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Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention- Weasels Ripped My Flesh
Preconception: Zappa. Yeah, he does those weird songs with sometimes funny and subversive lyrics. Isn’t this his live album?
After listening: I have a headache and need to go home, please. To paraphrase our Mr. 40 and Futurama’s Fry, I see what he did there. I am just perplexed as to why he did what he did there.
Fav tracks: Directly from My Heart to You -Two Little Richard connections in one week of the record club? Wow. My favorite track is a cover, so feel free to skip to the bottom of the review, kids. Better yet, Listen to the original mit der linken, and then skip to the bottom of the review. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE3bYRLjVRo
Least fav: Toads of the Short Forest is math not music. The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue is nearly seven minutes of just plain mean.
Overall: Headache inducing annoying satire of bad avant guarde jazz or just bad avant guarde jazz? Does it matter? As Zappa was outspokenly anti-drug, perhaps this is a elaborate caper to fleece hallucinogen users of money they would normally have spend on shrooms. Perhaps it’s a practical joke he played on his band by indulging the pretensions of the soon-to-be-disbanded Mothers of Innovation? Maybe he’s straigh up serious. I have always thought Zappa’s clever songwriting was his strength, so I feel a live album of mostly instrumentals doesn’t showcase his talent.
Rating: 1.9. While Massive Attack was entirely too long sleepy and boring songs, WRMF is the same time spent chewing tin foil.
Extra Credit: Sheik Yerbouti- Frank Zappa
