FRANK ZAPPA
Cucamonga (Rhino Records)
Reviewed by Holly Day

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Here's something different. Instead of being an album of Frank Zappa's own music, this is a collection of music he produced for other bands while running Pal Studios with Paul Buff. Some of the bands he worked with that are included in this collection include The Penguins, The Heartbreakers, Mr. Clean, The Pauls, and The Rotations, as well as songs performed by Paul Buff himself. The music here is mostly doo-wop and psychedelic surf rock, often very corny and light-hearted and extremely indicative of Zappa's own tastes at the time - and indeed, he apparently wrote and performed on a lot of these bands' songs as well as produced them, making for an extremely eclectic mix.

© 2004 - Holly Day