Since the 1960's I have enjoyed listening to the work of Frank Zappa. In my more recent years, I have enjoyed reading about his work and life. The books I have read include:

THE REAL FRANK ZAPPA BOOK by Frank Zappa and Peter Occhioigrosso

ELECTRIC DON QUIXOTE: THE DEFINITIVE STORY OF FRANK ZAPPA by Neil Slaven

NECESSITY IS... THE EARLY YEARS OF FRANK ZAPPA AND THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION by Billy James

COSMIK DEBRIS: THE COLLECTIVE HISTORY AND IMPROVISATIONS OF FRANK ZAPPA by Greg Russo

NO COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL: THE SAGA OF FRANK ZAPPA by David Walley THEM OR US by Frank Zappa

UNDER THE SAME MOON by Suzannah Thana Harris

BEING FRANK: MY TIME WITH FRANK ZAPPA by Nigery Lennon

With no doubt in my mind, ELECTRIC DON QUIXOTE is most creative title among the Zappa biographies. Clearly this title accurately reduces Zappa's musical contribution to the fewest read possible words. Thus, the title is a masterpiece of composition and creativity.

In many ways, the book's content is similar to THE REAL FRANK ZAPPA BOOK. However, Slaven doesn't offer that whimsical and playful flavor that is found in Zappa's and Occhioigrosso's words. Slaven lays out the facts in a well-written and humanistic manner. Of books in my Zappa library, Slaven offers the most even-handed approach. I didn't find this even-handed approach in any of the other Zappa books I have read. However, being even-handed can lead to some dry reading, but nonetheless still worthy for those interested in Zappa's life.

One significant reaction emerges in my head. I hope young musicians read ELECTRIC DON QUIXOTE. Zappa made some critical errors of judgement early in his career that effected his entire life. The evil characters - in this and other Zappa biographies - are record company executives. In his naiveté, Zappa was too trusting or too hungry to make rational decisions prior to signing a record deal. If young musicians carefully read ELECTRIC DON QUIXOTE (and COSMIK DEBRIS by Greg Russo), they can avoid making the mistakes that plagued Zappa and the Turtles.

The ELECTRIC DON QUIXOTE will be enjoyed by all Zappa fans. In addition, I think it should be required reading for all musicians who intend to record.

... I decided to track this one down in the the public library to no avail. So buy it I must. additional note: "The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play" is a definitive critical and interpretive discourse covering the entire length of Zappa's career and even has a closing section in which Zappa participates in a reading and critique of the manuscript before its actual publishing. Written by Ben(Out To Lunch)Watson, it is objectively projected to an apostrophic nth degree.

I found this book provided more detail on zappa's early years,and also gave a truer account of what contemporaries thought of zappa (i.e a bit of an intellectual).Neal Slaven has taken full advantage of being able to examine the whole of zappa's life and work;unlike previous biographies which had to make assessments with new works still appearing. In summing up more critical than some previous books yet still appreciative.

If you can play all the music transcribed in this book, you can also be the envy of your music professors. Zappa's mastery of irregular rhythmic groupings, sets him well above not only any other guitarist I know, but also above the VAST majority of percussionists( who SPECIALISE in rhythm .) I divide my time with these scores between trying to play passages, tapping out the rhythm of passages, and marvelling at the uniqueness of Frank's guitar playing. Even if you can't play unusually intricate/complex rhythms, THE FRANK ZAPPA GUITAR BOOK is great for keeping any of your more musically skilled friend's egos in check.
PostScript- Steve Vai deserves a special GRAMMY for transcribing this material.
OH, Would you like to know what Tracks are transcribed?
From SHUT UP AND PLAY YOUR GUITAR
*five-five-FIVE
*Hog Heaven
*Shut up and play your guitar
*While You Were Out
*Treacherous Cretins
*Heavy Duty Judy
*Soup and Old Clothes
From SHUT UP AND PLAY YOUR GUITAR SOME MORE
*Variations on the Carlos Santana Secret Chord Progression
*Gee, I Like Your Pants!
*The Deathless Horsie
*Shut up and Play Your Guitar Some More
*Pink Napkins
From THE RETURN OF THE SON OF SHUT UP AND PLAY YOUR GUITAR
*Stucco Homes
(I might be missing one here but I can't Remember)
From SHEIK YERBOUTI
*The Sheik Yerbouti Tango
*Rat Tomago
*Mo' Mama (Recording Unreleased)
From YOU ARE WHAT YOU IS
*Theme from the 3rd movement of Sinister Footwear
From JOE'S GARAGE
*Outside Now
*Packard Goose
*Watermelon In Easter Hay
From ZOOT ALLURES
*Black Napkins

WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE?

It was my husbands birhtday and I wanted to find him something that he could enjoy for a very long time. well I found this book. He loved it! It gives you insight into Frank Zappa's mind. But it is all done through his music. Anyone who buys this book will not be disapointed! So enjoy it!!

Lots of Frank's guitar solos! Really hard to read and even harder to play! Steve Vai transcribed FZ's solos and you poor buddy are sitting at home and try and try and try to play his songs. If you study the notes carefully and you like FZ's music you are entertained and challenged for years. But anyways I like it. (Excuse my English!)

This is an excellent companion to your Zappa collection. It might be of little interest to those totally not in the know about Zappa; unlike Bet Watson's excellent "Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play" however, it is not incomprehensible to the novice. The chronological flow and the wealth of biographical material is a fine bonus, as are the hitherto rare photos of Zappa with various family members. Of particular interest are the bits about Zappa in the Czech Republic - his welcome there, his interaction with Vaclav Havel - did you know he set up a company to represent Czech business interests in the US? (The book does not go into detail on how the Bush administration arm-twisted Havel into withdrawing this accreditation from Zappa, but that is another story) For the hardcore Zappa-phile, there are shots of Zappa with the earliest Mothers, a rare photo of the legendary Studio Z, Zappa with Beefheart, and so on and so forth. Unlike most of the quickie picture books designed to cash in on the latest boy/girl/whatever - band craze, this book will stay by your bedside for years.

By way of dissing Zappa's famous appearance before Congress to argue against warning labels on records, my favorite conservative columnist Don Feder derisively refers to Frank Zappa as a "rock creature" and makes fun of him for naming his daughter Moon Unit. (You'll find these remarks in _A Jewish Conservative Looks at Pagan America_. Feder is usually better than this.)

But the fact is that Zappa was a genuine homegrown American original, a musical genius, and a thoroughly subversive Enemy Of The State. And whatever one thinksof their names, the rest of us should have children like Zappa's. (They're all grown up now, of course, but Moon was a highly poised young lady even at the age of thirteen. I don't remember seeing any of Feder's kids on talk shows when _they_ were teenagers.)

Love or hate his music; agree or disagree that his sometimes-acerbic social commentary often went over the line into sheer pornography. If you want to meet the man himself, this book is the only one you need to read.

It's all in his own words, as told to Peter Occhiogrosso. The style will be recognizable to anyone who has ever read the liner notes on a Zappa album. And the content is part autobiography, part correction of underground-rock-grapevine misconceptions, part almost-libertarian political activism, part musing on the nature of musical composition.

A handful of highlights, chosen from among many: He proposes that music could be digitally downloaded, an idea whose time apparently hadn't come when Zappa first thought of it. The chapter on his "pornography trial" in the UK is hilarious, not least because it includes selections from the actual transcripts. And if you want to know _why_ his kids turned out so well-spoken and mature at such early ages, check out his advice on childrearing.

By the way, Zappa did not do drugs, no matter how many well-meaning imbeciles tell you otherwise. On the contrary, he was one of a handful of anti-drug crusaders in the music industry, and one of an even smaller handful who wasn't a recovering addict himself. Reality is better than drugs anyway, and Zappa knew it.

His untimely death from prostate cancer left a gaping hole; he was irreplaceable. But thank goodness for this book.

I have always held that common sense is lacking inAmerica. Frank Zappa has proven it in his social commentary of societyin general in "The Real Frank Zappa Book." From his attacks on extremetism (look at any televangelist, or Tipper Gore's PMRC)to the dangers of breasts and what makes the nipple so evil as not to be shown on television, and his more personal stories (like how his son Dweezil got his name) and the earlier days of the Mothers of Invention, this book is a fantastic look at an extremely intelligent, unappreciated man who unfortunately died way before his time. If only he could've been persuaded to run for public office!

As the typical high school sophomore, I was not thrilled when my English teacher assigned us another boring reading assignment. This particular assignment was to read someone's autobiography/biography and write an essay on it. I consulted my older sister, and she recommended The Real Frank Zappa Book. I was skeptical at first. Who was Frank Zappa anyway? But as I read this excellent book, I discovered the real Frank Zappa. I realized that this individual did not get as much recognition as he should of, as a musician and as a human being. The Real Frank Zappa Book was also one of the funniest things I've read since Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies (which I highly recommend). Since reading the book, I have begun listening to his music more and am slowly being transformed into a die-hard Zappa fan. Frank Zappa was a truly unique individual. I would recommend this book to anyone who is in the mood for a laugh.

Not surprisingly, there are numerous rave "reviews" of this book here by other Amazonians. Most of these people are the types who think "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" is a significant work of late-20th century music and who throw around words like "genius" and "philosopher" whenever Zappa's name comes up. They think that Zappa's songs, which they always rush to point out were "complex," included serious, penetrating social commentary in addition to their "killer solos" and "freakin' funny" lyrics. Unfortunately, for most of this book, its author, David Walley, also falls into this category of Zappaphile.

I'll be honest. Frank Zappa's serious music (read: "instrumental music"), from the early "Hot Rats" to "Jazz From Hell," his guitar solo discs, "The Perfect Stranger," and "The Yellow Shark," I find fascinating, exciting, and worthy of placement beside the works of other major late 20th century composers. I write this as a classically trained musician with a background in piano, theory, and musicology. Zappa loved (LOVED) name dropping Varese, Stravinsky, Webern, Takemitsu, and Penderecki, and in my opinion, his best music ranks with theirs.

His other music (read: anything with lyrics) I find about as scintillating, witty, and sardonically insightful as the latest opus by Weird Al Yankovic. This is the junk by which he made his fortune, and while I respect the demanding nature of much of it, it's also ephemeral, juvenile, utterly worthless stuff. Sadly, this is what attracts a lot of his fans, most of whom are not musicians and many of whom are fanatics who mistake FZ for a philosopher.

What does all this have to with this book? David Walley is obviously not a musician, and so his relentless references to the "complexity" of FZ's music and his inevitable references to Webern, et al., mar this book with the stupidity of the musically unlettered geek who tries to write about music. His attempts to write a "with-it," Zappa-esque book make his social commentary approximately as riveting as his attempts at musical analysis. His humor is heavy handed and usually annoying.

On the personal side, when he's not writing embarrassingly sycophantic psychobabble about Zappa, he does manage to reveal some interesting aspects of his subject. Zappa was a control freak who used and abused musicians, stole many of their ideas while crediting himself, endlessly recycled his own material rather than spend his time coming up with worthwhile new works, and, in three decades of near-constant work, managed to produce only a handful of worthwhile discs. Not an appealing person. His annoyingly smug cynicism had a dark side; Steve Vai once claimed that he almost had a nervous breakdown after leaving Zappa's band, thanks to his own adoption of Zappa's startlingly bleak and nasty worldview. Apart from the (relatively little) good music, that is the man's legacy.

Hopefully someday, a biographer will approach this subject responsibly and from a position of musical knowledge. In this book, we have an author with no knowledge of music who is blinded by his personal feelings both for and against his subject. From his early ecstatic proclamations of Zappa's genius ("philosopher"! "composer"! "social critic"! "film maker"! "scientist"!), he descends into a scathing attack in the afterword. Over three decades after its first appearance, this book remains as amateurish as its author's prose.

This book gives a good description of Frank's early days with the Mothers of Invention, and it is loaded with interesting quotes from various band members, friends, and Frank himself. The book was originally published in the early 70's, which is where the problem comes in. Walley updated the book some time in the early 90's, but the added material really just skims through Frank's career from the mid-70's to his death. Walley's loss of interest in Zappa in the 80's is very evident, and he seems to have an irritatingly negative view of Frank and his music near the end of the book. This is probably the best book if you're looking for information on Zappa's early years, but if you want a more complete biography, you should look elsewhere.

When I read books about Frank, sometimes I wonder about the writer, and I do on this book. I wonder what they were after when they wrote the book, whether it was to find the freaky frankenchrist or if they were just out to write about the person they met named Frank Zappa.

I do believe that this person was out to make a name for himself in the 70s when he was hanging out with FZ to write this originally.. but, he wrote it and it is a good read. Hard to capture FZ on paper I think, and I have read many FZ books and this one is most likely the best... even better than the REAL FRANK ZAPPA BOOK.

I have this book and I think I have all the books listed by another reviewer.... I have everything I can get anyway... from the bizarre stupid (Negative Dialetics of Poodle Play) -that book was writing for the sake of writing... no point.... to this book which is written where someone without a PHD can read and enjoy.

But in the end, someone else noted that each book seemed like it was written about someone different. I buy a FZ book to see what the heck they are going to say, knowing that I can most likely get everything I need to know from FZ just by listening to his material and reading whatever interviews there are out there.

When I 1st got into the complex & twisted world of Zappa, this was the 1st book I read. It is good especially because it explains the situation in which Frank grew up, talking about stylistic differences between the 40s & the 50s, apparently decor was more bulbous & interesting in the 40s whilst the music was dull & in the 1950s the music got better & architecture/design got boring/staid. Then of course it traces thru the pre- Freak Out! era & many eras past that as wellas discographies & stuff. There are other books on FZ but to get a well-rounded view of him, you probably should read several of them including this, No Commercial Potential, Negative Dialectic of Poodle Play & of course the Real Frank Zappa book. Shoving Burnt Weeny Sandwich on in the background might be a good idea too.

I have read the following books by or about Frank Zappa. In addition, this list constitutes a ranking of my assessment of the quality of these books.

THE REAL FRANK ZAPPA BOOK by Frank Zappa and Peter Occhioigrosso

MOTHER! THE FRANK ZAPPA STORY by Michael Gray

ELECTRIC DON QUIXOTE: THE DEFINITIVE STORY OF FRANK ZAPPA by Neil Slaven

NECESSITY IS... THE EARLY YEARS OF FRANK ZAPPA AND THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION by Billy James

COSMIK DEBRIS: THE COLLECTIVE HISTORY AND IMPROVISATIONS OF FRANK ZAPPA by Greg Russo

NO COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL: THE SAGA OF FRANK ZAPPA by David Walley

THEM OR US by Frank Zappa

UNDER THE SAME MOON by Suzannah Thana Harris

BEING FRANK: MY TIME WITH FRANK ZAPPA by Nigery Lennon

To my knowledge, this list includes all of the Zappa biographies. Of these, I think MOTHER! THE FRANK ZAPPA STORY by Michael Gray is the second best. Each of these biographies illustrates a different dimension of Zappa's complex personality. It is almost like each author is writing about a different person. Some book reviewers have suggested that some of the authors are not accurate (less delicately - lying). No, it is simply a matter of focusing on a single dimension of the multidimensional, Frank Zappa.

Gray creates a picture of Zappa that the other authors missed. Unlike other authors, Gray offers the reader details of Zappa's perspective on the political economy. He was a libertarian! Fans of Zappa know he was a paradox and an enigma, but Gray is able to help the reader understand this perception with his focus on Zappa's interest in the economy. This is a fascinating excursion into Zappa's life story

My favorite poster of Zappa can be found on the 5th page after page 64. It is a poor reproduction of the original. It's grainy. The key point is, this picture of Zappa offers great support for Gray's thesis.

Gray's portrayal of Zappa is different from the other biographies. Zappa is an enigma. Gray's writing style is informative, enlightening and thought provoking. This book is an important part of everyone's Zappa library.

This book does more than just look at forty years of writing about Zappa. The "Companion" comes across as a sometimes scholarly journal of the times in which Zappa's music could actually get produced. Kostelanetz does a superb job of fitting together a diverse mixture of writings from various authors to draw a vivid picture of popular culture and real life in the last half of the 20th century. Through his clever arrangement and organization of these writings, Kostelanetz demonstrates that the youth culture, dada in art, and breakthroughs in recording technology helped shape an environment in which a stubborn, rebellious, and meticulous genius like Frank Zappa could make a forum for his unique talent. This book is thoroughly readable and contains little technical language, yet it does offer much that would be of interest to musicologists, sociologists, historians, and especially artists and musicians. Of course, Zappa fans will appreciate the wealth of details about the man, the composer, the musician, the guitarist, the politician, the social critic, etc. - you get the idea. BUY THIS THING!...

This book is an informative mish mash of different interviews and record reviews by various authors. It covers early Mothers stuff and goes right up through the 90s. Interesting interviews that originally appeared in Guitar, Rolling Stone, and many others. If ya don't know much about Frank and how he was percieved by the public, check this one out.

This book (by Miles, not Watson) is a great place to start to learn the important points in Zappa history. It shows most of the famous pictures of Zappa throughout the years. The small, story-like presentation makes for fast reading and its fun to skip around. The book in no way attempts to analyse the modern day composer, just quotes or interviews. There is no Watson, Poodle Play here, just fun! Other books would better suit the long-time Zappaphile!

I've read many books on Zappa and found Necessity is.... to be a
great viewpoint from inside the band itself. So many other books have many stories and thoughts from the authors; many who have interviewed or maybe travelled a bit with FZ to learn more about the inside world, but this book is essentially taken from his bandmates and the stories that they have to tell from that early era of MOI. All of the other FZ books I've read were very good. Its just great to see what it was like for everyone else who worked for the great FZ.....

 "Necessity is.....the early Years of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention" by: Billy James (c) 2001

(Forward by Don Preston)

Published by: SAF Publishing Ltd. - Unit 7 Shaftsbury Centre 85 Barlby Rd - London W10 6BN

'Necessity is...' in their own humorous anecdotal remembrance, an insiders view of the original line up of The Mothers Of Invention composed of Roy Estrada, Bunk and Buzz Gardner, Motorhead, Ray Collins, Jimmy Carl Black ...and Don Preston, who can be reached at: ....

The significant difference, as compared to the many other MOI biopathies and memorics is that the infinitely covered life and times of Frank Zappa are herein represented largely in the background to the antic histrionics and talented virtuosity of the other Mothers. As die hard MOI fans we always knew that they were an ensemble of great musicians, but we weren't exactly sure why. For those of us who weren't completely bamboozled by Frank's talented ego, 'Necessity is...' finally offers up a member by member biography of their musical foundations and pre-Mothers work which is notably diverse, and avant garde to say the least. For all that has been written about Frank Zappa and his diverse ensembles, this book is a necessity which factionally (versus fictionally) represents our Mothers like no other, including marvelous notes on MOI concert listings and the formation/continuation of The Grandmothers. If Frank is what you are looking for, see the present day composer who unfortunately died on December 4, 1993 of prostate cancer at ...

I have read the following books about Frank Zappa:

THE REAL FRANK ZAPPA BOOK by Frank Zappa and Peter Occhioigrosso

NECESSITY IS... THE EARLY YEARS OF FRANK ZAPPA AND THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION by Billy James

COSMIK DEBRIS: THE COLLECTIVE HISTORY AND IMPROVISATIONS OF FRANK ZAPPA by Greg Russo

NO COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL: THE SAGA OF FRANK ZAPPA by David Walley

THEM OR US by Frank Zappa

UNDER THE SAME MOON by Suzannah (Thana Harris)

BEING FRANK: MY TIME WITH FRANK ZAPPA by Nigery Lennon

Of these, THE REAL FRANK ZAPPA BOOK and NECESSITY IS... are my favorites. Anyone who has read THE REAL FRANK ZAPPA BOOK will thoroughly enjoy NECESSITY IS... Two reasons:

First, Billy James is a good writer, but more importantly he is a good organizer. His task was to take historical events and present them in a coherent manner. He decided NOT to present this history in chronological order per se, but rather he addressed key events from different perspectives. The events are not necessarily in chronological order. It is an unusual way of organizing one's thoughts, but it works. He must be applauded for his creative way of organizing his thoughts.

Second, he examines each single historical event by getting perspectives of several people involved in the event. Its a fascinating excursion into the study of human behavior. In most cases, different people see the identical event in a contrary manner. In some cases, the conflicting descriptions are quite humorous.

Others who have harshly reviewed this book have missed the point. This is a book of perceptions. It is not an objective assessment of reality. It doesn't make any difference if the interviewees were frustrated or delirious. James provides a fresh perspective.

In addition, James answers some questions that cannot be found elsewhere. For example, I have often wondered how Zappa could include Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (bubble gum singers from the Turtles) in the Mothers of Invention. In chapter six, James lays out all the events. An impressive job of pulling together quotes and ideas!

NECESSITY IS... THE EARLY YEARS OF FRANK ZAPPA AND THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION provides an important dimension into the understanding of this artist that none of the other books do. It is a critical addition to everyone's Frank Zappa library.

This book is guilty of trying to put FZ in clothing I am not sure he would wear.

I understand that FZ thought the book was 'good' but you can bet he never read this big paperwieght cover to cover.

Bird cage lining.

If this book was a singer it would be THE BEST OF GOLDENTHROAT.

A lot of words, and most of them for PHD's to muck about through. This book could have been about the space shuttle tragedy with the word Zappa put in here and there and nobody would have known the difference.

Alternately ludicrous, entertaining, informative and pretentious, Ben Watson's book on Zappa is nothing if not different. The clue is in the title: "Negative Dialectics", Theodore Adorno is mentioned almost as often as Zappa himself is (but could he play guitar like him?). The thing about Zappa is that he may be probably the most intelligent man ever to strap on a guitar in rock 'n' roll history but (like Beefheart), he ain't no intellectual. Mr Watson however is, and he has uncovered a whole barrel-load of entertaining, but frankly ludicrous, philosophical, literary, political and psychoanalyical allusion and meanings in various Zappa songs and albums. The thing that makes me most suspicious of Mr Watson is the way the lamer an album is the more time he spends expounding on it's "actual" meaning - thus Apostrophe is compared to King Lear, I could go on - no wonder Frank and his missus were in stitches.

The fact that Watson has to spend so much time and hard work on Zappa's oeuvre post-1970 perhaps tells it's own story - the fact is Zappa stopped saying anything very interesting in his songs throughout the entirety of the 1970's, only the intervention of the PMRC into his increasing smug and self-refential universe helped reignite the kind of indignation and passion Zappa had displayed in the 60's.

Watson goes thru all sorts of ingenious and amusing contortions trying to defend or explain away his hero's often rancid social and sexual politics. He does at least nail Zappa's hopelessly petit bourgeois hatred of unions but struggles to convince on such gems of Zappa's back catalogue as "The Illionis Enema Bandit" (a glorification of a convicted sex offender) and gives up altogether on the truly repulsive "Jumbo Go Away". Unfortunately, Watson, as with most Zappa fanatics seems incapable of noticing their hero's often quite considerable clay feet. IMO his sexual politics are not surprising for a guy who grew up in the 50's and then experienced the 60's counter-culture's knuckle-dragging sexism at first hand - ...Zappa was a middle-aged rock star by the 80's, and he sounded it.

Towards the end of the book it becomes little more than a track-by-track review of each album - a trifle wearying if truth be told. Plus Watson is annoyingly self-aggrandizing at times, for instance mentioning that Zappa had introduced him at a party as "some kind of genius"!

Still, worth a look

Clearly not your typical rock an roll book, which tend to fall into the categories of either poorly written self-aggrandizing "autobiographies", or breathless anecdotes from managers, groupies, hangers-on, etc. Ben Watson's book is a thoughtful examination of Frank Zappa's lyrics and the overall meaning of his career.

Sadly, the book does not devote as much attention to Zappa's music, which most people would consider far more significant than the lyrics. Although many reviewers point out Watson's farcically "deep" reading of Zappa's lyrics, it is his relative disinterest in the music which is the book's greatest stumbling block.

That being said, there is an awful lot for hardcore Zappa fanatics to chew on here. In the end it's certainly worth the effort.