Dangerous Kitchen: The Subversive World of Zappa

Rating:
Summary: The best Zappa book besides Frank's own
Review: Courrier's thorough knowledge of 20th-century music informs his argument that Frank was a brilliant composer and one of the very few "real guys." This volume proves meticulously detailed, well researched and a delight to read from beginning to end. What I was most satisfied with, once I'd started sinking my cerebellum into Mr. Courrier's pleasantly voiced prose, was his attention to the MUSIC (who needs another bio about Frank's life? Who needs another dissertation on the various weaklings who've been offended by Frank's lyrics?).

This book follows up on Frank's own statement that anyone with a decent store of musical knowledge would realize that what he was hearing was more outrageous, in terms of how it was MUSICALLY flying in the face of custom and history, than any lyric or story idea could ever be. We need more books like Courrier's; it's time to focus on the music itself and make an educated case for that music's importance in revealing the so-called "high/low art barrier" as being purely mythical. I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about, or already entranced by, the music of Frank Zappa.


Rating:
Summary: Good, but uneven
Review: This book does a good job as an extended discography of Zappa's work, but fails as a biography of his actual life, personal or professional. I enjoyed the detail that Courrier brought to Zappa's early life, especially the assembly of early albums from compositions and live recordings. But as Zappa got married and developed a family, it seems like his personal live was entirely minimized within the book. The PMRC trial hardly got a page of ink, although it was a large event in Zappa's life, and other events were quickly mentioned and then left behind. Meanwhile, each album had pages and pages of detail for each song. I did appreciate the play-by-play on the albums, especially the long appendix detailing the differences in the current CD releases from the original LPs, but I was hoping for more third-person detail about the man Zappa, aside from what was officially presented in his own book.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but uneven
Review: This book does a good job as an extended discography of Zappa's work, but fails as a biography of his actual life, personal or professional. I enjoyed the detail that Courrier brought to Zappa's early life, especially the assembly of early albums from compositions and live recordings. But as Zappa got married and developed a family, it seems like his personal live was entirely minimized within the book. The PMRC trial hardly got a page of ink, although it was a large event in Zappa's life, and other events were quickly mentioned and then left behind. Meanwhile, each album had pages and pages of detail for each song. I did appreciate the play-by-play on the albums, especially the long appendix detailing the differences in the current CD releases from the original LPs, but I was hoping for more third-person detail about the man Zappa, aside from what was officially presented in his own book.

Rating:
Summary: Dangerous indeed...
Review: This book is fun to read , mainly for little tidbits and stories about the man and his many bands. But if you are looking for a literary or critical evaluation of his work, look elsewhere. There are no annotations ;you have to take the author as the authority for much of what is presented. Some of the analysis is wanting and has a psychedelic gleam. For example there's very little examination of how feminists view Zappa.Their objections to some of his "nasty" songs ( eg. Harry you're a beast) are glossed over by appeal to some "superior" position FZ supposedly had- as if he were poking fun at the males in the situations. I can't claim to know where he stood , can you ? There's surprisingly little analysis of his family life; I think that's where the answer to questions about the man would be found . That is if anyone cares to ask them.

Rating:
Summary: Nice and thorough, but lacking a spark
Review: This is a good, solid overview of Zappa's life and work, with a clear emphasis on the work. Corrier has done a credible documentary job and he obviously knows his stuff as far as the influences of Stravinsky, Varese, Slonimsky, Ives, etc. on Zappa's music go, which usually get only lip service in the other books on Zappa, including Watson's "hig brow" book. The same degree of preparation is obvious for the R&B and Doo Wop references.

More space is dedicated to the earlier Mothers period and less to the more recent work (e.g., Yellow Shark). In places the book reads like a list of songs from the albums with comments (much like many other rock books); unfortunately, some of the comments are essentially Courrier's opinion of the piece, which is OK, but not that interesting.

Overall it's well worth the money, there are few typos (I noticed two, both in Italian names of concert locations) and a few pictures, some I had never seen elsewhere. Yet, the book is most of the time flat: there is none of the enthusiasm that fills other books (think Ben Watson, however rambling he may be). The only places where the writing stands out above mediocrity is in the last chapter about the commemorations of Zappa after his death.

A bibliography and discography complement the book. There is also an index of names, but not of subjects.

Rating:
Summary: A different view
Review: While reading DANGEROUS KITCHEN on a plane, the person sitting next to me commented on the title of my book. "Who is Frank Zappa?" she asked. When I began to explain who Frank Zappa was, I was struck by the fact that numerous books have been written about or by Zappa. To digress a bit, Amazon offers more books by and about Zappa than Chester Arthur, our 21st President. As for me, I have read the following books by or about Frank Zappa. In addition, this list constitutes a ranking of my assessment of the quality of these books.

1. THE REAL FRANK ZAPPA BOOK by Frank Zappa and Peter Occhioigrosso
2. DANGEROUS KITCHEN: THE SUBVERSIVE WORLD OF ZAPPA by Kevin Courrier
3. MOTHER! THE FRANK ZAPPA STORY by Michael Gray
4. FRANK ZAPPA: THE NEGATIVE DIALECTICS OF POODLE PLAY
5. ELECTRIC DON QUIXOTE: THE DEFINITIVE STORY OF FRANK ZAPPA by Neil Slaven
6. NECESSITY IS... THE EARLY YEARS OF FRANK ZAPPA AND THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION by Billy James
7. COSMIK DEBRIS: THE COLLECTIVE HISTORY AND IMPROVISATIONS OF FRANK ZAPPA by Greg Russo
8. NO COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL: THE SAGA OF FRANK ZAPPA by David Walley
9. MY BROTHER WAS A MOTHER by Patrice "Candy" Zappa
10. THEM OR US by Frank Zappa
11. UNDER THE SAME MOON by Suzannah Thana Harris
12. BEING FRANK: MY TIME WITH FRANK ZAPPA by Nigery Lennon

The extraordinary feature about all of these books is that each presents a totally different aspect or dimension of Frank Zappa. In many ways, it seems like I am not reading a book about the same person. Each of these authors sees Zappa through their personalized lens. Courrier presentation is different from the others because he offers details of the environment surrounding virtually every composition. Since his book is one of the later publications on the list above, he often quotes and/or cites from the other works. Interesting, I didn't get the feeling of reading the same information as I have read in the other works.

I liked DANGEROUS KITCHEN: THE SUBVERSIVE WORLD OF ZAPPA. Every Frank Zappa fan will enjoy it.


Rating:
Summary: Zappa is a god to Courrier, but not to me
Review: Yes, the book does a decent job of covering the various phases of Zappa's career, but Courrier's admiration of Zappa colors the book and prevents it from being an even-handed view of his career. There's plenty to admire in what Zappa accomplished, but Courrier dismisses off-handedly legitimate criticisms of Zappa's role as bandleader, composer, purveyor of comedy music, panderer to the juvenile, and cultural icon that might have given the book balance. For Zappa maniacs only.