free form and improv, where if I could, I might suggest, he brought the dirt and aggression found in rock n’ roll into the complex improvised style of jazz, bringing to light his own personal version of fusion, making it not an easy album to love, though impossible not to appreciate.

The super deluxe box set is staggering, featuring every song Zappa laid down during a hot July in 1969 on compact disc. Also included is Frank’s 1987 digital re-mix, along with a host of other unexpected rarities, that frankly (no pun intended) is far too much for anyone to consume or assimilate in one lifetime, where with the addition of hefty, actual 180 gram hot pink records, simply makes this collection nothing less than yummy musical mind candy perched on the edge of destiny.

There are those who are going to argue over these remasters versus the original pressing, not original re-pressings mind you, though methinks far too many listeners have gotten locked into the sonic shortcomings of that original album to allow themselves to appreciate what’s being handed to them here. I for one was very excited to hear this record again, where it actually does sound as if one is hearing Hot Rats for the first time again in all of it’s demented glory.

*** The Fun Facts: Although Mr. Zappa (and I’ve no idea why, because the psychedelic 60’s were as colorful and as absurd as Zappa himself) held great dislike, even disdain for the hippies, with the graphic design of this album’s artwork, certainly reflected the psychedelic era as none other. The striking dynamic photo was achieved though a new infrared photography system that allowed for brilliant colour manifestations, with the image of a woman (Christine Frka, also known as Miss Christine was originally hired by Zappa as a nanny for his two children, was one of the notorious Sunset Strip groupies, a member of the all girl band as The GTOs, and died two years later of a heroin overdose) ghoulishly easing out of a neglected Hollywood Hills swimming pool, captured the spirit of 1969 as no other album cover ever has. The actual location was the former estate of Errol Flynn, though the pool seems to have been lost to time, though perhaps that’s a good thing, as the property would have certainly become an Abbey Road crosswalk Mecca for Zappa fans.

Yet the artwork doesn’t end there, the gatefold houses a ton of images and if one holds the album in a certain way, in a certain light, it magically turns black right before your eyes.

Review by Jenell Kesler

What a stunning piece of vinyl. Music is fantastic, but this pressing is simply perfect and Bernie Grundman mastering just lets this great music shine. Perfect

αφο? το ?χει? σε Reprise Records ?– 44 078 και Bizarre Records γιατ? δεν ?βαλε? και τι? ?λλε? φωτογραφ?ε??