Frank Zappa - such a flawed visionary. A man seemingly so convinced of his own rightness that it's never clear how much of his humour is intended and how much is darker. This album, a recent online cheap purchase, is from 1975, the last one (apart from the Bongo Fury collaboration with Captain Beefheart) to credit The Mothers.
It feels like an era just before Zappa seemed to become bored and disillusioned with the music scene, and the satire isn't quite as cutting (cruel?) as in later work, but the musicianship is just as accomplished.
Opener, Inca Roads, dominates the first half of the album. Loosely lyrically based on the idea of ancient alien visitors, it becomes more mocking as the music becomes more complex with marimbas, synths and the obligatory Zappa guitar solo in a festival of jazz prog noodling. This track is No 100 on Prog Magazine's100 Greatest Prog Songs Of All Time. Leaving aside the "Is it prog?" question, it seems ludicrously low considering there's some right old crap ahead. Barclay James Harvest at No 38? Really?
Can't Afford No Shoes is a straightforward rocker, and none the worse for that, followed by Sofa No 1, a fantastic instrumental piece which found its way into the live set frequently within other songs. I'm not sure who the target of Po-Jama People is, but it's a decent extended song, the first Zappa lead vocal on the album. Florentine Pogen is quite catchy, but feels forced at times, and doesn't really go anywhere. Zappa's back on vocals again for the strange Evelyn The Modified Dog, very minimal, just FZ and a harpsichord, and blissfully short. San Ber'dino follows, another standard Zappa rock song with musical enhancements, which doesn't hold the attention for six minutes, while Andy, of a similar length blends a fusion of styles and holds together far more coherently for its variety. The album ends with Sofa No 2, a reprise of Sofa No 1, this time with lyrics in English and German, and it works as a closing track.
I'm torn on this one. It's a good album, with a few great moments, but it's not consistently great, particularly after such a fine start with Inca Roads. But there's plenty to enjoy and this wouldn't be an awful place for the Zappa curious to start.
3* - not a Zappa classic, but certainly worth a listen.
Comments