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Hot Rats is the second solo album by Frank Zappa. It was released in October 1969. Five of the six songs are instrumental (the song "Willie the Pimp" features a short vocal by Captain Beefheart). It was Zappa's first recording project after the dissolution of the original Mothers of Invention. In his original sleeve notes Zappa described the album as "a movie for your ears."
Because Hot Rats focuses on instrumental jazz-like compositions with extensive soloing, the music sounds very different than earlier Zappa albums which featured satirical vocal performances with extensive use of Musique concrete and editing. Multi-instrumentalist Ian Underwood is the only member of the Mothers to appear on the album and was the primary musical collaborator. Other featured musicians were Shuggie Otis on bass, drummers Aynsley Dunbar and John Guerin and electric violinists Don "Sugarcane" Harris and Jean-Luc Ponty.
This was the first Frank Zappa album recorded on 16-track equipment and one of the first of such recordings released. Machines with 16 individual tracks allow for much more flexibility in multi-tracking and overdubbing than the 4 and 8-track tape recorders that were standard in 1969. While Zappa was recording Hot Rats in Los Angeles, The Beatles were working on their Abbey Road album at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London, which was limited to 8-track technology. Hot Rats still stands out as one of Zappa's greatest musical and technological achievements and remains one of his most popular albums. In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album came #13 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".[1]



"Peaches en Regalia" – 3:37 
"Willie the Pimp" – 9:16
"Son of Mr. Green Genes" – 8:58
"Little Umbrellas" – 3:04
"The Gumbo Variations" – 16:55
"It Must Be a Camel" – 5:15