Customer Reviews

Frank Zappa - Baby Snakes

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Frank Zappa, New York, Halloween ...... Bozzio, Belew, Bickford ....... how many more reasons could a person need to desire this majorly non-boring round thing????

The DVD release of Baby Snakes is a cause for celebration, both for long time fans and novices who are just discovering FZ - for the latter in particular, who never got the chance to experience the Zappa performance spectacle.

At its core, Baby Snakes is a concert film, but it is also a keen insight into the man's creative mechanism, a free association style that embraced all manner of media in addition to music. A prime example is the generous screentime given to clay animator Bruce Bickford, with whom Zappa had worked with on a video project for PBS around 1975. Bickford creates erotic nightmares in clay and on film while Zappa prods him on in metaphorical abandon, the result complimented by jarring sound design created spontaneously by Zappa and his cohorts in the studio. We also witness FZ rehearsing his bandmates, creating on the spot extraveganzas with Roy Estrada and a gas mask, spying on the backstage cavortings of musicians and crewmates, possibly developing new theories and creative concepts from witnessing the bizarre goings on ......

Ultimately, in the course of its 2.75 hours' length, Baby Snakes evolves into a relentless live assault, a labor of love dedicated to the appreciative crowd of New York's finest crazy persons, who are also afforded ample screen time. We learn the History of the Poodle (God's 3rd mistake), witness a debut performance of "I Have Been In You", observe monster drummer Terry Ted Bozzio in a Speedo transform himself into the devil for the number "(Mammarian Protuberances) 'N' Beer", enjoy featured vocal performances by keyboardist Tommy Mars (Pound for a Brown), guest stunt guitarist Adrian Belew (City of Tiny Lites), and even FZ's bodyguard Big John Smothers (Muffin Man), witness the onstage flogging of unwitting audience members with a real leather whip ("This is Halloween, we don't **** around!!") and of course the recommended diet of Frank's own searing guitar work. A truly priceless moment in the film is Bozzio's drumming/vocal performance on the epic finale "Punky's Whips"; if only they gave Oscars for best supporting musical performance in a documentary.

As for the DVD package itself: It is presented as a case study of People Who Do Things That Are Not Normal, complete with file folder bearing the official seal of the Department of Entertainment Security containing typewritten documents, photographs, trade reviews and other critical evidence. The transfer effort is admirable, though the film does show its age in some sections, graininess and a true live mix (not the "enhanced" type that Zappa favored on many audio releases) which at times loses definition. That's rock 'n roll. Due to compression and encoding issues associated with DVD production, the actual volume level is fairly low; this can of course be resolved by cranking your receiver, but you better be riding the levels when you push that menu button! These are minor quibbles in light of this significant video chronicle of the man Frank Zappa, who wrote, produced, directed, scored (duh) and largely financed the original film into existence back in 1979.

The result the closest we've got to a legacy to a creative mind like few others .... watch him work, watch him play, listen as he has his say ("The important thing about this instrument is the way the air smells as it comes out of these holes"), see the Läther Band onstage, venting Warner Brothers rage ..... and don't forget to vote.

We will never forget you, Frank.

This is a movie for anyone who enjoys Zappa's music and essential if you never got to see the late great Frank live. I can do without some of the clay animation, which gets tedious after a while, but otherwise an essential concert film.
Now for the bad news. It appears that in the DVD authoring process, the front and rear channels got reversed. Therefore, if you listen to the DVD in 5.1 surround, while dialog and singing comes out of the center channel, it also comes from the back speakers. Front speakers have ambience, reverb and other rear channel information.
I wrote to the company that manufactured the disc after figuring out this defect that made portions of the movie unintelligible. The QC guy at Eagle Rock wrote me back and said, "There is nothing wrong with the disc. Please check to make sure your system is set up properly." I think that after 100+ other DVDs in my collection sound perfect(including the disc of setup/test tones), this one wouldn't stand out so much if there was nothing wrong.
If you have a DVD player with discrete outputs for the 5.1 signal, you can switch the cables and hear it properly. Otherwise you have to re-route wires and/or speakers. It was an excellent effort on Dweezil's part to convert this previously unheard mix to 5.1, and Frank's mix is fantastic when heard as it was meant to be, but sadly, this release is another example of how the Zappa estate has been falling short on preserving the beauty of Frank's music. FZ would have never let this happen when he was in charge. The stereo mix is fine, as there is less to mess up. Still essential, but flawed in its presentation.

There's no two ways about it, Frank Zappa is an acquired taste. For the casual viewer, Baby Snakes - clocking in at 2 hours & 45 minutes - may prove to be unendurable, but for Zappa fans it's not nearly long enough. Like an overstuffed avant-garde cannoli, its bursting with concert footage, backstage buffoonery, improvisational noise-making, nightmarish claymation and lots of audience participation. This is a unique document about a specific time & place - NYC in the late 70's - and the annual ritual that was Frank Zappa's Halloween shows. Seeing this film again for the first time since it played 24 hours a day in a Times Square theater and having attended a few Palladium shows during that same era, Baby Snakes sure brings back many fond memories. FZ was many things - composer, musician, critic & comedian - all of which are clearly displayed in Baby Snakes.

I saw this tour back in 1977 at Stanford University so it was great being able to relive some of those moments. This brought back great memories of the 70's and what it was like to attend concerts back then. The shows were more of an event then just a money making production like they are now. Watching some parts of the DVD actually brought tears to my eyes thinking back on how much fun we had back then. This is a great tribute to the 70's music scene. I saw Frank several times after this show but still think that this show was the most fun. I miss the 70's and early 80's music scene terribly but at least I was able to get back into the moment briefly by watching this outstanding DVD and relive the moment with my teens who wish they could have been around back in the day.

After WAY too many years of waiting, we are finally treated to the first Zappa film to be released on DVD in the US! Baby Snakes is a great choice to start with and would have been my first pick too. This is the long (~2.5 hours), unedited version with lots of live footage from the 1977 legendary Halloween show at the Palladium in NYC supplemented with backstage footage, claymation footage by Bruce Bickford and more. Even some historic moments make it to the film such as footage of future Zappa guitarist (but then a mere die-hard fan) Warren Cuccurullo backstage with Zappa praising Zappa to the camera. Later Zappa tells Warren that he'd be willing to audition him for the band.

Although I am happy this is now available, there are a few problems with the DVD that dropped my rating to a three from a five. First, there is no real decent bonus material on the DVD. We are offered only trailers, promos, etc.

Infinitely more importantly, the film transfer to DVD is just bad. There is no reason for a transfer like this considering the enormous advances made in this regard. The tools to do this job right are available. The Who's "The Kids Are Alright" is an excellent example of a wonderful, effective restoration and transfer. Unfortunately, the picture on the Baby Snakes DVD is really showing its age. It looks fuzzy, dirty and the colors are washed out. From the beginning titles we see dust and scratches on the film that leads to footage that is blurred and faded.

Overall, this is a brilliant film sadly presented via a hack print seemingly just thrown onto a DVD. This bad presentation is a disservice to the important, unique work of Zappa and only makes the film seem dated and cheap. The result will certainly be less effective at reviving the interest of old fans let alone drawing in new ones.

Despite this disappointment by the Zappa family, it's still a must have.

Having read all the other reviews, I'd like to focus on the aspect of FZ as an Artist. Because that's what's on display, and is one reason for the extended bit with Bruce Bickford, who I think Frank saw as the claymation-artist version of himself. Someone gives Frank a card, and it has a quote, "The modern-day composer refuses to die," which Frank says must have its proper attribution to Edgar Varese- Edgar Varese was a composer/artist. Watch Frank as he manages to interact with the audience, shake everyone's hand, and sing his lyrics flawlessly. Despite a couple of "Go ---- yourself"s, Frank shows a lot of sensitivity to his young audience. The girl Angel, who basically wants Frank's baby, tries to interject something when he lets her onstage- his response is hilarious: he looks at her as if to say "Are you crazy?" then says, "Sounds like fun," and shuts her up with a munchkin-voiced "Stop it!" The key word to describe FZ here is "masterful," he is in charge every moment. The bit onstage with the toy police car, with the fake trombone-playing, and with Roy E. and his faulty improv with the gas-mask, are all about Frank incorporating something new into his music, improvising, having the band follow his descriptive hand-gestures, only to roll it all up in a ball and throw it in Roy's face, to see what reaction it will get. Was he self-indulgent, egocentric? Sure. Confident and cocky? Absolutely. You can be taken in by it or put off by it. Is the "Poodle Lecture" really a philosophical statement of life on earth? Nah. But it's funny, and draws the audience into his surrealistic world. The blow up doll and the raunchy lyrics, are all part of FZ's assault on mainstream attitudes. In the '60's, he trashed the middle-class, but he trashed the hippies, too. So he was an iconoclast, too. We need more of them.

....then I might have been able to see this concert. Thank God it was taped, and I'm still able to somewhat experience what everone in the audience did on Halloween. Zappa was a showman for sure. Not only a musical genius, but his interaction with an audience is fantastic. He lets people come up on stage, sing, participate in his goofy improvised roleplays. He truly loved his fans and loved performing for them. How many artists do this now? This dvd is intended only for Zappa fans. It's long.....very long(I watched it in installments). To some, it would be 100% torture; I understand and respect that. I would feel the same watching a 3 hour Korn performance(or the Texas Chainsaw remake). Sure, all the footage may not be necessary, and you might be likely to skip some, but Zappa had a tendency to overdo things when it came to film(Uncle Meat was very long as well). If you're a Zappa fan though, try to see this once at least to get a glimpse of the man in action. If you're not a Zappa fan, there's no reason whatsoever to review this dvd and trash it(I wouldn't review a Korn dvd. What's the point? You're trying to preach to the fans!), so shut up. And remember, nobody likes you.

About the packaging of this DVD. Gail Zappa and the ZFT did a fantastic job. The whole Secret/Top Seceret type of theme, complete with the little envelope full of clippings from newspapers and articles from the show really spice up the otherwise fantastic DVD. This attention to detail is JUST the type of thing that FZ used to do when he issued his music. I used to read every little thing, all the comments... if you buy any of the You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore series CD's he comments on just about every song in the liner notes. Gail should be given a pat on the back just for the packaging alone.. FZ would be proud. (I have to note that EMI has just released DOES HUMOR BELONG IN MUSIC DVD-- and the packaging is non existant... just a DVD... without anything else... really crappy -see my review of that)

Now onto the DVD content:

There are some of the reviewers out there that for whatever reason didn't like the extra stuff on this DVD. I am NOT one of those. I totally enjoy Roy Estrada doing the silly things with the blow up doll... yes it was silly, strange and not normal.. but hey, wasn't that the theme of this whole film in the first place?

Anyone who coudn't enjoy the back to back greatness of FZ's guitar playing on this just doesn't really like FZ's playing... I enjoyed the claymation and the interviews that FZ had with Bickford as he explained the process of the plot... very entertaining.

In short, if you are also into the wierdness of FZ and those he associated with, then you will enjoy this movie.. if you are only into the music and the music's wierdness, then you may have parts that you do not like.

I however, enjoyed it all and really thought the parts that were not music was really fun to watch. Watching FZ orchestrate, by pointing to his band members, is just astonishing.

Terry Bozzio is just amazing... how he just pounded the drums with no mercy with as much authority as someone like a Bruford or Ehart.

Great stuff.

I basically agree with a lot of what theslime, the person who wrote the spotlight review, had to say. There are long segments of Baby Snakes that I regularly fast-forward. There is way too much backstage nonsense, only a tiny fraction of which is the least bit interesting. The animation is very stream of consciousness and I was bored with it at first but have grown to really appreciate what this guy was doing. However, what I want, and what everyone wants, and what Zappa should have known that everyone would want, is more concert footage! Get rid of the rest of it for all I care.

The footage that we do see and hear is extremely worthwhile. In fact, Baby Snakes might be the only legitamite release to contain any good live Zappa on film. Some of the tunes are not my favorite. I don't care about seeing a live version of Bobby Brown Goes Down or I Have Been in You. I would have liked to have heard more instrumentals. However, Baby Snakes is a long movie and there is plenty of great material as well as some charged performances by the young band (obviously having the time of their lives.) Some of my favorites include: City of Tiny Lights, Black Page #2, Punky's Whips (Bozzio's "Punky" is oscar-worthy), King Kong/Pound for a Brown (will Bozzio explode at the climax of his solo?), Black Napkins, Muffin Man, San Bernadino...There is plenty here to make up for the gratuitous filler.

This is the best live Zappa footage that I have seen and therefore it automatically gets the five stars.

I saw this film at its original release in NYC 1979. If you don't get Zappa, then shut up and go away. It's supposed to be silly and then hammer you with impossible music.
Maybe Brittany Spears or Madonna will have a DVD more suitable for the tastes of creatures like Stef.