Product Details

• Actors: Frank Zappa, Ray White, Ike Willis, Bobby Martin, Allan Zavod
• Directors: Frank Zappa
• Writers: Frank Zappa
• Producers: Frank Zappa, Bob Hart, Cynthia Beiderman, Jill Silverthorne
• Format: PAL
• Language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Run Time: 57 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004CJ27

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Do This Better!, January 30, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Does Humor Belong in Music? Frank Zappa Live (DVD)

I'm happy that Zappa stuff is finally starting to get to DVD but disappointed by this one. Not only do they decide to put less than an hour of music from a "very long" show but then they cut into some of the songs and only have "snippets" of some of them. The cuts are done by going to two very short Zappa interview segments that would have been fabulous if presented in their entirety as bonus materials.

Don't the video masters of this show exist? Zappa was pretty good at saving things. Why not put the whole show on DVD or at least more than this sampling? My guess is that this video was meant, at the time, to be a "teaser" to get newer fans interested in Zappa's more accessible stuff and to promote the, very great, skills of his later live bands. Perhaps this is why that this is one of the first releases to DVD. If so, I was wrong to spend the money on it as I am a long LONG time fan of Zappa's who finds most of this material unchallenging and of limited interest.

It *is* great to see the band making the music and seeing Zappa being "into it" that night. I only got to attend one Zappa concert. It was the Zappa/Beefheart tour when it stopped in Cincinnati around 1976 (or about). He was just "phoning it in" that night and only played for 50 minutes.

The recording and video is well done for the time and the material is picked from songs that are MUCH better to see/hear performed live than to only listen to on CD. There is some good Zappa music on this however a main point that Zappa seems to want to get across is "musical chops are good" and he proves his point by having a number of tunes that have no real value other than the impressive skill that his band shows in performing them.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Journey of Guitar Based Humor Rock, January 23, 2004

By 

K. L. Woomer (San Antonio Texas) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Does Humor Belong in Music? Frank Zappa Live (DVD)

I used to have a roommate in college that had this in the VCR format. We used to watch it and just giggle and be amazed all at the same time. FZ was simply a brilliant composer and a grand band leader.

You can watch FZ play, conduct and simply sizzle through some of the really great songs from his career on this DVD. Songs like ZOOT ALLURES and TINSLETOWN REBELLION are done so well, and I must mention that the Allmand Brothers song WHIPPING POST is really done great by the band.

Needless to say, due to this being a DVD produced by EMI and not by the ZFT, it is most likley edited to someones taste within the INDUSTRY.. which never suited FZ anyway when he was alive... so why do him justice in his death???!!!

Great sound on the DVD. The sound was done correctly, so that much FZ can take delight in.

A couple of bad notes. There is a different lineup of songs on the CD version of this, and one of the songs that I would have liked included was LETS MOVE TO CLEVELAND as well as C@SUCK3RS B@LL. Also, the packaging is well, non existant. For a great release, there is nothing in the DVD case but the DVD. When you see how Gail Zappa and the ZFT has done the past two DVD's by FZ (Halloween and Baby Snakes -www.zappa.com-) you will not like the EMI no frills bare bones approach to this DVD. EMI should be ashamed releasing this to FZ fans in such a disrespectful way.. FZ fans are used to having a lot of things to look at and read with each release- I know, I have all of his releases.

However, buy it, and watch it and hope that Gail can get it and put it out without anything missing.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but somewhat uninspired, July 9, 2004

By 

D. Lynch "redanzl" (Boca Raton, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Does Humor Belong in Music? Frank Zappa Live (DVD)

I have mixed feelings about this DVD. I'm a huge Zappa fan, and I've seen him three times, including a show from this tour. I was really looking forward to seeing what I remembered to be a fantastic concert. One of the things that I enjoyed most about his concerts (and the one from this tour in particular) was when they played his more elaborate compositions. FZ conducted the band while we watched this wonderfully complex music being choreographed. It looked like organized chaos set to amazing music. It was truly memorable. I also relished Frank's searing and captivating solos.

For me, the problem with the DVD is that there's not enough of his virtuoso performances. Yeah, it's fun to see the band and hear the music, but it seems almost as if he's walking through some of the songs revue-style. He's always been humorous, but I don't remember him being so casually campy when I saw him. He practically ran through The Dangerous Kitchen and Tinseltown Rebellion.

On the other hand, there are some great solos on Cosmic Debris and Whipping Post, and of course, Zoot Allures. However, I remember many of his solos being much longer than we get to see here.

I'm not unhappy with the purchase, but I just don't think it's representative of Frank's best performances. I suspect that there's better stuff in the vaults. I just hope we see some more soon.