Search - Frank Zappa :: Make a Jazz Noise Here

NOTHING COMPARES...

Dr. Michael J. Stuto | Middle Island, NY United States | 01/19/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is by far the most ambitious and amazing iconoclastic brilliance any and every living functional human and non-human could possibly ingest/digest... or be lucky enough to have been exposed to...even the roots of trees have heard this masterpiece and have died in awe of such ridiculous mastery. Not a person on this planet with 3/4 of a brain (anything less could not fathom what on earth this is about) would/could possibly give this anything but 5 stars. Flawless in every respect/aspect, from Thunes' amazing deep thunder, to Wackerman's insatiable rhythm/chops, Ike Willis' genius........... possibly the cure of cancer itself..."

Close but no cigar

Roon | California | 05/07/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I'm going to be a voice of dissent and say that this album is only fair.

There are some shining moments though that make this worth owning. Having grown up on Benny Goodman,Buddy Rich and Count Basie records,the horn arrangements seem rather tame here. For five horns,there is a surprising lack of harmony. My second beef is that this album never seems to hit a groove on any song for very long before frank decides to go into meltdown improvisation mode,with samples from the synclavier and squawking horn solos. These complaints aside,this band had a warm tone that the synth heavy'84 band lacked.

Highlights are a near perfect version of "cruisin for burgers" with a white hot solo by FZ and great use of the horns. Other gems include great versions of "Lumpy Gravy, Orange county lumber truck and Oh no"..New band member Mike Keneally perfectly plays the keyboard intro to an all too short "Eat that question" A Bartok,Stravinsky medley on disc 2 is worth the price of the discs. Oddly,instead of "Enchida's Arf" with a Chad solo,"Wash that thing" or "Village of the sun" from the roxy days, we get Stevies Spanking. Surely,Daniel Schorr singing Gershwin with the band would fit nicely here.(if rights could be obtained)Bassist Scott Thunes takes the instrument to another level,but drummer Chad Wackerman,whom I respect greatly and have seen blow the roof off a club with Allan Holdsworth,has a poor tone here and sounds reserved and afraid to swing. While this is a nice record to have,the real jazz noises came from the 1973-74 zappa line up, which may never be surpassed."