SONG TITLE: JOE'S GARAGE
PERFORMER: FRANK ZAPPA
SONGWRITER: FRANK ZAPPA
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1980
COMMENTS: The title song "Joe's Garage" shows Zappa at his most sentimental. This is an interesting spirit to find him in because he was so adamantly opposed to sentimentality or romanticism. Remember, this is the guy who wrote "Broken Hearts are for Assholes."
Nonetheless,
this
song
fondly
recalls
the
teenage
days
of
long
crude
band
rehearsals
in
cramped
garages.
The
principal
instrumental
hook
is
an
ultra
crude
two
note
lead
guitar
riff.
After
a
couple
of
quarts
of
beer
"the
same
old
chords
playing
over
and
over
became
a
symphony."
Ah,
those
were
the
days.
It
is
a
beautifuly
fond
remembrance
when
the
deep
bass
black
voice
comes
in
doo-wop
style
with
"Guess
you
only
get
one
chance
in
life
to
play
a
song
that
goes
like..."
Frank
Zappa
never
sounded
sadder
than
describing
the
breakup
of
the
band
"and
it
looks
like
(ooh,
ooh)
we
will
never
play
again."
The song was supposed to sound like the crude ham-handed performance of a garage band, but of course there was much more going on. Frank was by no means technically unskilled or unsophisticated. For one thing, the basic song structure doesn't follow very closely to the most simple and obvious abacab song structure. He lays out the whole history of the rise and fall and resurrection of the band. There are a couple of bars of go-go bar music. There is the description of the years and musical styles rolling by, the interruptions by the nagging woman and eventually the cacophonous breakdown as the police break it up.
There are also many little weird things going on above, below and in the midst of the record. Check out the recurring heavily treated guitar triplets whenever the nagging woman comes in with the "turn it down" part. The vocal harmonies throughout go through several changes in mood and style. There's a lot going on in a little over four minutes.
This was the title song for what was originally a three (vinyl) album set of purposely cheesy comic sci-fi rock opera. There aren't many of those around, and it's worth checking out. There are a number of interesting ideas about politics and art and culture floating around. It's an interesting concept.
However, there aren't that many truly outstanding songs. The idea of it is interesting, but a lot of the compositions are so-so. It does, however, feature "Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?" and the classically offensive "Catholic Girls." Also, the latter part gets into some tasty instrumental stuff where he lets the guitar do the talking. Overall, though, you could stand to just get the single on the outstanding Strictly Commercial compilation unless you are maybe a dozen or so albums into Frankland.
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