Customer Reviews

Chunga's Revenge

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

chunga's revenge is, by far, fz's most underrated album. many consider it just an average album from his early years but that's as far from the truth as one can get. it's only 40 minutes long. a very quick and easy listen that should be played over and over again. the album's highlights are the hard-rocking song "tell me you love me" and the commercially potential "sharleena" (there is a slower and smoother 11 minute version of sharleena on the lost episodes cd. many people consider that version superior. i don't. the 4 minute version here is the best.), "twenty small cigars" (a tune reminiscent to "little umbrellas" from "hot rats" ; it can easily be called "son of little umbrellas"). there's a gothic instrumental "transylvania boogie" that makes you feel like you're face-to-face with count dracula himself. a sex-oriented pop tune "would you go all the way?" asks the question to a naive female u.s.o. dancer. there's the union-bashing "rudy wants to buy yez a drink"...the definitive song to depict the attitudes and activities of union big shots nationwide. the instrumental head-banging "chunga's revenge" is a cross between hard-rock and international music from far away places. the album really has to be heard to be believed. one of the top 5 zappa albums ever! essential! don't listen to the others...what you've heard about chunga's revenge is wrong! it's great!

I like the way that "Transylvania Boogie" changes from one beat to another without skipping a beat. Not sure of the musical term for that but I'm sure there is one. You have to hear it to understand. Very cool.

IMO this isn't the best Zappa album in my collection, but it's good and I enjoy listening to it. My favorite still is "One Size Fits All" and "Roxy and Elsewhere" , maybe because those were basically my first exposure to Zappa. Wow, thirty years ago... The music has really held up over the years.

While this is not a particularly good FRANK ZAPPA album, it is still a very good album overall. I love Ian Underwood's solo in the title track, and then the music builds up for Frank's guitar solo. Also, "Rudy Wants to Buy Yez a Drink" is one of my all-time favorite Zappa songs. Catchy and beautiful.

There's a variety of material here, so I'll do something that I don't usually do - review song by song.

Transylvania Boogie - a cool guitar solo instrumental track. A hint of egyption music with boogie style and jazz/rock edge. 5/5

Road Ladies - a bluesy track with some great soloing a la Frank. I didn't like it much at first but trust me, it grows on you. 5/5

Twenty Small Cigars - a short, trippy jazzy instrumental. Recommended for when you feel like chilling out. 4/5

The Nancy And Mary Music - at 9 minutes it takes up almost a quarter of the album, which is a shame because it isn't really much good. This is not so much a song, but a group of musicians messing around and taking turns to make some noise. A waste of a track, because I thought it would be a cool jam. There are some OK moments, but they are few and far between. 2/5

Tell Me You Love Me - a short rocker with some cool guitar work. Not the best, could have done with being longer and having more soloing, but a good and enjoyable track nonetheless. 4/5

Would You Go All The Way - in a similar vien to Tell Me You Love Me, only without its groovy infectious riffs. 2.5/5

Chunga's Revenge - a cool, dark, mid-paced jam with Frank doing some cool soloing and Ian Underwood playing an electro-sax with a wah-wah peddle. Definately one of the better moments on the album. 4/5

The Clap - a short percussion solo. It's simple and sloppy, so the fact that Frank does it means nothing. It [is not good]. 1/5

Rudy Wants To Buy Yez A Drink - didn't like it much, I found it a bit boring. 2/5

Sharleena - a more moody track. A few listens and its fairly good. 3/5

I bought it after Hot Rats and was a bit disappointed. This is in a different vien to Hot Rats, despite being recorded and released within the same 12 months. This album is a little inconsistent, not just in quality but also in musical themes. I found Hot Rats to have a much more consistent theme to the music. However, if you like Frank and have an open mind, there's no reason not to try it. You may not like all the material here, but the good tracks certainly make up for the bad ones.

I just listened to Chunga's Revenge for the first time in about 30 years. I am more impressed now than ever before. If you've been thinking about adding a little Zappa to your collection and didn't know where to begin ... look no further. This is a super addition to your rock collection.

This is one of Frank's most curious albums. It is stuff from flo and eddie and also hot rats leftovers and also guitar solos and instrumental stuff. So its a bit uneven, you have some really great music alongside some fairly good songs. Let's look at the fairly good stuff ie flo and eddie. Tell me you love me is a good song but it was never up there with stuff like city of tiny lights. And you say the same for Rudy wants to buy you a drink and would ya go all the way? They are fun tunes but there is nothing magical really. Sharleena is a better song. However , i prefer the lost episodes version which has two incredible solos and different singers (frank and sugercane instead of flo and eddie). Road ladies is good too. It's a bluesy song with quite funny lyrics. We also have a drum thing by fz called the clap which is only of minor interest. Love the chinese blocks though! So far, 6 good enough tracks. Nancy and Mary music is a big long jam, which is terrific. Guitar , organ, vocal madness, sax. It might take a while to grow on you, but it should do. The hot rats leftover is a 2 minute tune called '20 small cigars', very nice tune. Worthy of hot rats i would have said!! Chunga's Revenge is awesome. A simple little melody, then bang! ian underwood whips it out. wah-wah saxophone solo of the highest quality. There is nice organ playing too. Frank gets to shine in his guitar solo, very melodic solo. That just leaves <sigh> Transylvania Boogie..what a guitar solo. Maybe Frank's best playing up to that point in his career. We have great playing, really fast. The guitar tone has never sounded better. Frank gives us the little transylvania tune, it sounds very exotic/vampirelike. He then goes off and..boogies. Awesome groovy playing. And it builds up to such a great climax..then it fades out. Worth the album price alone...i had to say it. In summary-a mixed bag of tricks. There's too much great stuff on it to dismiss it though!! Thank you

Frank Zappa's post-Mothers (Flo + Eddie) material is prim yet fun. The musical direction of Chunga's Revenge is wholly eclectic---swopping from Jazz to Blues to Rock n' Roll. As remembered for their raunchy ditties, Flo + Eddie assumes a more "genteel" attitude on songs like "Tell me You Love Me" "Would You Go All The Way" and "Sharleena". I good Zappa album to start with. Also check Flo and Eddie's more daring songs on Zappa's 200 Motels.

This cd is simply out of this world and perhaps my favorit Zappa album. It has everything from blues (road ladies) Mesmerizing melodies such as 12 cigars, fantastic guitar and wah-wah strumming on the tile track. Rock and roll brutality on tell me you love me. doo-wop styling onwould you go all the way?, satire in rudy wants to by yez a drink, and beautiful experimentaion on the Nancy and Mary music. It is metaphorically a kaleidoscope of colors from which to pick and choose. And way you look at this gem, it shines back at you. Grazie Signor Zappa, Molte Bene! P.S. DON'T ALWAYS LOOK AT THE STARS UNLESS ALOT OF REVIEWS EXISTS, SOMETIMES IT IS MORE IMPORTANT TO LOOK AT THE AMOUNT OF RECORDINGS SOLD.

A friend & I were flicking thru Rolling Stone & I said 'that guy's cool' & he said 'what would you know?' & lent me this lp. @ the time I was confused by how it was half instrumental & half vocal, which would faze me @ all now, in fact I witnessed someone in a shop trying Kind Of Blue & being surprised Miles Davis didn't sing. Anyway, this is a fine album, Transylvania Boogie is still mighty funky & I alwas was amused by Rudy, the last time I played the title track I thought the guitar sounded like a duck singing & that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think Flo & eddie did actually get better w/ Fillmore etc. The Clap isn't rubbish, it would be very useful for scratch DJs I think.

This is a CD that's all over the map--The Nancy and Mary Music and The Clap are garbage. The Flo and Eddie vocals are for the most part, great (not subject to the excesses that came later). However, why they used a slow rendition of Shaleena is beyond me; look for the version with Sugarcane Harris on vocals instead. Road Ladies always brings a smile to my face. The instrumentals are average--the title track stands out, but Transylvania Boogie is just a jam. No one could like this whole CD--it's just all over the map. It'll either be too pop for you, or too out there. Just take it for what it is, an OK record that was thrown together at the last minute.