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{{Infobox album
{{Infobox Album | <!-- See Misplaced Pages:WikiProject_Albums -->
| Name = You Are What You Is | name = You Are What You Is
| Type = Double album | type = ]
| Artist = ] | artist = ]
| Cover = Zappa You Are What You Is.jpg | cover = Zappa You Are What You Is.jpg
| Released = September, 1981 | alt =
| Recorded = July-September, 1980<br />UMRK | released = September 23, 1981
| recorded = July 18–September 11, 1980
| Genre = ]
| Length = 67:11 | venue =
| studio = ] (Los Angeles)
| Label = Zappa records<br />] (reissue)
| Producer = Frank Zappa | genre =
| Reviews = | length = {{Duration|m=71|s=24}}
| label = ]
*] {{rating-5|4}}
| producer = Frank Zappa
| Last album = '']''<br />(1981)
| prev_title = ]
| This album = '''''You Are What You Is'''''<br />(1981)
| prev_year = 1981
| Next album = '']''<br />(1982)
| next_title = ]
| next_year = 1982
| misc = {{Singles
| name = You Are What You Is
| type = studio
| single1 = Harder Than Your Husband
| single1date = 1981
| single2 = ]
| single2date = 1981
| single3 = Goblin Girl
| single3date = 1981
}}
}} }}


'''''You Are What You Is''''' is an album by ]. It was originally released as a two-] set in 1981 and later by ] as a 20-song ]. The album relies on a heavy use of ]. This album was the first one to feature material recorded using Zappa's home studio ]. '''''You Are What You Is''''' is a 1981 ] by American musician ]. His 34th album, it consists of three ]s which encompass ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. The album's lyrics satirize a number of topics, including ], ], ], narcotics use, ], religion, ] and the military draft.


==Production==
The title track "You Are What You Is" is an up-tempo pop rock style song that was released as a music video in 1984. Although the film clip used advanced colour graphics on normal dance and singing type footage, its circulation was restricted due to parts of it where an actor, who was made to look like Ronald Reagan, was sitting in what looked like an electric chair whilst applying hair creme and singing.
After the release of '']'', Frank Zappa set up his home studio, the ], and planned to release a triple LP live album called ''Warts and All''. As ''Warts and All'' reached completion, Zappa found the project to be "unwieldy" due to its length, and scrapped it, later conceiving ''Crush All Boxes''.<ref name="Lowe2007">{{cite book|author=Kelly Fisher Lowe|title=The Words and Music of Frank Zappa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAYfqgGf4yYC&pg=PA161|year=2007|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-6005-4|pages=161–}}</ref><ref name="Slaven2009"/> ''Crush All Boxes'' would have been a single LP containing the studio recordings "Doreen", "Fine Girl", "Easy Meat" (a live recording with ]) and "Goblin Girl" on the first side, with the second side being occupied by a suite consisting of the songs "Society Pages", "I'm A Beautiful Guy", "Beauty Knows No Pain", "Charlie's Enormous Mouth", "Any Downers?" and "Conehead".<ref name="Slaven2009"/>


During the production of ''Crush All Boxes'', Zappa decided to scrap the album and conceive a set of releases drawing from both ''Warts and All'' and ''Crush All Boxes'', which would emphasize different aspects of his multiple talents, re-formatting the two albums into ''You Are What You Is'', '']'' and '']''. All the tracks intended for ''Crush All Boxes'' were released across these albums, as were several ''Warts and All'' tracks, with others later appearing as parts of ''You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore''.<ref name="Slaven2009">{{cite book|author=Neil Slaven|title=Electric Don Quixote: The Definitive Story Of Frank Zappa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lyCSdW78-sC&pg=PA287|date=17 November 2009|publisher=Music Sales Group|isbn=978-0-85712-043-4|pages=287–}}</ref>
The album was first issued on CD by EMI in the mid 1980s, albeit only in the UK and Japan. It received a worldwide release on both Ryko and Zappa Records CD in 1990, and was standardized under the Ryko banner in 1995. However, the digital master prepared for both the original Ryko/Zappa release and the later Ryko 1995 release suffered from several severe audio problems that appear to be caused by an overuse of digital techniques like ] and ], and also contained a shortened version of the track "Dumb All Over." In 1998, the problems of these previous CD issues were fixed in a "silent remaster", and the guitar solo from "Dumb All Over" was mostly restored.

Zappa had performed most of the material from ''You Are What You Is'' on a tour running from March to July 1980 with a band including ] and ] on guitar and vocals, ] on keyboards, ] on bass and keyboards and David Logeman on drums.<ref name=FZShows>{{cite web |url= https://www.zappateers.com/fzshows/80.html |title=1980 - Spring-Summer Tours |work=zappateers.com |access-date=24 December 2022}}</ref> In 2023, Zappa Records/UMe released the live album ''Zappa '80: Mudd Club/Munich'' including the band's performance at the ] on May 8, 1980, as well as the tour's final show in Munich on July 3, 1980.<ref name="Zappa.Com">{{cite web |url= https://www.zappa.com/from-nightclub-to-arena-frank-zappas-short-lived-1980-lineup-showcased-on-latest-vault-treasure-zappa-80-mudd-club-munich/#/|title=Zappa.com |date=3 March 2023 |access-date=8 March 2023}}</ref>

This band recorded the basic tracks of the album in the summer of 1980 after finishing the tour, with guitarist ] and vocalist Bob Harris adding overdubs and joining the group for Zappa's fall 1980 tour.<ref name="Barrow">{{cite book|author=Arthur Barrow|title=Of Course I Said Yes!|year=2016|publisher=Cydonian Music|isbn=9781522979838|pages=107–109}}</ref> However, ''You Are What You Is'' was not released until after ''Tinsel Town Rebellion'' and ''Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar'', although the latter two albums included material from the fall tour.<ref name="Official Discography">{{cite web |url= https://www.zappa.com/music/official-discography/#/ |title=Official Discography Archives |work=zappa.com |access-date=24 December 2022}}</ref>

The album also included guest appearances from former band members ] and ], from the original ‘60s incarnation of Zappa's former band ], as well as the first recorded solo vocals of Zappa's children ] and ].

== Music and lyrics ==
''You Are What You Is'' was described by ] writer Jamie Atkins as "a thrilling ride through 20th-century ]. ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ] are all negotiated with aplomb over a series of three sharply edited suites, rammed with witty musical phrases, call-backs, and reference points."<ref name=uDiscoverMusic>{{cite web |url=https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/frank-zappa-you-are-what-you-is-feature/ |title='You Are What You Is': Frank Zappa's Savagely Satirical Pop Masterclass |last=Atkins |first=Jamie |date=September 23, 2022 |publisher=uDiscoverMusic |access-date=2022-09-27}}</ref> The album is made up of three suites. The first two suites are single sides of the vinyl edition's first record, while the third suite is spread across both sides of the second record.<ref name=uDiscoverMusic/> "Harder than Your Husband" is a ] song, while Atkins classifies "Doreen" as "]".<ref name=uDiscoverMusic/> The reggae song "Goblin Girl" includes musical quotations from "Doreen".<ref name=uDiscoverMusic/> "Theme from the 3rd Movement of Sinister Footwear" is a ] instrumental which took guitarist Steve Vai between one and two weeks to learn, due to its complexity. It closes the album's first suite.<ref name=uDiscoverMusic/> "Mudd Club" combines ]-style vocals and "malevolent monologues" with a "slow reggae skank".<ref name=uDiscoverMusic/>

The album's lyrics satirize a number of topics, including ] ("Teen-age Wind"), ], ] and narcotics use (the entirety of the suite that takes up side two of the album's vinyl release's first record), ] ("You Are What You Is"), religion ("Dumb All Over"), ] ("Heavenly Bank Account") and the military draft ("Drafted Again").<ref name=uDiscoverMusic/>

== Release and reception ==
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = ]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name=Huey>{{cite web |url= http://www.allmusic.com/album/r53163/review |title=You Are What You Is - Frank Zappa &#124; AllMusic |first=S. |last=Huey |work=allmusic.com |year=2011 |quote=Zappa |access-date=22 July 2011}}</ref>
|rev2 = '']''
|rev2score = {{rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="RS">{{cite book |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=1992 |publisher=Random House |pages=799, 801}}</ref>
}}
The ] was the only song of Zappa's career to have a ].<ref name=uDiscoverMusic/> The video contained a sequence in which a man resembling President ] was electrocuted in an ]. ] banned the video from airing on its network.<ref name=uDiscoverMusic/> In 1981, the album charted at No. 93 on the '']'' ].<ref name=Billboard/>

In a retrospective review, ]'s Steve Huey wrote that while "'Jumbo Go Away' is perhaps the most offensive song in Zappa's huge canon of potentially offensive songs, is quite ambitious in scope and in general one of Zappa's most accessible later-period efforts; it's a showcase for his songwriting skills and his often acute satirical perspective, with less of the smutty humor that some listeners find off-putting."<ref name=Huey/> '']'' noted that the album found Zappa "reclaiming the stand-up stage."<ref name=RS/>


==Track listing== ==Track listing==
{{Track listing
#"Teen-Age Wind" – 3:02
| headline = Side one
#"Harder Than Your Husband" – 2:28
| total_length = {{Duration|m=18|s=21}}
#"Doreen" – 4:44
| title1 = Teen-Age Wind
#"Goblin Girl" – 4:07
| length1 = 3:01
#"Theme from the 3rd Movement of Sinister Footwear" – 3:34
| title2 = Harder Than Your Husband
#"Society Pages" – 2:27
| length2 = 2:29
#"I'm a Beautiful Guy" – 1:56
| title3 = Doreen
#"Beauty Knows No Pain" – 3:02
| length3 = 4:43
#"Charlie's Enormous Mouth" – 3:36
| title4 = Goblin Girl
#"Any Downers?" – 2:08
| length4 = 4:07
#"]" – 4:24
| title5 = Theme from the 3rd Movement of Sinister Footwear
#"You Are What You Is" – 4:23
| length5 = 3:34
#"Mudd Club" – 3:11
}}
#"The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing" – 3:10
{{track listing
#"Dumb All Over" – 5:45
| headline = Side two
#"Heavenly Bank Account" – 3:44
| total_length = {{Duration|m=17|s=58}}
#"Suicide Chump" – 2:49
| title6 = Society Pages
#"Jumbo Go Away" – 3:43
| length6 = 2:27
#"If Only She Woulda" – 3:48
| title7 = I'm a Beautiful Guy
#"Drafted Again" – 3:07
| length7 = 1:56
| title8 = Beauty Knows No Pain
| length8 = 3:01
| title9 = Charlie's Enormous Mouth
| length9 = 3:36
| title10 = Any Downers?
| length10 = 2:09
| title11 = Conehead
| length11 = 4:20
}}
{{track listing
| headline = Side three
| total_length = {{Duration|m=17|s=04}}
| title12 = ]
| length12 = 4:22
| title13 = Mudd Club
| length13 = 3:11
| title14 = The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
| length14 = 3:10
| title15 = Dumb All Over
| length15 = 5:50
}}
{{track listing
| headline = Side four
| total_length = {{Duration|m=18|s=01}}
| title16 = Heavenly Bank Account
| length16 = 4:03
| title17 = Suicide Chump
| length17 = 2:50
| title18 = Jumbo Go Away
| length18 = 3:42
| title19 = If Only She Woulda
| length19 = 3:47
| title20 = ]
| length20 = 3:05
}}


==Personnel== ==Personnel==


===Musicians===
* Tommy Mars – Keyboards, Vocals
* ] – ], ]
* David Ocker – Clarinet (Bass), Clarinet
* Mark Pinske – Vocals, Engineer * ] – ], vocals
* Motorhead Sherwood – Sax (Tenor), Vocals * ] – rhythm guitar, vocals
* Bob Harris – ], ]
* Allen Sides – Engineer
* ] – ]
* Craig "Twister" Stewart – Harmonica
* ] – ]
* Denny Walley – Vocals, Slide Guitar
* ] – ]
* Ray White – Guitar (Rhythm), Vocals
* ] – Vocals * ] – ]
* David Ocker – ], ]
* ] – Vocals
* ] – ], vocals
* ] – ], vocals
* David Logeman – ]
* Craig "Twister" Stewart – ]
* ] – vocals
* ] – vocals
* ] – vocals
* Mark Pinske – vocals


===Production staff===
* Jo Hansch – Mastering
* Frank Zappa – ]
* Dennis Sager – Digital Engineer
* Mark Pinske – ]
* Santi Rubio – ?
* Amy Bernstein – Artwork * Alan Sides – engineer
* John Livzey – Photography, Cover Photo * Bob Stone – remix engineer
* George Douglas – engineering assistant
* Thomas Nordegg – Engineer
* John Vince – Artwork, Graphic Design * David Gray – engineering assistant
* Ed Mann – Percussion * Amy Bernstein – artwork
* Jo Hansch – ]
* John Livzey – ], cover photo
* Thomas Nordegg – Frank's personnel assistant
* Santi Rubio – Studio Secretary
* Dennis Sager – digital engineer
* John Vince – artwork, graphic design


==Charts==
* ] – Vocals
'''Album''' - ''Billboard'' (United States)
* Ike Willis – Guitar (Rhythm), Vocals
{| class="wikitable"
* Bob Stone – Remixing, Digital Remastering
!Year
* ] – Bass
!Chart
* George Douglas – Assistant Engineer
!Position
* ] – Arranger, Composer, Vocals, Producer, Main Performer, Guitar
|-
* Bob Harris – Boy Soprano, Trumpet
|1981
* David Logeman – Drums
|''Billboard'' 200
* ] – Strat Abuse
|align="center"|93<ref name=Billboard>{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r53163/charts-awards|pure_url=yes}} |title=Charts and Awards for ''You Are What You Is'' |access-date=2008-08-22 |publisher=]}}</ref>
|}


==Notes== ==References==
{{reflist}}
* "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing" was covered by ] on their 2000 tribute to Zappa.


{{Frank Zappa albums}}
*A music video was shot for the title track, featuring a ] lookalike given the ] by ]. ] rarely played the video because of this, although it turned up during an episode of '']''. It was also included in Zappa's VHS release ].


{{Frank Zappa}} {{Authority control}}


] ]
] ]
] ]
]

]
]

Latest revision as of 23:06, 13 November 2024

1981 studio album by Frank Zappa
You Are What You Is
Studio album by Frank Zappa
ReleasedSeptember 23, 1981
RecordedJuly 18–September 11, 1980
StudioUMRK (Los Angeles)
Length71:24
LabelBarking Pumpkin
ProducerFrank Zappa
Frank Zappa chronology
Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar
(1981) 		You Are What You Is
(1981) 		Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch
(1982)
Singles from You Are What You Is
  1. "Harder Than Your Husband"
    Released: 1981
  2. "You Are What You Is"
    Released: 1981
  3. "Goblin Girl"
    Released: 1981

You Are What You Is is a 1981 double album by American musician Frank Zappa. His 34th album, it consists of three musical suites which encompass pop, doo-wop, jazz, hard rock, reggae, soul, blues, new wave and country. The album's lyrics satirize a number of topics, including hippies, socialites, fashion, narcotics use, cultural appropriation, religion, televangelists and the military draft.

Production

After the release of Joe's Garage, Frank Zappa set up his home studio, the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, and planned to release a triple LP live album called Warts and All. As Warts and All reached completion, Zappa found the project to be "unwieldy" due to its length, and scrapped it, later conceiving Crush All Boxes. Crush All Boxes would have been a single LP containing the studio recordings "Doreen", "Fine Girl", "Easy Meat" (a live recording with studio overdubs) and "Goblin Girl" on the first side, with the second side being occupied by a suite consisting of the songs "Society Pages", "I'm A Beautiful Guy", "Beauty Knows No Pain", "Charlie's Enormous Mouth", "Any Downers?" and "Conehead".

During the production of Crush All Boxes, Zappa decided to scrap the album and conceive a set of releases drawing from both Warts and All and Crush All Boxes, which would emphasize different aspects of his multiple talents, re-formatting the two albums into You Are What You Is, Tinsel Town Rebellion and Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar. All the tracks intended for Crush All Boxes were released across these albums, as were several Warts and All tracks, with others later appearing as parts of You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore.

Zappa had performed most of the material from You Are What You Is on a tour running from March to July 1980 with a band including Ike Willis and Ray White on guitar and vocals, Tommy Mars on keyboards, Arthur Barrow on bass and keyboards and David Logeman on drums. In 2023, Zappa Records/UMe released the live album Zappa '80: Mudd Club/Munich including the band's performance at the Mudd Club on May 8, 1980, as well as the tour's final show in Munich on July 3, 1980.

This band recorded the basic tracks of the album in the summer of 1980 after finishing the tour, with guitarist Steve Vai and vocalist Bob Harris adding overdubs and joining the group for Zappa's fall 1980 tour. However, You Are What You Is was not released until after Tinsel Town Rebellion and Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar, although the latter two albums included material from the fall tour.

The album also included guest appearances from former band members Jimmy Carl Black and Motorhead Sherwood, from the original ‘60s incarnation of Zappa's former band the Mothers of Invention, as well as the first recorded solo vocals of Zappa's children Moon and Ahmet.

Music and lyrics

You Are What You Is was described by uDiscoverMusic writer Jamie Atkins as "a thrilling ride through 20th-century pop music. Doo-wop, jazz, hard rock, reggae, soul, blues, new wave, and country are all negotiated with aplomb over a series of three sharply edited suites, rammed with witty musical phrases, call-backs, and reference points." The album is made up of three suites. The first two suites are single sides of the vinyl edition's first record, while the third suite is spread across both sides of the second record. "Harder than Your Husband" is a country rock song, while Atkins classifies "Doreen" as "power doo-wop". The reggae song "Goblin Girl" includes musical quotations from "Doreen". "Theme from the 3rd Movement of Sinister Footwear" is a jazz fusion instrumental which took guitarist Steve Vai between one and two weeks to learn, due to its complexity. It closes the album's first suite. "Mudd Club" combines barbershop quartet-style vocals and "malevolent monologues" with a "slow reggae skank".

The album's lyrics satirize a number of topics, including hippies ("Teen-age Wind"), socialites, fashion and narcotics use (the entirety of the suite that takes up side two of the album's vinyl release's first record), cultural appropriation ("You Are What You Is"), religion ("Dumb All Over"), televangelists ("Heavenly Bank Account") and the military draft ("Drafted Again").

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
The Rolling Stone Album Guide

The title song was the only song of Zappa's career to have a music video. The video contained a sequence in which a man resembling President Ronald Reagan was electrocuted in an electric chair. MTV banned the video from airing on its network. In 1981, the album charted at No. 93 on the Billboard 200.

In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Steve Huey wrote that while "'Jumbo Go Away' is perhaps the most offensive song in Zappa's huge canon of potentially offensive songs, is quite ambitious in scope and in general one of Zappa's most accessible later-period efforts; it's a showcase for his songwriting skills and his often acute satirical perspective, with less of the smutty humor that some listeners find off-putting." The Rolling Stone Album Guide noted that the album found Zappa "reclaiming the stand-up stage."

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Teen-Age Wind"3:01
2."Harder Than Your Husband"2:29
3."Doreen"4:43
4."Goblin Girl"4:07
5."Theme from the 3rd Movement of Sinister Footwear"3:34
Total length:18:21
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Society Pages"2:27
7."I'm a Beautiful Guy"1:56
8."Beauty Knows No Pain"3:01
9."Charlie's Enormous Mouth"3:36
10."Any Downers?"2:09
11."Conehead"4:20
Total length:17:58
Side three
No.TitleLength
12."You Are What You Is"4:22
13."Mudd Club"3:11
14."The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing"3:10
15."Dumb All Over"5:50
Total length:17:04
Side four
No.TitleLength
16."Heavenly Bank Account"4:03
17."Suicide Chump"2:50
18."Jumbo Go Away"3:42
19."If Only She Woulda"3:47
20."Drafted Again"3:05
Total length:18:01

Personnel

Musicians

Production staff

  • Frank Zappa – producer
  • Mark Pinske – engineer
  • Alan Sides – engineer
  • Bob Stone – remix engineer
  • George Douglas – engineering assistant
  • David Gray – engineering assistant
  • Amy Bernstein – artwork
  • Jo Hansch – mastering
  • John Livzey – photography, cover photo
  • Thomas Nordegg – Frank's personnel assistant
  • Santi Rubio – Studio Secretary
  • Dennis Sager – digital engineer
  • John Vince – artwork, graphic design

Charts

Album - Billboard (United States)

Year Chart Position
1981 Billboard 200 93

References

  1. Kelly Fisher Lowe (2007). The Words and Music of Frank Zappa. U of Nebraska Press. pp. 161–. ISBN 978-0-8032-6005-4.
  2. ^ Neil Slaven (17 November 2009). Electric Don Quixote: The Definitive Story Of Frank Zappa. Music Sales Group. pp. 287–. ISBN 978-0-85712-043-4.
  3. "1980 - Spring-Summer Tours". zappateers.com. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  4. "Zappa.com". 3 March 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  5. Arthur Barrow (2016). Of Course I Said Yes!. Cydonian Music. pp. 107–109. ISBN 9781522979838.
  6. "Official Discography Archives". zappa.com. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  7. ^ Atkins, Jamie (September 23, 2022). "'You Are What You Is': Frank Zappa's Savagely Satirical Pop Masterclass". uDiscoverMusic. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  8. ^ Huey, S. (2011). "You Are What You Is - Frank Zappa | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 22 July 2011. Zappa
  9. ^ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. pp. 799, 801.
  10. ^ "Charts and Awards for You Are What You Is". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
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