The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life

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

The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
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CD Details

Artist: Frank Zappa
Edition: Music CD
Format: Live, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1995-05-30
Music Label: Zappa Records
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Heavy Duty Judy
  2. Ring Of Fire
  3. Cosmik Debris
  4. Find Her Finer
  5. Who Needs The Peace Corps?
  6. I Left My Heart In San Francisco
  7. Zomby Woof
  8. Bolero
  9. Zoot Allures
  10. Mr. Green Genes
  11. Florentine Pogen
  12. Andy
  13. Inca Roads
  14. Sofa #1
Music CD 2
  1. Purple Haze
  2. Sunshine Of Your Love
  3. Let's Move To Cleveland
  4. When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
  5. 'Godfather Part II' Theme
  6. A Few Moments With Brother A. West
  7. The Torture Never Stops Part One
  8. Theme From 'Bonanza'
  9. Lonesome Cowboy Burt (Swaggart Version)
  10. The Torture Never Stops Part Two
  11. More Trouble Every Day (Swaggart Version)
  12. Penguin In Bondage (Swaggart Version)
  13. The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbeque
  14. Stairway To Heaven

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

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

The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life was the second of three albums documenting Zappa's '88 tour, which turned out to be his last. Zappa compiled an incredibly tight band -- for the first time in eons, a complete horn section, and a solid band with two rhythm guitars/vocals, bass, several men manning keys and synth, percussion and drums. The band rehearsed tirelessly for four months before launching into a tour in February 1988. Unfortunately, while this band played incredibly tight, infighting broke out between percussionist Ed Mann and bassist Scott Thunes. Zappa was outraged, and cancelled the tour in July, before audiences in the South, Midwest, and West of the US got a chance to hear the band. As the title suggests (not without a little venom), this album is dedicated to those would-be audiences. Most of this album material is, in fact, for the fans. Its full of novelty covers, and an array of Zappa oldies and other rarely heard gems. Material from the original Mothers and the beloved '74 band are present in particular.

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.

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Description of The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life

This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.
This double live set showcases the peerless calisthenics abilities of the 1988 Zappa big band on a collection of crowd-pleasing favorites, concert staples and cover songs. Zappa's crystalline Stratocaster sound (a far cry from the "squank" of the '70s) highlights some of the most lyrical and inspired solo guitar work of his life. Highlights include an adrenaline charged version of "Zomby Woof" a thoroughly rocking turn at Ravel's Bolero, and a horn arrangement of Jimmy Page's "Stairway to Heaven" guitar solo. --Andrew Boscardin

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