100% guitar solos. The Rosetta Stone for axe players. Everyone else will be illuminated by the blindly exquisite improvised compositions, mostly culled from live performances 1979-80. A 3-CD box set with artwork that recreates the original 3-LP package.
Backed by a host of different bands, Zappa makes his instrument express stuff more blasphemous than any mere words could convey. "Five-Five-Five" and "Hog Heaven" draw his most brutal and metallic tones; "Ship Ahoy" puts Zappa's distorto-funk shuffle over a cooking rhythm section. "Canarsie" lays Zappa's sinuous SG against bizarre rhythm passages featuring Warren Cucurullo's sitar. "Treacherous Cretins" finds him soloing over a reggae riff; "Variations on the Carlos Santana Secret Chord Progression" lives up to its title with the band aping a Latin percussive groove; "Beat It With Your Fist" is two minutes of maximum-velocity metal. But there's also some prettier moments here, like the reflective "Pink Napkins" and "Canard du Jour," an improvised duet with FZ on bouzouki and Jean-Luc Ponty on violin.
Originally released only by mail-order, SHUT UP became one of the more popular Zappa items and promoted a two-disc sequel, GUITAR.
