Frank Zappa - Classic Albums: Apostrophe/Over-nite Sensation (DVD)

As the Zappa faithful wait for the Roxy to drop, we’re treated to much more irrevelant material, such as the latest in this line of weird documentaries about great albums. Like I expected the lion’s share of this is more of a general Zappa bio, with many of his old musicians and most of his family being interviewed, so it was fortunate that this is one of Frank’s really great periods, even while music clip after clip segued into an interview segment just about the time Zappa’s about to cut loose on geetar. I don’t really know why Billy Bob Thornton is here, it’s great he’s a fan but, I dunno was Matt Groening not available? Dweezil’s moments talking about the multi-track masters were quite interesting although most of the time his eyes were glazing over with such admiration. Watching Ruth Underwood pick up the marimba again (she says first time in ten years or so) was fantastic and there are a few other anecdotes that made it possible to finish it out with too much trouble, but overall it was kind of average and about what you’d expect. Watching the Roxy trailer on youtube right after was far more impressive. When, oh, when?

Premiata Forneria Marconi - Auditorio RSI, Lugano, Switzerland 9/12/01 (Lugano Tapes DVD #101)

This is a pro shot recording of a somewhat recent full concert of the venerable Italian progressive rock band, but to discuss it means to go back to the late 70s or 80s when the band seemed to take on a split personality, in an ironically similar direction to the one Genesis took when Phil Collins took over the band. In fact the title track of Suonare, Suonare finishes this concert and that’s approximately the time period when the band started performing pop music of a very different kind to the majority of their 70s output which ran the gamut from some of the best symphonic progressive rock on the planet to jams and jazz-rock. Over 20 years later and they still seem the hybrid despite having three original members and long running bassist Patrick Djivas in the fold, fronting a slightly larger band. And like Phil Collins when running out to front the band, a second drummer steps in to take Franz di Cioccio’s place when the original runs out to helm the pop stuff and while watching this with company, there was not a number in this category that didn’t necessitate a skip forward on the remote button, it’s music far and away from what I like, let alone the band’s original music itself. But when PFM step up and do the old classics they’re practically flawless, driving them forward with a surprising energy for the band’s longevity, not misssing a single element of the intricacy and craft that made so much of their early work memorable. The band nails La Carroza di Hans, River of Life, Impressioni de Settembre and others, and all these moments are really as good as you could hope for this late in the game. But as soon as Di Cioccio comes running out again you know it’s time for the fast forward. A reauthored version of this with all the good stuff would make something of a classic disk, but with the rest it hits somewhere in the middle.

Chicago - Budokan, Tokyo 6/8/72 (DVD)

On this unofficial DVD lies some of the best electric guitar playing I’ve ever witnessed over the years by one of rock’s most criminally underrated musicians. I so hate using the words underrated and overrated, but in this case the former is fully deserved, this is a man that should have dominated the guitar zines (and like several other musicians of the time, he - apparently - had the Hendrix stamp of approval). On so many occasions during this footage he lets loose like he was hit by lightning, as virtuoso as any of your guitar heroes, but with about 10 times more soul. A few months back I wrote about some 73 and 74 recordings in which Terry Kath was practically absent during the air time, just a year or two earlier he was the main act and with good reason. I’d actually had a version of this a while back that seemed much shorter, after about 30-40m or so there’s a big quality step down, but a whole lot more footage, padding this out to about 90m. All through it this is a band on fire, after all this was a group that released three double albums and a quadruple live album as their first four, all while touring almost the entire several years of their career. No matter how hard they fell later musically (they also went on to great financial success), for a while they were probably one of the world’s greatest rock groups and this, arguably, was their peak. It really doesn’t get any better than this.