Sheik Yerbouti

"Sheik Yerbouti" is jam-packed with lots and lots of musical and lyrical ideas, most of which are of the highest caliber (calibre?), from a time when the popular music scene was quickly (!) going down the tubes.

It comes across like the 1970's answer to "We're Only In It For The Money." Where that one summed up 1960's culture in a fairly short record, this one is a study of life in the late 1970's. Religion, consumerism, weird fetishes, the Disco scene, it's all in there. Some people are uncomfortable with the humor and language on this disc, and where anyone can see he sometimes (more like often) pushed that envelope, people who know of his battles with establishment, the "Morality Police," if you will, it is an "in-your-face" to the people who tried to put him in jail for many years on a stupid trumped-up charge which was so silly it actually made the judge laugh. That was in 1965, and he thumbed his nose at them ever since. The Anti-Defamation League even tried to take him to court for Yerbouti's lyrics to "Jewish Princess," a very funny send-up of this type of person. It is simply a caricature put to music. Original Saturday Night Live cast member Laraine Newman, herself an admitted Jewish Princess, said it was not only funny, it was dead-on. Many of these busybody organizations have a very thin skin, and no sense of humor. Pathetic. The humor on this record, where satirical, is very sophisticated, but conversely, the other type included is often smutty and very juvenile. The song about "Broken Hearts..." is simply crass. It is well-rendered, but it quickly descends into what sounds like a bunch of 13-year-olds who have just discovered profanity, and want to outdo one another.

But Sheik Yerbouti is an exceptionally well-made recording, with some of Frank Zappa's best guitar solos. Virtually all of the selections' backing tracks were recorded live, and that gives the much-overdubbed final product a life missing from most overdubbed studio recordings.

Enter knowing you'll get some crude material, take it in stride, and you'll hear a really excellent record.

I have to get this out of the way. Cos it's really annoying. There's hardcore Zappa fans who can't pronounce the name of this album. It is pronounced like this: Shake Your Booty. But pronounce Your and Booty quickly as if it's one word. Get it?

Now for the album. I love Sheik Yerbouti. I think everyone does. The sales speak for itself. Biggest selling Zappa album apparently. For some reason, Sheik Yerbouti is really addictive. As soon as I finish listening to it, I start over again. Even though it's a double album. The best song on the album? City of Tiny Lites obviously. One of the most surprising pieces on Yerbouti is The Sheik Yerbouti Tango. It's phenomenal. It's tango and has one of Frank's best solos.

Adrian Belew does a good job singing on here. But I'm glad he got taken away by David Bowie because I can't imagine Belew being on Joe's Garage! Besides, Belew's work with Bowie on the "Heroes" tour was fantastic. Check out the album Stage recorded during that tour. Amazing.

The 2012 remaster reverts to the vinyl mix and it's longer. When Frank released it on CD in the early 1990's he cut a minute out of I'm So Cute. Other fans complain that it suffered from the same problems as You Are What You Is and Tinsel Town Rebellion. But I never thought it was as bad as those. Spencer Chrislu was asked why he didn't do the same treatment to Yerbouti in 1998. He said Yerbouti wasn't as offensive as those 2 CDs. So for a long time, the only good CD out there was the 1986 EMI CD which Frank hated because EMI used mixes intended for the vinyl medium and used them to release it on CD without Frank's permission.

I recently tried to order the 2012 remaster but for some reason the 1995 Ryko CD came. But it's the 2002 Japanese collector's edition, surprisingly. But it still uses the pre-2012 mix - i.e., bad batch and I'm So Cute is the same as those.

Since it's clear that there are many people who see this as a masterpiece, I want to enter a bit of a contrarian's view: the popular tunes on this record are not the best part. For instance, Baby Snakes probably is the song that runs out of gas fastest.

The first side is an insane romp through some of the best social commentary ever to make it into Rock. It's no secret that Frank had a jaundiced view of the Dylan/Beatles versions. (Dylan appears in the middle of the song "Flakes," complaining about getting hosed on a car repair, and we remember 'We're Only in it For the Money," where Sgt. Pepper was lampooned.) Here, the world is portrayed not as a noble battle between good and evil, but a vortex of confused goofs, meandering through a life that is encoded in situational commercials

I am a moron and so is my wife.

She's basting a cake with a paper knife.

All that we have here's American-made.

It's a little bit cheesy, but it's nicely displayed.

The story of Bobby Brown 'going down' is the heart of the first side maelstrom. But there are incredible highlights on the fringes too. "Rat Tomago" is my favorite Zappa instrumental with truly inspired guitar playing, to me, his most unique sound, full of frenzied attack but also that sense of a twisted groove. The last tune on the album, the live "Yo Mama" is also great. The first couple of times you hear it, it seems minor, with a lyric that is not exceedingly challenging, but the music is amazing, epic, exciting right to the end.

Will withstand very abusive repeat listenings.

Everything went very well from begging to end.Super happy with the album and just to say its one of the best ever.Want to thank the seller and anyone involved,10's across the board.

Way back in the day I was in a record store (remember those?) looking at a copy of Frank Zappa's "Hot Rats." One of he sales clerks saw me and said, very enthusiastically, "You should buy that. The music's fantastic and you don't have to put up with any Zappaloonies." OK, so I had to ask: What's a Zappaloony? The clerk, an avid Zappa fan, explained that he loved Zappa's guitar skills and music composition genius, but wasn't always fond of his lyrics, which he often found silly or trivial or "loony."

I bought the album. He was right; it was great. I still listen to "Hot Rats" now and then; it's mostly instrumental, and the one vocal I remember from it, "Willie the Pimp," is pretty straightforward (for Zappa, anyway).

But Zappa can be fun when he's indulging in that "loony" side -- and he's really on top of his game on "Sheik Yerbouti." The album is chock-full of fine music but also pointed humor.

The opening track, "I Have Been in You," is a send-up of Peter Frampton's "I'm in You," an insipid piece of seduction tripe that had been released recently. Other targets of Zappa's in-your-face humor included the S&M subculture on "Rubber Shirt" and the title-says-it-all "Jewish Princess," which some found offensive. Clearly, though, his biggest target was the disco craze, which he took apart with "Dancin' Fool."

But listeners should be aware that there is some terrific music on this album, too. "Jones Crusher" just rockets out of the speakers, thanks in no small measure to Terry Bozzio's thrashing drums and crazed vocal. The best musical interlude here, though, has to be "Yo Mama." It's a long track with throwaway lyrics (sample: "Maybe you should stay with yo mama / You might start a fire and burn your face") but also a terrific performance by Zappa's band AND, best of all, a monster of a guitar solo from FZ. It doesn't quite rank up there with his solo on "Watermelon in Easter Hay" from "Joe's Garage," but it's close.

another great Zappa album or cd.

First, I am not going to write about this album because all that needs to be said has been said in each review I read, and I read all of them. Instead, I will focus on the man and the album he developed. First, Frank is what now a days would be called a "Libertarian", not a conservative as many have expressed on other sites I have read about him. He basically believed live and let live. He found the oddities of human life peculiar enough to write about them. In that is his genius. Having grown up with Zappa from his early days with THE MOTHERS, to his last albums, he was the essential observer of American culture, American humanity (or mostly lack of it) and of American's hung up sexuality; be it straight, gay or anything in between. Listen to OVER-NITE SENSATION and this recording and he captures it all. He made "fun" (not sure that is the proper word) of everyone and everything....you either laughed with it and found the humor or you were offended. Hopefully most people were able to do the first, even if it was about them. One of the greatest American contributors to "rock" music, a genius of poetic justice (who else can use the phrase "she stripped away her rancid poncho...we did it till we were un-conco." and get away with it.

So, in a nutshell, is this album worth buying? YOU BET IT IS, as are all of Zappa's work. And to the reviewer who said he thought there was homophobia in Zappa's music...all I can say is I am a gay man, who loved Zappa (musically) from day one (around 1966) and got the joke. If you don't. too bad for you.

You should have Frank Zappa in your collection and if not, start here. Even knowing the tracks, I could not help cracking a smile and marveling at his irreverent genius yet again as the disc spun. Nice to have on this pristine CD copy.

After ordering through Amazon, order was sent by BuyWorldwide all the way to New Zealand. Timely delivery and in perfect condition.

probably my 20th copy i've had thus far

disco molto bello peccato che ogni colta che ordino un cd la custodia arrivi con delle crepe :-(

Este es fácilmente uno de mis tres discos preferidos de Zappa. El vinilo es de excelente calidad en todos los sentidos, y el paquete donde llegó vino en perfectas condiciones.

Uno de los primeros discos de Zappa que escuché y, si mal no recuerdo, el tercero que compré.

Un buen disco para comenzar a escuchar a Frank Zappa, junto con “Apostrophe” y “Over-Nite Sensation”.

En cuanto a la versión en CD: ¡Qué error haber utilizado un solo CD, deberían haber utilizado dos, un CD se queda en nada (a la vista) en comparación con el doble LP.

I had this album on CD and bought it on vinyl. The vinyl does not disappoint. The sound is excellent; bass, mid-range to upper treble, It's great to hear such talented musicians. The basic live vocal recordings were then overdubbed in the studio and the result is a full, detailed recording which is very rewarding on the ear. The tracks flow well into each other and the last one gives you the full sense of a live concert. Some naughty lyrics as is often the case to such beaty music that you find yourself thinking, "Did he just sing what I thought I heard?" It is very funny, as is the mickey-take of Bob Dylan.