Well, I've found the time to do this week's recommendation, but as I'm rushing slightly there's no time for a full introduction or any major linkage this week. I can tell you that Index on Censorship is celebrating it's tenth anniversary though and yesterday's Guardian had a good article by Gore Vidal on perceptions of the US abroad.

Remember, if you want to submit a review or recommendation of any book you've read (I'd especially love reviews of Michael Moore's Stupid White Men and American Scream, the new biography of Bill Hicks, if anyone's read them) than please email me, or if you're a publisher wanting to send out freebie review copies then please contact me.

Anyway, here's this weeks recommendation:

The Real Frank Zappa Book by Frank Zappa and Peter Occhiogrosso

Firstly, an apology in advance in case any weirdness slips into this recommendation. To make the milieu right for writing this recommendation, I'm listening to Joe's Garage right now so if any of this stops making sense, it's probably just me, but there is the possibility that I have been influenced by the background.

When he died in 1993, Frank Zappa had spent almost thirty years as one of America and the world's leading cultural gadflies, annoying and offending almost everyone but also leaving behing a huge body of music in almost all genres as well as making an impression in other forms of culture and politics. Written around 1988 after he'd finished the Broadway The Hard Way tour, which would prove to be his last, The Real Frank Zappa Book is his attempt to produce a work of autobiography, set the record straight on various stories told about him as well as cataloguing his views on many issues.

Unlike many supposed autobiographies, Zappa is honest from the start that he hasn't actually written this book alone, instead supplying documents and hours of taped interviews and thoughts to Peter Occhiogrosso. As Zappa says in the introduction 'I think it is good that books still exist, but they make me sleepy.' It actually produces a much more interesting work than most celebrity (auto)biographies as it can jump around from subject to subject, interspersing biography and opinion throughout the book but not staying in any one place long enough for it to get boring. Kind of like a Zappa album, really.

This approach means that there's probably something of interest for everyone in this book. The story of Zappa's life is interesting enough in itself from his youth following his Dad's various jobs all around the country then ending up in Southern California and eventually forming the Mothers of Invention around 1965 and then travelling all over the US and the world composing, recording and performing while managing to fit in the odd bit of political activism along the way. On top of that there are all the various stories of life on the road with a touring rock band, what it's like (and what it costs) to be a professional composer, including a very interesting section on the anthropology of orchestras and a fair bit of political opinion and biography, especially his dealings with the PMRC and other groups seeking to censor music in the 80s.

One thing that the world missed with Zappa's early death was the chance for him to expound his political views on a wider stage. His music had always had political overtones, right back to 'Trouble Every Day' on the Mothers' debut album Freak Out!, but in the 80s he became more involved in active politics, spurred by the rise of Reagan and the Christian Right and the general incursions on artistic freedom in the name of 'decency' that the 60s and 70s seemed to have put paid to. He identifies himself as a 'Practical Conservative' but one who detested the Republicans more than the Democrats with views that do come close to what readers of this will recognise as Bartcop-ism. In one section of the book, he analyses the proposals for Reagan's Star Wars scheme with arguments that are just as relevant to Bush's NMD proposals today. I'm sure if Zappa had lived, he's have run for President some day. Even if he hadn't have won the election, it would still have been damn fun to watch.

If you've never heard any of Zappa's music and want to find out just what I'm talking about, then my recommendations would be to listen to either Freak Out!, Joe's Garage or Broadway The Hard Way, though as there are well over a hundred albums out there, someone else will no doubt give you a different recommendation. Still there's something for everyone in his back catalogue. Broadway The Hard Way is an especially good demolition of the Christian Right, especially the classic closing track 'Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk'.

That's it for another week. Yet again, pressures of work and being involved in campaigns for the local elections here next week mean I might not be able to do a recommendation next week. If you are reading this in Britain, then don't forget to go out and vote on Thursday.

Nick