Guitar

Guitar

The sequel to Shut Up and Play Your Guitar, Guitar is a two-part collection of improvisations by Frank Zappa, assembled from live recordings between 1979 and 1984. Zappa's bands from this period provides a solid foundation for what is essentially a one-man show, as Zappa carves his "air sculptures" from fluid, lyrical guitar notes. The backdrops vary from rock to blues to free-form embellishments to Zappa-defined reggae all the while giving the soloist plenty of room to explore his instrument. While it lacks the interplay between Zappa and drummer Vinnie Colliuta (he appears on only one track of this set) that made its predecessor so remarkable, Guitar contains more than enough of Zappa's musicianship to carry the day, making this an essential part of any Zappa or guitar fan's collection. This is awesome stuff. Two hours and ten minutes of intense and relentless fret abuse. No vocals, no tunes, just guitar solos and nothing else. "Guitar" was more than good enough when it was first released in 1988, but this expanded edition with extra tracks is a considerable improvement on the original. The material is culled from live performances recorded over a five year period (1979 to 1984), and from the opening chords of "Sexual harassment in the workplace" (the album also features some of Frank's most creative titles) it just builds and builds with no pause for breath. Although the sound isn't always 100% perfect, I much prefer the raw spontaneity of "Guitar" to the more refined approach of its predecessor "Shut up and play your guitar", which seems positively weak in comparison. Frank didn't recommend it for children or Republicans, but to the rest of us this is one of the truly essential Zappa albums.