Yeah, I'd reccomend this.
First up is the album's best-known tune, Peaches En Regallia. Very enjoyable, solid, brilliant, etc...and not even the best song here. That goes to the sleazefest Willie the Pimp. Listen, and listen loud, especially during the seven-minute guitar solo. Jimi Hendrix can't touch that.
The next two tunes (Son of Mr. Green Genes, Little Umbrellas) are good, but don't match the standards that the first two set. But the seventeen-minute Gumbo Variations does, quite well. I mean, how can you not like a song like this? The only weak track is the closer, It Must Be a Camel. The beginning is nearly unlistenable, and the rest isn't much better.
If you don't have this, you don't know what you're missing.

i started with the CD version from ryko. i liked it a lot. then, in a massive vinyl score, i discovered a first pressing of this vinyl, popped it on, and was blown away! the whole thing is different! i really like the vinyl version of "willie the pimp" even with frank's SG fading in and out while the captain is still "spinging" (that i think, is speaking and singing)

ok no more digression. peaches en regalia, as many have said, is quite catchy. i always imagined the sitcom based on my life would feature peaches as my opening tune. then again i was 10 when i made that decision, so what can i say? i saw a betamax copy of "peaches" as performed on SNL in '76 i think, and it was one of the songs that got me exploring zappa. again and again i try to whistle it complete, but fail. need to tone up those buccinators.

i love willie the pimp. captain beefheart is a madman with a four-and-a-half octave vocal range. what a blast listening to this song is, it has a gritty, dirty edge to it, punctuated by frank's screaming SG weaving in and out like a drunk through traffic. it seems that the audio mix featured every tweak available at the time, 16 tracks, flangers, phasers, the LP version runs the gamut as far as classic audio manipulation is concerned. frank was borderline obsessive in the studio, and it shows, even after 35 years, this vinyl sounds better than most DDA or DDD recordings made today.
son of mr. green genes is somehow about lumpy branham, the guy who played mr. green jeans on "captain kangaroo". this track is a monstrous instrumental, and was a staple of the mother's performance before it was recorded. i heard frank describe it at a show in paris in 1968. he said some pretty awful things about mr. green jeans, and then relates it to american mothers and fathers' ineptitude in the job and home. awwww, frank! i think he knew full well what all this 60's counterculture was breeding. a bunch of baby boomin', reagan era, overpriveleged, flashback having ex hippies. ha!

this whole album stands out as the rosetta stone of zappa recordings. minimal, yet full with sound, simple, yet replete with nuance. classic rock as a whole took some valuable cues from mr. zappa. i insist that those interested in straightforward rock music that will kick your arse and curl your toes and have you giddy, sitting in the sweet spot in front of the hifi watching a blessed piece of vinyl spin 'round, should check this out! give one to your child, your brother, your cousin, play it for gramma, rock it in the car, tell your friends.

viva la zappa!

A gem. This is Zappa that can be enjoyed by people who don't "get" Zappa. It's musical, it kicks, it's fun, at times it's even beautiful (Little Umbrellas, Son Of Mr. Green Genes). Zappa, a true genius by any yardstick, was famous for his bizarre musical theatre which mixed orchestral, rock, and jazz with "anti-music", sound effects, and assorted snippets of irreverance. He is justifiably criticized for being a shameless misogynist with a sophomoric sense of humor. But his musical vision was always fearlessly original and even at its worst, interesting. This was the first album where he forgot about being clever, plugged in the axe, and wore it out. Fantastic supporting cast as well, with the exception of Captain Beefheart whose additions are always unwelcome. Zappa did re-jigger the masters (an annnoying habit of his) but fortunately no major damage was done. Arguably Zappa's best effort, with the possible exception of Only In It For The Money.