The Quietus - A new rock music and pop culture website

Baker's Dozen

A Baker's Dozen: Steve Vai's 13 Favourite Albums Revealed
Mark Eglinton , July 31st, 2012 11:23

Porridge powered super Scot Mark Eglinton talks to compositional guitar virtuoso about his favourite albums of all time

Zap_1343739871_resize_460x400


Frank Zappa – One Size Fits All

It’s almost impossible for me to pick a particular favorite Frank Zappa record but when I was younger, this record was like an oasis. I had gone through this beautiful phase where I was introduced – by a friend of mine – to all the progressive rock music of the seventies – like Deep Purple, Queen, Jethro Tull and Emerson Lake and Palmer and it was all really great because it had distinct compositional elements to it. But when I heard Frank Zappa, it had something that nothing else had: it had comedy, it had these really long visceral solos, and the melodies were richer and more compositional than anything else that I was listening to. How could you compare ‘Inca Roads’ with anything else? So that record was one of those was one of those rare gifts in a person’s life that changes the quality of life forever.