Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Prologue
2. Mammy Nuns
3. Harry and Rhonda
4. Galoot Up-Date
5. 'Torchum' Never Stops
6. That Evil Prince
7. You Are What You Is
8. Mudd Club
9. Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
10. Clowns on Velvet
11. Harry-As-A-Boy
12. He's So Gay
13. Massive Improve'lence
14. Artificial Rhonda

Disc 2:

1. Crab-Grass Baby
2. White Boy Troubles
3. No, Not Now
4. Briefcase Boogie
5. Brown Moses
6. Wistful Wit a Fist-Full
7. Drop Dead
8. Won Ton On

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #332118 in Music
• Released on: 2002-11-29
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Limited Edition, Import

Customer Reviews

Pure genius from those who have 'outgrown the ordinary'
This album is one of the strangest you will ever hear. A sort of 'musical comedy' filled with narration and spoken word that is crammed with inventiveness that is completely absent from today's freeze-dried culture. It is funny, obsene, bizarre, infantile and extraordinary! Beware of the temptation to listen only to the words; the music is exceptional. Zappa's immense genius is on full display. To many, his music is 'peculiar', but once you can begin to hear it for what it is, his music is a genuine joy. I have been listening to his music for over 15 years, and have never tired of it. While other musicians and composers tend to become "things I was into when I was younger...", Zappa endures. 'Thing Fish' is possibly his most obscure work, but it is one of my great favourites.

Five stars? Are you kidding?
Frank's weakest album by a country mile in my view. Poorly rehashed and remixed older tunes, mostly ruined by a cod-Uncle Tom voice from Ike Willis. This album broke my student wallet, and then my heart on first listen. I tried a few more times, but it was years before I summoned up the courage to buy other, so-called 'challenging' Zappa.

Thingfish takes the form of a mock Broadway play, and traduces old songs to make ham fisted comments about black stereotypes, Broadway, middle class America etc. All at the expense of listener enjoyment. The comedy is feeble, the satire lacks any insight, the mix is dreadful and Ike Willis's vocal mannerisms intensely grating. As Ike would have it, 'de Torchum Never Stop'.

There's so much wonderful FZ music out there' this is the grit in the oyster for me. Avoid big time.

You'll never hear another album like this ever
More a play than a musical. Extremely shocking but in parts funny. Great performances from Ike Willis, Terry and Dale Bozzio and Bob Harris. Fantastic use of wordplay and despite the obvious short comings, Thing-Fish should be staged. How about the Edinburgh Fringe?