I do not consider myself an authoritarian, a god, a collector or that I know anything, but...
I have all the vinyl, all the cd's, every bootleg audio and video possible, and nearly all the concerts, and I still don't know shit about the man. If I had worked for him in some capacity near the genious himself, maybe I would know something. Sucks to be the Trenchmouther, who will tell you HE is teh best fan alive, Zappa told him so at teh dinner table. (Hey trendy, check your fucking spelling, a tour is coming, you will bore us, get your name on every fucking topic and post, and make us hate to come here for the one-sided, I am always right attitude with spelling errors in every 3rd word).
So, I go on what I like, what I listen to, and where I was in life when I heard it the first time. The 60's had the original Mothers, the early 70's Flo & Eddie, and then Apostrophe, Overnite Sensation, One Size Fits All. It was amazing to hear the direction it was headed from previous material. It was harder than fuck at that point, 73-75, to find bootlegs with virtually no press I could find selling the stuff, no internet, and a few random record shows, which kept on getting raided due to boots. But I knew something was going on because the music was getting harder, faster, more talented and when Roxy came out, fuck I was blown away. I saw FZ 74 and saw the remnants of the Roxy lineup band, but the same music from it. And I was slayed.
Roxy may or may not be yours and anyones favorite, but in my book, if I had to live on an island, Roxy would be one of the albums to take for sure. I want to say that it holds more prevalence on the top lists for those old enough to have seen him in that era, or grow up buying these albums as they came out. It is better and more dear to me to have gone from #1 to the end by buying and listening to them in the order and time frame they came out. See, hear and absorb his musical progression through time.
BTW, I bought it, and 4 sides of vinyl werent present. 2 sides were the same, so I took it back. #2 had one of the 4 of another artist. #3 had Sinatra or someone. #5, same as #1, and on until #12 when it finally was correct. The guy at the store, who is now a Nashville musician, gladly didnt refeund or exchange, he bought my goofs and gave me another. I found out as little as 2 years ago when I met him again, he took them to said collector shows in big cities and made a fortune off the goofs. Oh well.
Roxy yes, top 5 for me. Concerts from that era, specifically mid 73-late 74, wow. Good shit 78-82 and 88, but I keep going back to roxy era.
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