Waka, Jawaka, Hot Rats ‎(LP, Album). Bizarre Records, Reprise Records. Waka/Jawaka ‎(CD, Album, RE, RM).

Waka/Jawaka (also known as Waka/Jawaka - Hot Rats) is the fourth solo album by Frank Zappa, released in July 1972. The album is the jazz-influenced precursor to The Grand Wazoo (November 1972), and, as the front cover indicates, a sequel of sorts to 1969's Hot Rats. According to Zappa, the title "is something that showed up on a ouija board at one time. Big Swifty" is a jazz-fusion tune, similar to many of Zappa's pieces from the jazz period of his compositional time line

When Frank Zappa found himself stuck in a wheelchair for most of the year 1972 (after a "fan" pushed him off the stage in December of the previous year), he relieved his band (including singers Flo & Eddie) of its duties and turned to studio work. One of the first things he tried was to write jazz fusion music scored for wider instrumentation than an average rock band. Waka/Jawaka was conceived in parallel to The Grand Wazoo, but with fewer players. The album, released in July 1972, is comprised of two extended instrumental pieces and two shorter songs.

Frank Zappa’s July 1972 effort, Waka/Jawaka, falls into this category. In saying that, a Zappa blueprint is different to those of other recording artists. A lot differen. aka/Jawaka was penned as a sequel, of sorts, to Frank Zappa’s 1969 classic, Hot Rats. Finding himself in a wheelchair, (following a freak mid-concert accident), Zappa flushed out his band and, in effect, started over. It would be illogical to not speak of the follow up to Waka/Jawaka, (The Grand Wazoo), in the same breath. If you’re looking for a standout track on Waka/Jawaka, the title track is your best bet. Concise in comparison to the album’s opener, the closing cut is a festive exploration of all things instrumental. You like trumpets" It’s got it. You dig keyboards" You’ve been catered for. A fan of Zappa’s crisp rhythms and leads" You’ll be in auditory heaven.

Album DR. 11. Min. track DR.

Psychedelic Rock Frank Zappa. Band Name Frank Zappa. Album Name Waka - Jawaka.

However, in only 4 tracks, I feel that some tracks have ideas that shouldn't have been flushed out to 12-17 minutes. As much as he changes up the instrumentation in the longer tracks, I still find myself gradually not paying attention to the music itself anymore. Color: Green FAV TRACKS: Your Mouth, It Just Might Be a One-Shot Deal LEAST FAV: Waka/Jawaka. Or consider a donation?

He was as prolific as he was restless, jumping from genre to genre, and from target to target, with all the control and temperament that you'd expect from a difficult, boundary-busting artist. From the start of the Mothers of Invention in the mid '60s to the end of his life, Zappa's massive output can be maddening to sort through. So we did all the heavy lifting. Like 'The Grand Wazoo' (see No. 9 on our list of the Top 10 Frank Zappa Albums), 'Waka, Jawaka' plays around with various forms of fusion. But it also serves as a bridge between Zappa's avant-rock work and his later, more sophisticated jazz and classical material. A sequel of sorts to the earlier instrumental excursions found on 'Hot Rats,' 'Waka, Jawaka' is stuffed with big brass and tricky time signatures. 7. 'Chunga's Revenge' (1970).