The Unexpexted Zappa Orgy of 1Q25 Part III—Hot Rats Sessions A

These are the days of spherical and under, this is the long-defunct mall.
Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

That’s where I got the idea for … the title of the Hot Rats album: There’s a recording that I picked up in Europe that had “The Shadow of Your Smile” with Archie Schepp playing on it, and he played this solo that just sounded to me immediately like there was this fucking army of pre-heated rats screaming out of his saxophone. That’s what it sounded like.

— Frank Zappa

A complete line of extras designed with your mind in mind.

— Philip Proctor as Ralph Spoilsport, a parody of Encino automobile salesman Ralph Williams

Plunging into the Hot Rats Sessions, I started with Disc 5, which includes the 1987 digital remix of the album, and closes with a sweet shuffle on which “Sugarcane” Harris shines. I then proceeded to Disc 1. It's not for everybody (obviously) but I am really enjoying hearing all the bits, the jams, the what-have-you’s. The details listed in the book are interesting and informative. If like me, you’re a fan of Burnt Weenie Sandwich, the first two tracks of Ian Underwood playing piano shine with glimpses of familiarity and are entirely engaging. The bulk of the disc’s running time is workshopping “Peaches en Regalia,” and while (sure) I get that not everybody will find it engaging, as a composer, I entirely enjoy this opportunity to be a fly on the wall as Zappa by turns takes part in the jams and guides the rehearsal process. This is not “aimless noodling” but highly directed noodling by superb musicians with a great sense of ensemble. Disc 2 workshops “It Must Be a Camel” and “Little Umbrellas” (whose working title was “Natasha.”) There’s a tasty eleven-minute violin blues, “Bognor Regis” with a nice wrangly guitar solo. Then, workshopping “Willie the Pimp,” as well as an unedited master thereof running quarter of an hour. From a cassette recording from preparing The Real Frank Zappa Book by Peter Occhiogrosso (I don’t recall this actually appearing in the book:

That’s where I got the idea for … the title of the Hot Rats album: There’s a recording that I picked up in Europe that had “The Shadow of Your Smile” with Archie Schepp playing on it, and he played this solo that just sounded to me immediately like there was this fucking army of pre-heated rats screaming out of his saxophone. That’s what it sounded like. To backtrack, the arrival of the parcel confused me quite. The Apostrophe (’) 50th anniversary edition is a delightfully compact affair, and I had allowed this to set my expectations for this comparable Hot Rats celebratory issue. So, this enormous carton arrived, and when I opened it up, I found an LP-sized box within. I mistakenly supposed that I was sent vinyl in error, but no, when I spoke to an agent to sort out (as I thought) the “problem,” I broke the cellophane, examined the contents, and discovered that yes, this is the compact disc edition. My initial trend to dismay at the unanticipatedly much larger footprint of the product has been completely reversed to pleasure that the book reproduces the LP artwork, hitting all the nostalgia buttons.