Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Zappa, Frank
Label: Rykodisc Records
Released: 1981
Duration: 67:11
Rating: 5/5
“You Are What You Is” is a legendary concept album from the immortal American composer, guitarist, producer, director and social satirist Frank Zappa. It’s a concept record, just like its phenomenal predecessor “Joe’s Garage” (1979), and it easily ranks among the best things in Frank’s staggeringly rich career. It originally came out as a double vinyl LP, but the CD version fit on a single disc, holding exactly twenty tracks. Each one is its own brand of satire aimed at some social pattern born of a lifestyle you could most easily call the typical American way of life. Zappa himself described that way of life best in the liner notes, as a constant process of declining mental health that produces a society of the biggest liars on the face of the Earth.
Most people will probably agree that it’s hard to find a more uninformed and self-absorbed creature than the average resident of the self-proclaimed “God’s chosen land” across the Atlantic, where all sorts of unfathomable things happen in the name of maintaining and spreading democracy. We’re talking, of course, about the profile of the average American, who pollutes the air with exhaust fumes every day, dutifully watches every TV evangelist under the sun, stuffs in unbearable amounts of unhealthy fast food, spends a hefty chunk of their paycheck on plastic surgery, never parts with their favorite gun, and votes for the right candidate, planted by a party with two mirrors on behalf of interlinked lobbies and corporations, all while thinking that Elvis is still alive and that today’s animal species, humans included, came about through an “intelligent” divine plan a couple of millennia ago. If they happen to mix up Slovenia and Slovakia and think there’s still a war raging over here, you can hardly blame them, since American ignorance and smugness have long been the stuff of legend.
By this point in his career, Frank had already unleashed more than a few cheerful yet cruelly truthful musical satires at the expense of his (in many ways stepmotherly) homeland (the unforgettable “We’re Only In It For The Money”, 1968, for one), but this album is, in every respect, the peak of his reckoning with all-pervasive social smugness, ignorance, apathy and corruption, ruled over by the boundless greed of mighty political and economic lobbies, which, sadly, has since become a general Slovenian problem too. The satirical lyrics on “You Are What You Is” are more relevant than ever, which means the album has passed the test of time with flying colors. The same goes for the music itself and Frank’s phenomenal production.
By usual Zappa standards, the structure of the lion’s share of the songs leans toward melody, playful arrangements and considerable compactness, with hardly any jazz improvisation or avant-garde experimentation, which are normally so typical of Frank’s compositional vocabulary. As usual, the stylistic variety is extremely rich. Although most of the songs are easily seized by a pop-rock charm thanks to melodic choruses and playful arrangements, which undoubtedly makes this one of his most “friendly” albums for a wider audience, there’s still no shortage of jazz, blues, hard rock, funk and even country touches, while the solo masterpieces from individual instrumentalists are, as always, a real treat for music gourmets. Zappa once again made use of his beloved yet complicated technique of overdubbing.
Among the instrumentalists, the one who stands out most is the then still relatively unknown “little Italian virtuoso” Steve Vai, who had just managed to shake off his apprentice duties as Frank’s personal guitar transcriber and was slowly working his way up into the “major leagues”. Despite being rather green, Steve was already a fantastic virtuoso, which he shows off plainly with his recognizable, “spacey” solos. The rich list of guest vocalists is impressive too. Besides his former The Mothers Of Invention buddies, original drummer Jimmy Carl Black and tenor saxophonist Motorhead Sherwood, and longtime guitarist Ike Willis, Frank also drafted his second son Ahmet into a vocal role, along with his daughter Moon “Valley Girl” Unit, who became the main “starlet” of his next studio project, “Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch” (1982).
The album is conceptual, sure, but there’s no strict narrative continuity between the individual songs, even though most of them flow into one another without a break. The sarcastic mishmash “Teen-Age Wind” sings about a typical Friday night in the life of a teenage “geek,” who sits alone in his room feeling sorry for himself while his peers are having a blast at a Grateful Dead concert. In other words, a theme that fans of dumb American teen comedies will recognize right away. On top of that, he has to sit there sobbing and listen to biting jabs from his father. The sting of the satire (especially the chorus) is aimed at the all-around impotence of teenage rebellion. “Harder Than Your Husband”, seasoned with a roguish country melody, mercilessly touches on the ever-pressing American problem of false morality and the cheating between (married) partners that follows from it. It’s a song that, thanks to its sparkling country harmonica melody, could easily be played in some Texas cowboy saloon, provided you first cut out the toilet-humor-soaked lyrics that pitilessly attack the duplicity of beauty, American style.
The hard-rocking burner “Doreen”, where the passionate Ike Willis, backed by supporting vocals, superbly shows off his singing talent, and the pop rock-reggae charade “Goblin Girl”, with its great lyrics about girls who love to dress up in the evenings as all sorts of “goblins and hobgoblins”, are satires of the prevailing mentality of promiscuous teenage girls who use over-the-top glitz and cosmetic surgery as their deadliest weapon for all kinds of sexual manipulation, in other words, they satirize plastic love. The instrumental “Theme from the Third Movement of Sinister Footwear” is a great jazz-rock fusion intermezzo, where the maestro and his buddies show off their incredible knack for witty, fresh jazz improvisation. It’s also the only moment on the album where Frank briefly returns to one of his first loves: jazz fusion. Guitar fans can revel above all in the excellent solo interplay between Frank and Steve Vai, with plenty of fun guitar effects and all manner of percussion. “Society Pages” is a farcical reckoning with the nepotism embedded in every pore of society. The dance rhythm and the roguish chorus push to the front.
“I’m a Beautiful Guy” pokes fun at classic American narcissism, competitiveness and one-upmanship, both with your own looks and with material possessions. In this case, it’s mostly about male chauvinism. The nonchalant melody is packed with plenty of witty rhythmic embellishments, while Ike’s sarcastic singing accompanies it all. “Beauty Knows No Pain” brilliantly takes on the notorious American practice of plastic surgery, this time mainly through a female lens. The mocking chorus is legendary, while the quoted lyrics and extra vocal grimacing only amp up the tragicomic mood. “Charlie’s Enormous Mouth” also pokes fun at women’s plastic surgery, especially the overuse of Botox to plump up lips, and the resulting production line of plastic, peroxide, brainless bimbos. In the background you can hear a string of goofy effects on synths and guitar, which Frank doesn’t skimp on one bit throughout the whole album.
“Any Downers” is, thanks to its irritated guitar phrases, another somewhat harder-rocking moment on the album, while the lyrics satirize all-around apathy, as the relatives of the deceased head straight from the funeral to watch their favorite TV soap. “Conehead” is yet another “ode” to American stupidity. The song’s title comes from the hugely popular American TV show “Coneheads”, which was so dumb that Frank simply had to use it for his satirical maneuvers. The excellent guitar solo from the young master Steve Vai and Frank’s cutting vocals, with their use of assorted metaphors from American pop culture, are the main charm of this witty experiment. The title track is, mostly thanks to its chorus, rhythm and lyrics, probably the best-known song on the album. At its core it’s a pop-rock jab with great lyrics that Michael Jackson should have heard back when he was alive, since it’s about insecurity, especially dissatisfaction with your own skin color and the wish to claw your way into the “elite” through a change of looks and lifestyle, and so please society’s “demands”. “The Mudd Club” touches on the typical American decadence that usually reigns in all sorts of “elite” clubs, where every possible kind of eccentricity and perversion often goes on in secret.
“The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing”, crowned with a mischievous country melody, is a brutal but excellent satire of calculating religious leaders who make fools of the uneducated masses for kicks, and it also touches on the softness and pliability that results from it, which deliberately turns grown men into toothless old women. “Dumb All Over”, as the title itself says, is a general reckoning with American boorishness, a kind of summary of the whole album, where Frank lays out everything that’s (still) wrong with American society. As usual, he goes especially hard on politicians and priests. The most biting satirical barb, the one that hit all American conservatives right in the heart, is without a doubt the line that “if God really made us in his image, then he must be completely dumb too, and probably a little ugly to boot”.
“Heavenly Bank Account” is probably the song that’s most relevant to our times of them all, since it’s about American borrowing and taking out imaginary credit so you can then build “castles in the sky”, in other words, about exactly what, almost thirty years later, caused the economic crisis that’s still dragging on today. The mocking lyrics are accompanied by witty, salon-style flourishes on Hammond organ and piano, which create a deliberately pompous atmosphere. The blues-rock “Suicide Chump” is a satire of suicidal habits and thoughts brought on by social failure, or failing to meet social norms. Juicy blues guitar phrases are accompanied by the most biting vocal imaginable: Frank’s. “Jumbo Go Away”, a satire of spoiled kids, is, despite its razor-sharp guitar phrases, another distinctly comic moment, with excellent vocal harmonies and young Ahmet chiming in from the background, while for a short while you can also catch a few fusion-ish, almost avant-garde flourishes.
“If Only She Woulda” touches on the often prevailing pathos of the average American teenage romance, which is doomed from the start, since the young “Romeo” is suddenly recruited by the all-powerful army. Here Frank and his crew allow themselves a bit more room for solo improvisation, mostly on guitar, while a funk rhythm accompanies them in the background most of the time. For the grand finale, with “Drafted Again”, Frank takes a swipe at the most expensive and best-armed military in the world and the recruiting of future soldiers. The “General’s” line about the pissed-on little commie is legendary, while little Ahmet and Moon Unit shine brightest on vocals. In the background you can also hear some wind arrangements, while the vocal grimacing and special effects (headed up by the sounds of irritated, suddenly interrupted snoring (TM)) generously season the all-around lunacy of this phenomenal satire of the military.
“You Are What You Is” is yet another timeless Zappa masterpiece, on which the legendary composer and satirist outdid himself, swinging his merciless hammer at every pore of modern American society. In his lifelong reckoning with some of America’s most notorious habits (or, better said, bad habits), he hit the very peak of his career here, even leaving behind most of his best lyrics, which can give most Slovenians plenty to think about too, since in recent years we’re sadly trying harder and harder to be like Americans (there’s no point in listing recent examples of our social deviations, there are too many and they’re too well known). At the same time, he once again thoroughly riled up conservative congressmen, who slowly began forging a counterattack with a congressional hearing that followed three years later, since they felt completely exposed listening to the lyrics. Besides its almost brutal lyrical relevance, the album is, somewhat ironically, very friendly to a wider audience, thanks to its all-around melodicism and compactness with minimal experimentation. Frank rarely sounded as radio-friendly as he does on “You Are What You Is”, which by his usual standards is almost a pop-rock album, yet which swings just as mercilessly at all-pervasive social hypocrisy, smugness and ignorance, which today, sadly, don’t weigh on American society alone, since most of the rest of the capitalist world has meanwhile caught the bug too.
Line-up
Frank Zappa – vocals, guitar, composer, arranger
Arthur Barrow – bass guitar
Jimmy Carl Black – vocals
Bob Harris – trumpet
David Logeman – drums
Ed Mann – percussion
Tommy Mars – keyboards, vocals
David Ocker – bass clarinet, clarinet
Mark Pinske – vocals
Motorhead Sherwood – tenor saxophone, vocals
Craig “Twister” Stewart – harmonica
Steve Vai – guitar
Denny Walley – vocals, slide guitar
Ray White – rhythm guitar, vocals
Ike Willis – rhythm guitar, vocals
Ahmet Zappa – vocals
Moon Unit Zappa – vocals
Production
Frank Zappa
Track list
1. Teenage Wind
2. Harder Than Your Husband
3. Doreen
4. Goblin Girl
5. Third Movement Of Sinister Footwear
6. Society Pages
7. I’m A Beautiful Guy
8. Beauty Knows No Pain
9. Charlie’s Enormous Mouth
10. Any Downers
11. Conehead
12. You Are What You Is
13. Mudd Club
14. Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
15. Dumb All Over
16. Heavenly Bank Account
17. Suicide Chump
18. Jumbo Go Away
19. If Only She Woulda
20. Drafter Again
