[.ca] Them Or Us

the vicious guitar solos alone are worth the price!:
This is one of Zappa's very best. The lyrics are caustic and entirely Zappa. But the real highlights are the demented guitar solos -- some of the best Zappa ever recorded -- especially in "Ya Hozna," "Sinister Footwear II," and the title track, "Them or Us." If, like me, you find many of the solos on "Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar" tedious, you'll love this album.

Varied and appealing:
The album opens with The Closer You Are, a doo-wop number where the deep base male vocal contrasts sharply with the female backing. Sharleena has a similar rhythmic and vocal texture with a reggae beat and powerful electric guitar bursts. The rock song In France, a rude and hilarious put-down of Gallic pretensions, is a great favorite of mine. Next comes the majestic tour de force Ya Hozna, an extended driving rock number with weird distorted vocals. The beat is hypnotic whilst the vocal variation lends it an eerie oriental feel. Zappa's experimental side finds expression in the mostly instrumental Sinister Footwear II, a long track with an intriguing blend of classical and rock textures, and the equally long Truck Driver Divorce with its funny lyrics and instrumental improvisation. The energetic instrumental Marque-Son's Chicken resides in this category too. Stevie's Spanking also has somewhat of the experimental about it in its complex arrangement and varied vocals, whilst the short tracks Baby Take Your Teeth Out with its hummable chorus and Planet Of My Dreams are tuneful pop songs. Doo-wop returns with a vengeance in the charming Be In My Video, a satirical song that reminds me of Zappa's disco send-up Dancin' Fool on Sheik Yerbouti and is reported to be a comment on Bowie's Let's Dance. The title track is a hard and heavy instrumental of tortured electric guitars, whilst Zappa's charming pop sensibility surfaces on the humorous Frogs With Dirty Little Lips, a richly textured number that incorporates what sounds like a marching song. This highly enjoyable album that showcases many sides of Zappa's impressive capabilities concludes with the cover of Whippin' Post, the original which can be heard on the Allman Brothers album One Way Out or Searching For Simplicity by Gregg Allman.

I'd give it 4 1/2 stars if I could:
We all miss Frank. His music has enlightened us with laughter, guitars, and brass. I cannot say that I am the most learned of the Zappa fans, but I love everything I own, and evry tidbit of other albums that I've heard. I own "Them or Us," "Freak Out!," and "Strictly Commercial". I personally think that this album is fantastic. I gave it 4 1/2 stars because I think that there are two pretty bad songs. The title track and "Ya Hozna" simply don't deliver the magnificence and brilliance that is Frank Zappa. My favorites are "Stevie's Spanking," "In France," "Whippin' Post (origionally written by The Allman Brothers Band)," "Truck Driver Divorce," and "Be In My Video". Zappa has given me an excellent taste in music that only two or three of the many people I know are blessed with. Long live the Zappa fans. Buy this album if you like some silliness along with real, hardcore, jazz-rock fusion, or whatever it's called.

Are We All Smarter Now, Frank?... Frank?:
I know it's a silly thing to say, but I always feel a little bit smarter after listening to a Frank Zappa album- he seems to give off something of a professorial atmosphere sometimes... This album follows in his tradition of challanging his listeners to explore the endless possibilities of music. I was originally attracted to Zappa's work by his clever, acerbic lyrics and catchy melodies. As I've begun to explore his work, I've realized that the full spectrum of his gifts are most appreciated by those who love the instrumental work of, say, King Crimson or even Yes at times. This album, like most of Zappa's work, is chock-full of guitar brilliance (not to mention the other instruments!). Some of the songs with lyrics, however, aren't particularly to my taste, even if creativly composed. I don't mind Zappa's blue humor at all though, it's hilarious (think Robert Crumb set to music)- and you may react more enthusiastically. This album is par for the course Zappa brilliance. It may not have as wide of a commericial appeal as some of his other albums- but we all know that commercial appeal was never the point for Zappa- unless he had a point to make about commercial appeal...

Accuracy once again:
"You Are What You Is", "Thing Fish", and "Them or Us" are the only three Zappa albums from the eighties with at least 95% of studio material on them. This one features most variaty of the three. More or less every song is in a genre of its own. There's doo-wop, blues, rock, fusion, pop, reggae, country-spoofs, Broadway-spoofs, and jazz smothered in "Zappa". The sound quality and stereophony is very good - not excellent, though, but the band is. The rhythm section consists of Chad Wackerman (drums throughout), Arthur Barrow and Scott Thunes (equally on bass), Ed Mann (perc), Steve Vai (guit), Tommy Mars (keys), Bobby Martin (keys/voc), and Ray White (guit/voc). Other vocalists include FZ, Ike Willis, Napoleon Murphey Brock, Bob Harris, and Thana Harris. Some guests are Dweezil & Moon Zappa, Patrick O'Hearn, George Duke, Roy Estrada, Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, and others... Songs like "Truck Driver Divorce", "Marque-Son's Chicken", and the title track feature long FZ guitar solos (with a variaty of cool sounds), and gives the rhythm section a lot of freedom to back them up; the rest of the material is well arranged and pretty strict. I guess this could be a good intoduction to Zappa's music - it shows how capable the composer (and band) was of writing, arranging, and performing alternating material without losing the main thread, and the album features a suitable amount of Zappa humour. While listening to this album, you will be proven that humour does belong in music. "Them or Us" is one of my FZ favorites, and definitely worth its amazon price, don't worry.

• Closer You Are
• In France
• Ya Hozna
• Sharleena
• Sinister Footwear II
• Truck Driver Divorce
• Stevie's Spanking
• Baby, Take Your Teeth Out
• Marque-Son's Chicken
• Planet of My Dreams
• Be in My Video
• Them or Us
• Frogs With Dirty Little Lips
• Whipping Post