FRANK ZAPPA — Roxy & Elsewhere (as Zappa/Mothers) (review)

FRANK ZAPPA — Roxy & Elsewhere (as Zappa/Mothers) album cover Live album · 1974 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Warthur
A substantial improvement over Zappa's two prior live album releases (Fillmore East and Just Another Band from L.A., both recorded with the tepid Flo and Eddie lineup), Roxy and Elsewhere captures the legendary mid-1970s version of the Mothers of Invention in fine form. The comedic and theatrical elements to the live show are still present - as witnessed by a skit in which Jeff Simmons tries to convince Napoleon Murphy Brock to smoke his high school diploma - but unlike in earlier live releases the top-notch musicianship isn't scaled back to make room for the comedy. Compositions such as Don't You Ever Wash That Thing feature exceptional solos from many of the band members, and overall the quality of the music is extremely high. Zappa's wit is in full flow too - the scatological and sexual preoccupations which sometimes derailed his lyrics are kept tied down here (literally - as on Penguin In Bondage), and Cheepnis is probably the best pre-Mystery Science Theater 3000 tribute to the joy of watching a really *bad* monster movie (and goes some way to explaining why so many of the MST3K crew were Zappa fans, and why Zappa was an MST3K fan...).

I can't give it full marks because the album does bog down towards the end; the two "Elsewhere" tracks, slowed-down and inferior renditions of 60s-era material (Son of Orange County and More Trouble Every Day) are just not as interesting as the rest of material, and The Bebop Tango might have been an entertaining skit to watch live, but doesn't really translate well to audio. Still, it must have been a relief back in the 1970s to finally have a Frank Zappa live album of as high a standard as this, and the first two-and-a-bit sides of the album are five-star performances if I've ever heard them.

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

About (or On)First Visit Avant-Garde Jazz
ELLERY ESKELIN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Noah Kaplan Quartet : Out Of The Hole Avant-Garde Jazz
NOAH KAPLAN
Buy this album from MMA partners
To Walk On Eggshells Avant-Garde Jazz
RUSS JOHNSON
Buy this album from MMA partners
Snakeoil : Snakeoil Ok Avant-Garde Jazz
TIM BERNE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Poetry of Place (from the exhibit by painter Karen Allen) Jazz Related Improv/Composition
CHRIS DINGMAN
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio Dream a Dream
SATOKO FUJII
js· 1 day ago
Wojciech Jachna Squad - Ad Astra (Promo Teaser)
WOJCIECH JACHNA
snobb· 4 days ago
Nitty Gritty
RUSS SPIEGEL
js· 4 days ago
Never in a 100.000.000 Dreams
SUPERSISTER
js· 5 days ago
Love is a Fire that Burns Unseen
PETER MADSEN
js· 5 days ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed