Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention - One Size Fits All

For the Jazz Fusion Fans....Zappa's best

Great collection with tolerably absurd lyrics. The never cross the line into being distractingly ridiculous. The melodies here are VERY strong, and FZ's guitar solo on Inca Roads, his best ever. Chester Thompson's drumming is loose and fluid and George Duke is doing his thing singing and playing brilliant keyboards. One of Zappa's absolute best. June 9, 2008

Not a Jazz Fusion Album !!!!

One Size fits all is one of the albums created by zappa's 1973-1975 band. This band is considered by most fans to be Zappa's most musically adept band ever.
One Size definitely shows this.
The band is extrodinarily tight, and consists of superb musicians such as: George Duke (jazz pianist), Johnny Guitar Watson (r&b guitarist), Captain Beefheart (rock?), and the great Tom Fowler (Bass Guitarist).

THIS IS NOT A JAZZ/ROCK ALBUM OR A JAZZY ALBUM.

The reason for me writing this review was to debunk the popular myth that this is a jazz fusion album.
-The music doesn't swing (the rythms are not jazzy at all), it does not have horns, the chords are not complex, and the chord progressions have a rock feel.

-Inca Roads may be a bit of an exception. The rythms are very complex, and there is a somewhat jazzy keyboard solo. But for the most part, this song cannot be catagorized at all.
-Can't Afford no Shoes is a charming peice with a heavy beat (emphasizes downbeats AKA: opposite of jazz). It's a Blues/Rock tune with a bombastic feel
-Sofa No.1- a charming peice. It is a VERY SIMPLE waltz, with a typical chord progression. Draws from Classical influences.
-Pojama People - another blues/rock tune with a blistering, heavy bluesy guitar solo.
-Florentine Pogen- Cannot be described. Typical Zappa. some odd rythms.
-Evelyn, a modified dog- A VERY dull tune (hence the 4 stars instead of 5), with a harpsicord and voice. Draws from Classical influences.
-San Berdino- A LONG blues/rock tune with a heavy beat.
-Andy- Another LONG blues/rock tune with a heavy beat.
-Sofa No.2 - sofa no.1 with words

The majority of the album are the blues/rock influenced tunes. So if one HAS to classify this album (one should not classify Zappa), it would be much more accurate to label it as a Blues/Rock album instead of a Jazz Fusion album.


May 16, 2008

His best "studio" album, IMHO

I agree with the prior reviews - this is his best, and that fact was driven home to me with authority when I saw "Zappa does Zappa" last year. I was so glad that Dweezil pulled as much as he did from this album. The lineup is one of (if not the) best that Frank ever had, and the tunes reflect the Zappa musical genius at its finest. (Although if I may disagree with others here, my favorite guitar solo is the "Baby Snakes" version of Punky's Whips, or maybe it's the Zombie Woof solo off "Cheap Thrills", but I digress.) Every tune is solid, if not indispensible, and the chops on every band member shine through. How more people don't absolutely love this stuff blows my mind...(oh that's right, American Idol is what passes for music in this ever increasingly ignorant America we live in.) Well written, well arranged, well played, and well worth your musical money. May 4, 2008

Genius or god?

Whenever I consider an artist, I first of all take into account whether the individual is a genius or a god. My criteria is based on the musical talent of the artist. For example, a group like AC DC attains god status because, although very talented, anyone that can play an instrument decently can play their music, but only they can do it right.

Frank Zappa attained genius status, and One Size Fits All is such a genius composition that I give it 5 stars. From the cover art to the music everything about this album is fantastic. Frank Zappa's musical genius laces this cd.

Black gospel inspired Sofa No 1 is my favorite tune to listen to.
Po-jama People showcases genius
This cd and Apostrophy showcase the best of Frank Zappa
April 8, 2008

Viva Zappa

This, in my opinion, is the most cohesive Zappa album made.
It shines like a diamond, all the many facets of the Zappa Universe. Humor, guitar abuse, difficult time signatures, raucous and sublime vocals, stunning muscianship and general bizarre lyrics make this, still, after all these years, a joy to listen to.

My music teacher, waaay back then, listened to this and she said, "it seems like they were having fun with music", which I guess she meant to say that it was absolutely free and unconcerned with the current (disco) style-of-the-moment.

Behind all the hair, the sneer, the mustachio / imperial, the intolerance of inept band members, or live performances of his work....Frank was a playful type at heart. This album showed his full spectrum of colors.

Sorry to say, tho...after this he seemed to move on to juvenile, scatological humor and recordings (Sheik Yerbouti, Thing-Fish, You are What you Is...etc) which bothered me, but I remained a staunch Zappa fan regardless.

Cop this one...its legendary. It ranks as my fav Zappa CD...of course followed by Roxy n Elsewhere, Grand Wazoo, Make a Jazz Noise Here, and of course, Absolutely Free. March 24, 2008

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