Burnt Burnt Weeny Sandwiches

Overall Album Score: 9.4 out of 10

I'm not positive why this was the first Frank Zappa album I ever bought, but I'm pretty certain it had something to do with its reputation as a classical album. In fact, I'm sure of it. I remember popping it right into the CD player before I drove out of that Best Buy parking lot, and listening to "WPLJ" for the first time. Oops! I bought the wrong album!!!!

Oh wait, no I didn't, because "Igor's Boogie, Phase One" is an obvious tribute to Igor Stravinsky. Thanks to the music appreciation course I took a few years ago at Kansas State University, I knew I bought the right album.

And what an album it is! I wrote a review of it for epinions.com back in 2003, and I originally had this scored at a 9.9 I loved it so much. (I'm not sure what the heck happened to that review... well, I obviously changed my mind about it slightly.)

Zappa showed hints of avant-garde / modern classical music in his earlier albums, but this is where he delved full-fledged into the genre. (Naturally, there's still plenty of electric guitar and drums ...) And, these songs are put together exceptionally well. Zappa proves to be a master of song development here (something that might have not been too aparent in albums like Uncle Meat. Just listening to the directions these songs take is excitement enough to fans of all kinds of music!

Certainly the big masterpiece is the 18-minute "Little House I Used to Live In." That song is intensely interesting (I was not at a loss for words at least!) and it's also quite fun ... if you're a person who would enjoy moody atonal music that is.

This is yet another great Zappa album and it clearly ranks among the man's finest. That said, I can't say I've given much of a serious listen to any of the albums he did after this ... soooooo ... I wonder where he's going to go next.........

Overall Album Score: 9.4 out of 10 (Zappa's classical turn produced some weird and wild results. This is where I started out with Zappa! ... OK never a great fan, but I always loved this album.)

Average Song Score: 9.1 (Sandwiched by two of Zappa's signature sarcastic do-wop stuff, and the middle is some of the weirdest and most successful bits of modern classical in rock. It must be.)

Album Tilt: 9.5 (It comes off together really well as an album ... I love listening to it closely and just as much in the background.)

Artist Rating: 9.5 (This comes off as well-developed and well-constructed. Not so much brilliantly lazy.)

Track Reviews

WPLJ 8.5/10

Not too different from what he'd been doing in Benny and the Jets, but this is probably better than most of those songs. It's a '50s style do-wop song done with an extreme sense of sarcasm (as expected from Zappa). Anyway, I like the simple melody, and I think it's pretty funny. It's the top slice of bread of our burnt weeny sandwich!!

Igor's Boogie, Phase One 4.5/5

A thirty-six-second bit of Stravansky. Stravinsky is wilder, though!!!! This must be the burnt skin on the weeny before we get to the tasty meat. (Hm, maybe I'm reading too much into it?)

Overture to a Holiday in Berlin 9/10

A very brief bit of a waltz classical music done with terribly out-of-tune instrumentals. Yet, in its own way, it's fabulously charming!!!!

Theme From Burnt Weeny Sandwich 8/10

Not so charming this time, but rock fans should note that this is a bit of rock 'n' roll. The evil guitar has a watery texture and ........ well, this song definitely has a texture of its own. It's alarming and pretty unique. Hm. There's some wildly pattered percusion and sound effects as the song moves along. Although certainly more accessible than the stuff he did on Uncle Meat, he continues to be baffling! This song has a hypnotizing feel to it, but I even think it runs a tad too long.

Igor's Boogie, Phase Two 4.5/5

More of that Stravinsky stuff. (Is that a bike horn I hear? Naaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww!!!)

Holiday in Berlin Full-Blown 9.5/10

That band is still pretty out of tune, but they're getting a little more footing here. That's a good thing too, because this song is almost veryyyyyyy pleasant. But Zappa doesn't give us straight pleasantness. He gives us weird pleasantness. There's some excellent passages in here ... extremely well written. Zappa develops this song wildly and it goes in many, many directions. The wild militaristic drum beat in the middle is just nuts but still pretty consistent with the whole experience. If I were to try to describe everything in this song, I would run out of Internet. Ahhhhhhh, I love Zappa. Everything is consistent yet none of it is predictable. The muted electric guitar noodling in the latter half of the song is very enjoyable. I wish I could play cool electric guitar!

Aybe Sea 9/10

He's almost getting genuinely pretty here... He's still manically insane in the prettiness, but ....... it's pretty in a strong sense. The piano sounds rather like Debussey ... and the song develops wildly, again. Nonetheless, it's an almost straight-forward song! Heck, give me this over Uncle Meat any day of the week!!!!

Little House I Used to Live In 25/25

And here's the big burnt weenie. It's nearly a 19-minute long piece of modern classical music. It starts out with a piddly piano. This section isn't too different from other modern classical musicians. ........ And then some drums pipe up just to remind us that we're in a rock album after all. A "wah-wah" sounding guitar plays nutty notes and then a really bizarre synth chimes in just to mess with our senses. (Is that a bike horn?) .... (Is that a fog horn?) ... The mood of the song picks up in this frantic state at the 3:30 mark and manages to make me pleasantly crazy. Then, only a really fun electric guitar pipes up with some crazy drum beats (verrrrrrrrrrrrry well done here on both instruments) ... a little distortion occurs at the 5:10 minute mark, but that's no biggie! What sounds to me like an electric violin (or just a weird guitar) starts playing mentally distressing notes and some wooden sound effects patter around. A drum beat picks up again and the screechy instrument conforms with it (but still has its distressed edge about it). A piano slowly gains some prominence around the 7:15 mark and piddles around as the violin moves in and out of the speakers. The piano seems to get lost by the 8:30 mark and the violin continues to go nuts. It's plum complaining about something by the 8:45 mark and then is rather quickly fades out. The piano comes back and doesn't sound particualrly upset about anything ... it's just having a bit of a chat. And then it gets a little more heated there .... and almost explodes in a few places. (Maybe he's at a beach and he just spotted a bunch of hotties???) The drum adapts a more off-kilter beat and the violin (calmer but still crazed this time) comes back. At the 11:13 mark, it remembers why it was upset and ... well, it seems to disturb the drum beat quite awfully for awhile. The drum regains its footing, and so does the piano. The violin does for a brief time, but it jerks the other instruments back to its crazy state for a brief while. ... They get normal again by the 12:20 mark, but that doesn't last long. The violin is spitting fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There's assorted rolls by the drums and the piano around the 13:10 mark and the violin wants to make sure that it's king. Pretty soon, that's the only instrument that's playing. It does a roll into oblivion. Then, a rather glorious harpischord instrument pipes up and puts glitter over everything. Woodwinds begin playing atonal but oddly satisfying notes along with a harpischord and a xylophone. These guys seem pretty fat and self-assured. But all hell breaks lose almost by the 15-minute mark and .... well, it seems like somebody is fastforwarding a tape recorder. That's exactly what it sounds like. The drum does very interesting stuff here ... make sure you pay attention to that under that weird whatsit instrument that I can't even find a name for. HHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! And then ... applause??????????????????????? Were they playing this alive the whole time? That's the grand surprise................... And then Zappa has a rather humorous interchange with a screaming fan.

Valarie 8/10

Back to the bread? I guess. This is another '50s inspired do-wop tune with all the sarcasm intact. A ballad this time, I guess I don't find it quite as enjoyable. But it's still good. You almost think it's a relief after that tape recorder stuff in the previous track!!!!!!!

Burn some weenies here.