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 Frank Zappa
Classic Albums: Apostrophe/Over-Nite Sensation (Eagle Vision)
Widely recognised as being Frank Zappa’s most accessible albums, his sixteenth and seventeenth releases - beginning a run of classics which would also include One Size Fits All and Bongo Fury (with Captain Beefheart) – whilst being no less musically convoluted managed to tap into a fan base which Zappa successfully retained for the rest of his too short life. Due to the age of the albums there’s not as much of the Classic Albums standard strip ‘em back to their constituent parts approach (although offspring Dweezil does pop up to deconstruct sections) but there are numerous ex Mothers, including Steve Vai, Warren Cucurullo and ‘70s Zappa Stalwarts such as Ruth Underwood, George Duke, Bruce Fowler and Napoleon Murphy Brock plus more famous talking heads like Alice Cooper and Billy Bob Thornton, there is full involvement from the extended Zappa clan and plenty of archive footage of the man himself. The studio and live snippets are fascinating if occasionally a little frustrating (you do find yourself wishing someone had tied up the editor so the performances would run for longer). Bonus material includes a great live performance of ‘Montana’ from 1973 and a sadly truncated ‘I’m The Slime’ from Saturday Night Live in 1976.
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this DVD
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 Frank Zappa
The Dub Room Special
(Eagle Vision)
Initially released in 1982 this, hard to find, 90
minute documentary features recordings from two live shows, the vast
majority from a 1974 set featuring, for many long term fans, the holy
grail of Mothers line up’s, George Duke, Ruth Underwood, Chester Thompson,
Tom Fowler and Napolean Murphy Brock playing the hell out of classics like
'Cosmic Debris', 'Montana', 'Florentine Pogen', 'Stinkfoot' and 'Inca Roads'.
The remaining tracks are lifted from a more bloated, and in consequence
less spontaneous, 1981 line up (featuring, amongst numerous others, future
guitar virtuoso Steve Vai), but which still manage impressive versions of
'Cocaine Decisions' and 'Flakes', all of which is then cobbled together
in a video editing suite with some off the wall, sometimes funny, sometimes
illuminating, often embarrassing (Zappa, like Andy Warhol, loved nothing more
than standing back and letting people make arses of themselves), but typically
Zappa style interludes. Add a little Bruce Bickford clay animation – best
seen in another fine DVD release Baby Snakes – a short Valley Girl documentary
and the man himself, lugubrious, caustic, dry and desperately missed.
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this DVD
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 Zucchero
Live At The Royal Albert Hall
(Polydor)
What most people in the UK know about Zucchero
could easily be written in marker pen on the passing housefly, so
for the uninformed, Adelmo Fornaciari is an Italian musician (his
nickname Zucchero means Sugar), who has carved out something of a
career for himself in the blues field, also marrying old school R&B
with Italian pop to hugely popular effect not only in his homeland
but also throughout Europe. Indeed so popular is he amongst the world’s
muso fraternity this DVD boasts a ludicrously impressive list of guest
performers (Eric Clapton, Solomon Burke, Brian May, Cheb Mami, Luciano
Pavarotti and, erm, Ronan Keating amongst many others), and whilst he
may not be a household name in the UK he comfortably sold out this
showcase of quality grown up pop for an obviously rapt and enthusiastically
appreciative audience (aside from a teeth grindingly duff Dolores
O’Riordan appearance). Extras include a ‘behind the scenes’ feature,
a ‘making of the album’ feature, videos clips, photo’s, a hidden performance
(could we find it? could we buggery) and the more altruistic amongst you
will be pleased to learn that part of the proceeds from the DVD sales go
to the UN Refugee Society.
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this DVD
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