Frank Zappa: The Biography

This is truly a great biography. We look closely at Frank Zappa and the world that immediately surrounded him. Frank Zappa was a strange man and many of those who worked with him had difficulties with him, Miles explores those issues as he should. Zappa fans might not wish to read these observations, but if they reject this book because it is not fawning then they will miss out.The section on Frank Zappa's childhood is fascinating. To be honest I think Zappa's childhood was pretty horrible. He moved from one school to another as his father moved house all the time. When Zappa faced problems at school with other children his father was of no help and so Zappa became the fiercely independent individual that he was. Miles captures what it was like to be growing up in 50s America superbly. When the young Zappa encounters something from outside his culture, the music of Varese and other Vienna School composers then it has huge importance for him. This book explores the unique influences on Zappa that shape him.As an adult Zappa first makes his way in the strange world of 60's America. He manages to adopt a unique position of simultaneously exploiting this world and opposing many of its values. How he builds a profile for himself in the community is fascinating. He is keen to get ahead as a musician and performer and the interests of others around him are very secondary indeed.Miles charts Zappas musical career. We read about the unique set of influences that help to create the many LPs that the Mothers of Invention and Frank Zappa released.It is an unflinching look at Zappa and often we are infuriated with him. However the book recognises his music when it is successful. When Zappa dies at the end of the book it feels like the end of a long and difficult journey and the ready does have great empathy with him, it is very sad.Such a great read. I highly recommend it.

Barry Miles has written the kind of basic readable biography that I needed. I have only listened to a small percentage of Zappa's music, but I share the view that his music transcends some of the dated humour (and attitudes). Miles' main focus seems to be Zappa's childhood and things do seem to speed up when we get to the 80s and the synth era begins. He ends the book with Zappa's death (there is a good overview chapter after that), but it is worth noting that with the Zappa family trust mining the huge Zappa music vault for new releases and the legal complexities built into the trust, the story didn't really stop with his death.What Miles does capture is the roots in Doo-Wop, the engagement with Modernist classical music, his obsession with total musical control, his boundary-pushing lyrics and libertarian views, and his love of post-production work. He spends time considering Zappa's sexism and emotional distance (including harsh treatment of his band, absenteee approach to parenting, and his disconnect from his fans). He excuses some, but not all, of this. But he does miss how his single-minded obsession with his art was a typical mid-century pattern for (male) artists. Dedicating 10-12hrs a day, 7-days a week, to their art was how many such 'geniuses' worked.Miles has good knowledge of Zappa's work, combined with good judgement about the music - where it comes from, how it was made, and the business aspect. He can see past the goofiness, and dated off-colour humour, contextualising it as counter-cultural and experimental. Of course, Miles notes that the music is often demanding, it has strong compositional craft and is widely admired by classical players. But despite this, I think he still fails to account for just what made Zappa's music so exceptional. There is no musical analysis or comparative commentary to explain his experimental, analytical approach, which is even applied to solos and lyrics. He didn't just experiment and de-composing music as much as he composed it, he was outstandingly good at these things. This might be a judgement about what to say in a readable popular biography, but I think without it Zappa seems more strange and less impressive than he was.

A really great book by Barry Miles. I'm only just getting into Frank Zappa recently and I found this to be a wonderful biography as I really knew nothing about the man. The book arrived in excellent condition and well ahead of expected date..All good. Excellent

Facts and quotes ,are what most of this book comprises . Frank was a one off , very much an individual .

I'm a HUGE Frank fan and have been since 1973 and contrary to the other reviews here this book is not only well written but very informative. Anybody who knows anything about Zappa will know that he was a genius on a permanent ego trip and a perfectionist which means he was sometimes difficult to work with, therefore, thinking he was a saint and could do no wrong will leave you unable to digest the facts. A good book and well worth reading and keeping on your shelf.

Very good read

Barry Miles has written the best book about Frank Zappa I have read. He has genuine interest in his subject matter and a thorough understanding of both the man and his music.

This book is very interesting and hard to be found. I'm glad I found it on amazon. It is very well written and it contains many facts.

Good reading with full details .Some errors from other books are corrected.

Arrived as described.

The research conducted and the narrative presented by Miles was most compelling. His text was saturated with numerous quotations from a comprehensive range of individuals including in particular “The Man” himself. A number of reviewers of Miles’ text took umbrage with the writer’s willingness to offer his own criticisms of Zappa’s attitudes and actions! I am not sure why? Simply put they could have ignored them. Zappa was indeed his own man. His uniqueness, charisma, creativity and obsession can be clearly seen and their impacts observed: and isn’t that the purpose of a biography? It’s for the reader to then draw whatever conclusions they wish. As Zappa pointed out “People Suck”. Enjoy the text and above all enjoy the music. Viva Zappa

ザッパの伝記のkindleバージョンが格安だったので入手しました。20世紀の米国の有名な音楽家で、その音楽は本当に素晴らしく、私は最近特にserious musicと言われる晩年の作品をよく聞いています。しかしPMRCと争ったり、ビロード革命後のチェコで大統領と会談したり、人種や女性に対してかなり際どい発言があったり、多面的な仕事を理解するために役立つかと思って読んでみました。初期Mothersの解散までの記述は非常に詳しく、相次ぐ引っ越し、なかなかに個性的な父親、Studio Zの録音など、知らなかったこと多数でした。ただしその後は有名なエピソードをザッパのインタビューでつなぐ構成で、読み応えはありますが、もう少し突っ込んで欲しいところでした。筆者がイギリス人だから実感がなかったからかPMRCとの論争についてはごく簡潔ですし、音楽的な面は、たとえば集大成だった1988年バンドも、あっさり流されています。この本ではザッパの歌詞のoffensiveな面が特に分析されていますが、確かにあの歌詞が直接耳に入ると思うと、英語圏の人間にとってその意義を位置づけすることがとても重要になるのかもしれません。ファンとしてはもう少し甘めの視点で評価して欲しいのですが、イギリス人らしい記述ではあります。また3回来日したような記述になっており、その辺の正確さはあまり求めない方がよいかもしれません。ザッパが好きなら読む価値があると思います。

This is actually a good book. Its thoroughly researched and well written. It suffers from the main flaw of all the Zappa books that were not written by Frank Zappa himself though, it spends way too much time on his early (and IMO overrated) material with the Mothers. This book is basically put together from all the other books, including Zappas autobiography and also many other sources. In the end it gives possibly the most complete picture of Frank of any of the many books written about him. The thing that seperates this book though is that it covers the last 5 or so years of his life in far more detail than any other book written about Zappa. I had never, ever read about his last days and Miles does so and they are rather moving. It was very interesting to read about this side of Zappa and that alone makes the book a must read for Zappa fans. Surely this isnt a butt kissing book but it is also very fair to Frank and lauds him far more than it puts him down. He isnt infalable and this book does point that out but it doesnt dwell on negativity.