In his long career, Frank Zappa probably put out too many albums, having mined most of his abundant talent by the late 1970s, but continuing to try to "freak out" America with pointlessly vulgar songs and political posturing, nearly until his passing. His heroes were heroes before their time, like the composer Edgard Varese, but Zappa, unexpectedly became rich and powerful enough during his own lifetime to do whatever he wanted, and found out he didn't really have that much to say, at least lyrically. Into the 90s, he worked with brilliant musicians, but in my opinion, they were at their best performing his older music.

BUT...

From about 1968 until somewhere around 1978, Zappa made a lot of great music. The comedy was a little more surreal than it was vulgar and it was carried by stronger tunes, and his tributes to the greasy music of his youth were played almost straight. But Zappa was at his best in the long-form, eclectic instrumental suites that combined Stravinsky-influenced classical, various strains of jazz and rock, and zany sounds that sound inspired by the soundtracks to classic Warner Brothers cartoons. Some of these pieces are built from fragments, while others are more unified compositions (like the fantastic big-band pieces on "The Grand Wazoo" and "Waka-Jawaka"). Like the Beatles and Brian Wilson, Zappa labored over these pieces, overdubbing dozens of instruments, speeding things up, slowing things down, careful to keep the rhythms and tonality straight. (Most of this period was pre-synthesizers.) His perfectionism pays off; they sound amazingly tight and they swing whenever they need to. They still sound fresh and fantastic now.

"Burnt Weeny Sandwich" includes one of the very best of these compositions, "Little House I Used to Live In." The brilliant woodwind/keyboard prodigy Ian Underwood opens the piece with a moody piano solo that could have been written by Arnold Schoenberg. Then some delightful, sped-up music leads into the centerpiece, an amazing electric violin section performed by Sugar Cane Harris, a veteran LA R&B musician. Starting out in a very bluesy mode, it evolves into a jazzy section that plays the fiddle against Mothers veteran Don Preston's piano. After a few more enjoyable fragments, and a superb Zappa guitar solo, it ends with a exciting snippet from a live concert in which Zappa solos on organ over a furious beat.

"Little House I Used to Live In" is as good as anything on the brilliant "Hot Rats," which came out around the same time (on which Zappa and Underwood play virtually all the instruments, and Sugar Cane Harris has another great moment on "Willie the Pimp."). If "Little House...," is comprised of outtakes and fragments, well, my hat's off. It works.

The rest of the album is great, too. He bookends it (the sandwich, I guess) with two highly enjoyable tributes to doo-wop, "WPLJ" and "Valerie," on both of which you can clearly hear Lowell George's vocal contributions. The remainder of the album is more in the realm of "Little House...", particularly a heavily overdubbed composition called "Holiday in Berlin" that appears in two incarnations.

I prefer "Burnt Weeny Sandwich" to the album that preceded it, "Uncle Meat." That album, which was the beginning of Zappa's hot streak as a composer, also features a great long instrumental, the jazzy "King Kong," a number of cool, funny little songs like "Dog Breath" and "The Air," and some instrumental fragments like "Pound for a Brown on the Bus" that his later bands would expand into full-fledged stage epics. But this one hangs together more.

If you like this, then move on to "Hot Rats," "Uncle Meat," "Grand Wazoo," "Waka-Jawaka," "Chunga's Revenge," "Weasels Ripped My Flesh," and "Live at the Fillmore East." Don't completely overlook his later work--there is good music hidden on various albums like "Zappa Live in New York," "One Size Fits All," "Sleep Dirt," and "Orchestral Favorites," "Make a Jazz Noise Here," and some of the compilations of live outtakes. But the success of stupid songs like 1974's "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" encouraged Zappa to feed his fans more of the same unfunny, vulger trash, which he then pretentiously defended as the essence of the First Amendment while attacking easy targets like Jimmy Swaggert and Tipper Gore. Oh well.

I recently bought "Burnt Weeny Sandwich" and have found it to be amazing.
The opener "WPLJ" is a cover version of a nice doo-wop song (see "...Ruben & The Jets"), complete with Roy Estrada on a Spanish spoeken word section. Other than that and the closer "Valarie" (another doo-wop cover), the entire album is instrumental. The ones that'll stay in your mind are "Overture To A Holiday In Berlin," "Holiday In Berlin, Full-Blown," and "Aybe Sea." The "Overture" features some nice dischords, especially in the sax solo (either it's double-tracked or doubled live), and the violin during the last section. It's not bad, it's just an interesting harmony. The Holiday itself repeats the main theme in a harmony, then features tenor sax taking the solo, but making it really smooth. The rest is just great. The rest of the album is a great representation of the original Mothers' variety of styles, and is just great. I highly reccommend this album for the Zappa fan, or the beginner to his music.

This is one of his earlier efforts (1969) and it is one of the best records that focus on zappa's incredible composition and his revolutionary guitar playing (not to mention the Mothers, everyone plays really well, like all zappa albums)If you only know Zappa for his more popular songs, like "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" This album is mostly instrumental, which is good for musicians, or classical and jazz fans. BEST SONGS: Theme From Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Holiday In Berlin, Full-Blown

Words can not truly describe the brilliance of this album. Not a bad track on the entire thing. The one track on here that truly shines is "The Little House I Use To Live In". It is such a beautiful song and when Sugar Can Harris starts playing the violin...sheer bliss.

Words cannot possibly express how much I love "Burnt Weeny Sandwich." I didn't like it at first, but my opinion of this album did a complete U-turn within just a few listens. "Burnt Weeny Sandwich," like a good portion of Zappa's material, is a much more engaging listening experience when you already know the album well, so you can anticipate every note and close your eyes when your favorite part comes along.
The cd opens with "WPLJ," a catchy doo-wop style tune that I just love. It was a stroke of genius to feature two guys speaking Spanish at the end of the song (You'll see what I mean when you hear it). "Aybe Sea" is another highlight. The overlapping guitars and piano are truly euphoric, not to mention the opening melody. At almost twenty minutes long, "The Little House I used to Live In" could be an album all its own. Sugarcane Harris's violin solo is absolutely amazing. My favorite song, however, is "Holiday in Berlin, Full Blown." This song exhilerates me in a way that no other song can. Frank Zappa is a genius for composing something so beautiful. You just have to hear it to know what I'm rambling about.
All in all, this album is a complete masterpiece. If you're in the right frame of mind, this album can take you places that you never knew existed. GET IT.