You Are What You Is

Frank Zappa - You Are What You Is

You Are What You Is
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CD Details

Artist: Frank Zappa
Brand: ZAPPA,FRANK
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1995-05-02
Music Label: Zappa Records
Soundtracks:
  1. Teen-age Wind
  2. Harder Than Your Husband
  3. Doreen
  4. Goblin Girl
  5. Theme From The 3rd Movement of Sinister Footwear
  6. Society Pages
  7. I'm A Beautiful Guy
  8. Beauty Knows No Pain
  9. Charlie's Enormous Mouth
  10. Any Downers?
  11. Conehead
  12. You Are What You Is
  13. Mudd Club
  14. The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
  15. Dumb All Over
  16. Heavenly Bank Account
  17. Suicide Chump
  18. Jumbo Go Away
  19. If Only She Woulda
  20. Drafted Again

Music reviews of You Are What You Is

Music Review: FZ Journal #18
Rating: 4 Stars

There were two Zappa albums I bought in High School owned and listened to for years mainly for humor purposes. Although I can't say as I had any real understanding of Zappa or his music until much later, there were two I kept around. The first was Sheik Yerbouti, and the second was You Are What You Is. At the time, You Are What You Is pretty much shut down any further exploration of Zappa's music as I was raised in a pretty religious household. I had justified lots of music to my parents and myself, but the dark nature of You Are What You Is was very difficult to rectify with my lifestyle and mindset at the time. I dug it, but from "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing" on I pretty much knew I could never play it in the house, and I did not musically "get it" enough to argue it with the powers that were. I have only very rarely listened to it since.

You Are What You Is seems to be the last of Frank's conceptual albums. It owes quite a bit to the Joe's Garage format. It has a definite storyline from beginning to end that is broken up into shorter sequences of songs. However, the cast of characters are not actors in the libretto. Instead, the lyrics are generally narrative snapshots of the American life that these characters experience, filtered through the acerbic eyes of the soon-to-be-highly-political Zappa. To make a long story short, four lines from "If Only She Woulda" pretty much sum up the album:

Life and love
Has left you shafted
And on top of that
You just got drafted

Conceptually, it's a pretty dark affair that lampoons adolescent stupidity, marriage, ugly people, drugs, self-obsession, racial identity, religion (mercilessly), suicide, and war, all within a stream-of-consciousness format. Looking back, the person I was in High School probably was not ready for everything that Zappa had to say lyrically on this album.

I was also not ready for the musical side, which is the strength of You Are What You Is. The use of subtle but complex rhythmic changes permeates this album more than any of its rock predecessors. It actually may have more in common with the Orchestral Favorites album in this regard. There are beats dropped everywhere and little groups of subdivided threes that make counting along a jarring but digestible affair. His uses of unusual subdivisions are not obvious to the casual (or inexperienced) listener. We also get to hear some of his more orchestral sensibilities peek through, like in the break in "Jumbo Go Away". Sounds like these arise on his later recordings (particularly next year's Drowning Witch). "Doreen" is a personal long-time favorite as well (I GOT that one), as we get a chance to hear Ray White really do his thing (oh, THAT'S what doing your thing is...).

As brilliant as Zappa was, memorializing him as a "songwriter" might be an arguable pursuit. I'd like to point out that the title track from the albums is most likely the best "song" he has ever written. This song and its subsequent video undoubtedly contributed to the success of "Valley Girl", which was also on the Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch

The layering that Zappa mentions in relationship to this album in the You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore Vol. 3 liner notes is both a boon and a bane. There are times when the multi-tracking produces sublime choral counterpoint. Other times, it gets a little messy, and causes outros to seemingly drag on forever if the listener doesn't focus carefully on the texture. This over-extended outro problem is an issue that arises on a lot of Zappa's early `80's studio output. Many times, repeated vocal lines and random snorting sounds over up some fantastic guitar solos that might have been more engaging if left bare. As he said in the Guitar Player interview from 1982, he was never comfortable with soloing in the studio. He might have felt that burying his solos as background noise was better than showcasing them. A crime for his fans, but totally in line with his workaholic perfectionism.

One other quick note - Zappa takes the opportunity to lampoon his own unsolicited place in the "drug culture" when the character in "Teenage Wind" shows interest in going to see a midnight showing of 200 Motels after "getting ripped" at the Grateful Dead concert. One of many rewarding references to the project/object that You Are What You Is contains, not the least of which is Jimmy Carl Black reprising the role of Lonesome Cowboy Burt in "Harder Than Your Husband" (a reference which was totally lost on me as a teenager).
More You Are What You Is free music reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Description of You Are What You Is

Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. 2008.
You Are What You Is trades in much of Zappa's usual musical acrobatics for more polished and understated fare and increasingly political satire. Released in 1981, this album contains Zappa's takes on the smell of teen spirit, organized religion, Saturday Night Live's Coneheads, and even racial issues. Highpoints include the mock country of "Harder Than Your Husband," pure-FZ injection of "Theme From 3rd Movement of Sinister Footwear," and the kinetic vocal-drenched title track. --Andrew Boscardin

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