Frank Zappa
Sheik Yerbouti

THE REVIEW

The freak was no longer a youngster, that's for sure. His youthful years had been spent preparing ample portions of hot rats, to be served still steaming on the respectful table of the American community. Yet, the time passed had not weakened his determination in fulfilling his mission, which can be summarized in the following three points:

1) create music beyond genres, where the lessons of great contemporary musicians (Stravinsky, Varèse), jazz, hard rock, and rhythm'n'blues converged, yet be so original and complex as to not be attributed to any precise genre
2) produce an extraordinary number of records
3) piss off the previously mentioned community

To better fulfill his tasks, he had recently founded his own label, Zappa Records, which allowed him to release his 6-7 records a year without the zealous music business experts turning his balls into frappé with uplifting marketing strategy lessons. With this new label, in 1979, the sheik “shake your booty” was born, looking at you slyly from the album cover as if to say "yes, you moron, shake your booty with your shitty disco music, meanwhile I'll have a smoke and play a bit: see what you can do, listen to Dancin’ Fool and then reflect on how much of an idiot you are".

Because Francesco Vincenzo, as usual, doesn't spare anyone (not even his - apparently - clumsy keyboardist, who is elegantly invited to go back to his mother) and churns out an indispensable album. It's true that many previous albums are stylistically better than this one, but Sheik is essential; it's true that the orchestral suites of The Grand Wazoo are a work of art, but Sheik is mandatory; it's true that Over-nite sensation is a revolution, but Sheik is inevitable.
Sheik boasts the presence of Adrian Belew ("wow, but Adrian Belew of King Crimson???" yes dear, exactly him) and Terry Bozzio on drums; in Sheik, the quest for formalism is heightened in every track (almost all tracks are recorded live and then overdubbed in the studio) and nonetheless, the result is an album listenable from the very first listen.

But the real, dogmatic, and indisputable reason that makes Sheik a conditio sine qua non is that in this album Francesco Vincenzo passionately lashes out against the real scourge of today's society: the posers. Frank, with his impeccable sensitivity, stigmatizes and destroys the very concept of a poser, both in its male form ("Bobby Brown goes down") and female form ("Jewish Princess").
Darling, a world without posers is a better world. A world without posers is the Shangri-la where we can find the peace we so ardently crave. And finally free, I can be in you so intimately, and everything will be alright. In the background, Frank will play, because Frank is like me: we are not affluent posers, but we are so lovely.
And we have a big one.