Frank Zappa - The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life

Our Price: $47.00
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $27.49 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details

CD Details

Music reviews of The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life

Music Review: Novelty Covers and Guitar Work
Rating: 4 Stars

Disc one begins, after a blistering solo by Frank in HEAVY DUTY JUDY, with a reggae rendition of Johnny Cash's RING OF FIRE, done because, as FZ explains, Cash cancelled his appearance on stage at the last minute. A run through of ZOMBIE WOOF that collides rather strangely with a cover of Ravel's BOLERO is rather interesting. (NOTE: European and Japanese editions don't contain BOLERO because of regional copyright laws). The highlight of the first disc, however, is a rather mellow (and, as always, beautiful) 7 minute rendition of ZOOT ALLURES. This is followed by the revisiting of the melodic MR.GREEN GENES. Although its one of my favorite FZ songs, this cover does nothing new with it. FLORENTINE POGEN, on the other hand, serves here as a vehicle for an aggressive FZ solo. Even better is the impossible and inexplicably brilliant ANDY, my favorite track on One Size Fits All that, perhaps because of its difficulty, was rarely played live. Thunes attempts to replicate Tom Fowler's incredible bass line on the original, but it lacks the flare (and definitely the tone) of Fowler. Frank grinds out a solo. It concludes with INCA ROADS and SOFA -- neither the best versions available of these songs, but its nice to hear them again.

The second disc begins with short covers of Hendrix and Cream numbers, done in soundcheck and more tongue-in-cheek than anything. They flow into an energetic LETS MOVE TO CLEVELAND. The BROTHER A. WEST track is Zappa providing the audience with a right-wing evangelist to "add some balance." West goes off on the "demon-possessed" Zappa while the audience is in an uproar. The linear notes say nothing, but this was actually a friend of Zappa's, not really a preacher. The running joke on the album is about Jim Swaggart getting caught with a prostitute, hence the number of "Swaggart" versions on this album. Zappa fills these out with some fantastic guitar work -- another version of THE TORTURE NEVER STOPS (as many times as its appeared on an FZ album, it seemed like it really never would stop) is actually worthwhile, and probably the best version out there. Zappa breaks into a lengthy killer solo. My favorite track on the album is an unlikely version of one of my all-time favorite FZ songs, the ERIC DOLPHY MEMORIAL BARBECUE. The STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN finish is hilarious -- you're getting ready for FZ to launch into a solo to blow Page's away, when the horn section jumps in and replicates Page's solo almost note for note.

This album doesn't represent the best of the '88 band -- the incredible Make a Jazz Noise Here album gets the title. But this album, a little funner then MaJNH, is still a great piece. If it doesn't showcase the more musically astonishing aspects of Zappa, it features some great guitarwork, some good humor, and some interesting selections of material.

Description of The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life

Alternative Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Classic Rock
• Hard Rock & Metal
• Jazz
• Miscellaneous
• Pop
• Rock