Frank Zappa - Playground Psychotics

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Music reviews of Playground Psychotics

Music Review: The best band you probably heard in your life
Rating: 4 Stars

As previous reviewers indicated, "Playground" features a LOT of "anthropological road tapes". As many, I don't see much relevance into that, besides maybe 1st time interest. But if you bear with it, these 2 CDs also offer tons of excellent live music: different versions of known pieces from this same band, new versions of older pieces, an interesting and revealing fresh mix of the Lennon/Ono/Zappa gig (featured up to then only on Lennon's "Sometime in New-York City"), and new pieces, mostly strange and captivating instrumental improvs. Mini (!)-opera "Billy the Mountain" has Ian Underwood playing on a lovely clarinet what was the synth part of the then-known version, and its "Studebacker Hoch" section features one exciting jam with Bob Harris on electric piano. It is fascinating to behold, with this recording, how such an involving, long piece was presented to the audience so well rehearsed, but also that the band had so much flexibility as to add-lib in it, here and there, adapt bits of dialogues to the geographical context of the tour, in other words, to actually make the thing (and what a "thing": a bass-voice, mobile mountain married to a tree growing off of his shoulder and roaming through America with unspeakable intents!) live and breathe every night... Special mention should go here to the incredible Ainsley Dunbar, with his sense of humor built in an always exciting, passionate drumming style.

One might be less enthusiastic about some tempo variations tried here by Zappa on certain Mothers of Invention classics of the past. This is sometimes unfortunate because the versions would otherwise be very lively and exciting, in part because Kaylan, Volman (Flo & Eddie) and Pons are great at recreating/revamping the doo-wop vocal style that was a specialty of the 60s line-up of this group.

But those reserves aside, the whole thing is pure Wagnerian Vaudeville Supreme... What other band of then or now could claim coming even close to that with those chops and humor? So go ahead and make your day with Billy the Mountain and his friends!

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