I'm also with you on the early stuff being the best.
the 8 I'd recommend are:
Freak Out
Absolutely Free
Weasels Ripped My Flesh
Hot Rats
We're Only In It For The Money
Lumpy Gravy
Burnt Weenie Sandwich
The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life.
Admittedly, the last one is from 1988, but it's the first one I heard and the one that made me look out for more. The band on that recording are very very good and there's a few cheeky cover versions thrown in including Stairway To Heaven featuring a Ska tinged note for note version of Jimmy Pages guitar solo performed by a brass section and a very strange sample drenched medley of Sunshine Of Your Love and Purple Haze.
I recommend that album to anyone who like me doesn't really gel with Zappas later work. It should be bad, but it's really good.
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