Hot Rats by Frank Zappa

Hot Rats, released in October 1969, is Frank Zappa's second solo album and eighth overall, and his first project after the original Mothers of Invention came apart. Zappa produced it himself at TTG Studios, and it's a head-spinning plunge into jazz-rock fusion: long, knotty instrumentals where the solos stretch out and the arrangements stack up in wild, woozy layers.

Five of its six tracks have no words at all. The exception is "Willie the Pimp", with Captain Beefheart growling the vocal over a filthy blues grind. "Peaches en Regalia" is the bright, twisting little gem everyone knows, and decades later Zappa's son Dweezil, the newborn this album is dedicated to, won a Grammy in February 2009 playing it with his tribute band Zappa Plays Zappa. Zappa's own sleeve notes called the album a movie for your ears, and that's no exaggeration.

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