Personnel: Frank Zappa (vocals, guitar); Denny Walley (vocals, slide guitar); Motorhead Sherwood (vocals, baritone saxophone); Jimmy Carl Black (vocals, drums); Moon Unit Zappa, Ahmet Zappa (vocals); Steve Vai, Ike Willis, Ray White (guitar); David Ocker (clarinet, bass clarinet); Craig "Twister" Sherwood (harmonica); Bob Harris (trumpet); Tommy Mars (keyboards); Arthur Barrow (bass); David Logeman (drums); Ed Mann (percussion).

Composer: Frank Zappa.

Personnel: Frank Zappa (vocals, guitar); Bob Harris (vocals, soprano, trumpet, keyboards); Jim Sherwood (vocals, guitar, tenor saxophone, wind); Ike Willis, Ray White (vocals, guitar); Denny Walley (vocals, slide guitar); Motorhead Sherwood (vocals, tenor saxophone); Tommy Mars (vocals, keyboards); Jimmy Carl Black (vocals, drums, percussion); Ahmet, Moon, Ahmet Zappa, Mark Pinske, Moon Unit Zappa (vocals); Steve Vai (guitar, steel guitar); Craig Stewart (harmonica); David Ocker (clarinet, bass clarinet); David Logerman, Chad Wackerman (drums); Ed Mann , Vinnie Colaiuta (percussion).

Audio Remixer: Bob Stone.

Recording information: UMRK.

Photographer: John Livzey.

Unknown Contributor Roles: Santi Rubio; Frank Zappa; Arthur Barrow.

Arranger: Frank Zappa.

You Are What You Is was another of Frank Zappa's periodic post-Over-Nite Sensation efforts that concentrated on tight songwriting supported by satirical lyrics. Originally a two-record set featuring 20 songs, You Are What You Is skewered a variety of targets, from teenagers, punk rock, disco, and country music to the media, yuppies, the beauty-and-fitness industry, upper-class vice, religious hypocrisy, suicide, and the military draft -- all the trappings of Reagan-era America. Occasionally, Zappa's satirical points seem ill-thought-out, if not unnecessarily malicious; "Jumbo Go Away" is perhaps the most offensive song in Zappa's huge canon of potentially offensive songs, a tale of a whining, VD-riddled groupie who is portrayed as deserving the punch in the face she gets from an irritated musician. Despite that misstep, though, You Are What You Is is quite ambitious in scope and in general one of Zappa's most accessible later-period efforts; it's a showcase for his songwriting skills and his often acute satirical perspective, with less of the smutty humor that some listeners find off-putting. ~ Steve Huey

YOU ARE WHAT YOU IS was Zappa's first album to feature vocals since the 1979 classic JOE'S GARAGE. Perhaps to make up for lost time, a variety of vocalists are featured throughout--Ike Willis, Ray White, Frank's daughter Moon and son Ahmet, Jimmy Carl Black, and of course, Zappa himself. Also of note is that YOU ARE WHAT YOU IS marks the fist appearance on a Zappa record by future guitar hero Steve Vai (who would later reach rock star status via short stints in the David Lee Roth band and Whitesnake).

Like almost all of Zappa's other albums, YOU ARE WHAT YOU IS is a hodgepodge of different musical styles--country & western ("Harder Than Your Husband"), reggae ("Goblin Girl"), gospel ("Heavenly Bank Account"), and warped rock n' roll ("Dumb All Over"). Also included is the popular, funky title track (one of Zappa's few music videos), and a pair of tracks that show Zappa's sense of humor hadn't dulled during his year-long break from releasing records ("Teen-Age Wind" and "Conehead").