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frank zappa baby snakes | Year: 1979 Classification: Music Video - Pop/Rock Self-indulgent anyone? Having seen large chunks of baby snakes before, namely the concert footage, i was looking forward to seeing the beast in its totality. And let's face it, the concert footage is the only reason to keep this dvd, because the rest is boring boring boring. All that Ms Pinky crapola, and the gas mask nonsense, and in fact any parts with the afro-wielding roy estrada, are serious fast forward contenders. Then you have the wonderful Mr. Bickford with his amazing claymation creations. It's great animation but utterly directionless. It gets old real quickly. Some highlights include Frank's soloing on black napkins muffin man and punk'y whip. The last hour of gig material is the cream of the dvd. Some parts of the concert are a bit tedious, like the poodle lecture, roy estrada, and some of the lyrics based songs like dinahmoe humm and disco boy. We do get to see some of the fans. And some of them are a bit worrying. Especially that girl Angel, who clings onto Frank for sizeable chunks of the film. Scary. A few words about the band. Excellent musicians one and all. But I found most of them annoying in the back stage tomfoolery. Terry Bozzio hams it up a lot, making funny faces and talking crap. adrian belew plays to the camera a bit too, and tommy mars. We don't see very much of Ed Mann and Peter Wolf, so we give them the benefit of the doubt. Patrick o hearn likewise. Roy Estrada however.... So if i had to change some things about baby snakes: Picture quality-average. But let's face it. This dvd is essential. It is by FRank Zappa. (unless you're lukewarm about him, in which case-avoid!!) The Real Frank Zappa Movie 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 crank 5 stars by default 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. Buy Frank Zappa Baby Snakes at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Frank Zappa Baby Snakes Search with the Priority Search Engine on Frank Zappa Baby Snakes This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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