Roxy The Movie[Blu-ray/CD Combo]

If you've never heard of Frank Zappa, but would like a "best of" album to lead you into his esthetic, the ROXY movie wouldn't be a bad choice. When Zappa and the Mothers recorded this film, in December of 1973, the world was witnessing what is arguably the pinnacle from the most iconoclastic, musically astute composer arising out of the 1960s rock upper echelon. After the original Mothers of Invention merged avant garde classical with satire music, jazz, blues, and psychedelia, Zappa the solo artist nose dived into his most musically sophisticated period, from HOT RATS right up to ONE SIZE FITS ALL. During that period, his experiments in several areas of music merged to produce the spectacular you see here. Some of the luminaries of the jazz scene, like George Duke on piano, combine with the Fowler brothers, Ruth Underwood on percussion, Chester Thompson on drums, Ralph Humphrey on drums, Napoleon Murphy Brock on lead vocals, sax and flute, and of course, Zappa on guitar, lead vocals and percussion. I won't cheapen the experience, by describing how wonderful the performance is. I've been listening to the ROXY album forever. Now, I feel like I was at the performance. I have Zappa in my collection that matches this performance, but little if anything surpasses it.Zappa has often cited this band as his favorite. The quote I remember, was he said he didn't understand why people had a "fetish" for the original Mothers, when this band was so much better. The ROXY band performs material from UNCLE MEAT, which I couldn't believe was being performed live. If you know that album, you realize how thick the overdubs were in many places, particular the dense percussion experiments. That music is performed live during the DOG MEAT section. It's a site to behold. Ruth playing crazy fast marimba parts, Chester and Ralph drumming these complicated patterns, with Zappa also drumming on the Timpani parts. This texture was always a favorite part of his Mother's material. Zappa's genius laid in his understanding of complicated rhythmic layers, and jazz modal melodies. Of course, George Duke amazes, as always. Then, you can watch Zappa's guitar solos, some of the best guitar ever played by humanity. This music is avante guard third stream jazz rock. With a Zappa comedy routine thrown in, for the teen scene. (The dance contest from BEBOP TANGO is the comedy routine, for this show.) So what parts of Zappa's catalogue will you see, and how does the movie fit with Zappa's other video releases?Of course, if you've seen A TOKEN OF HIS EXTREME, then you have an idea what to expect. However, the ROXY show adds in Ralph Humphrey on drums, and Bruce Fowler on Trombone. (And two more musicians make a world of difference, with the sonic texture and colors.) If you were to take the material from the TOKEN / KCET concert of August 27, 1974, and merge it with the ROXY movie from December 1973, you'd have almost all the songs from the ROXY AND ELSEWHERE album. ROXY the MOVIE has some new live versions to offer the ZAPPA devotee, like a reworked version of COSMIC DEBRIS, the amazing DOG/MEAT section, RDNZL, Zappa's TV commentary I"M THE SLIME, an excellent version of his jazz rock classic BIG SWIFTY from "Waka/Jawaka", and an in the studio film from the "Apostrophe" sessions. Even with the songs I know inside out from listening to the ROXY ELSEWHERE album, it still comes across brand new, from finally being able to watch the stage antics. It's been a forty year wait until the technology could evolve that could fix the synchronization issues from the original filming of the show. The only sadness I felt, came from thinking about the musicians I've known who were Zappa fans that passed away, before they were able to watch this movie in all its magnificence. The soundtrack to this film is easily among the very best Zappa music I've ever heard. This band was a 16 armed monster, truly ferocious in its power. A must own for any Zappa fan, or newbie wondering what all the fuss was about.

Forty plus years. That is how long it took to put this together. Few things are worth that kind of wait. This is one of them. If you are a Zappa fan, or a rock and roll fan, or a music fan in general and hold the live concert recording as exalted above all studio creations, then let me suggest a live album for you. "801 Live" is pretty much the band Roxy Music, minus its lead singer, Brian Ferry. It is tight, it is crisp, Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera are at top form, and you end the album thinking, "Man, that must have been a hell of a show to see."Speaking of Roxy Music, Frank Zappa and the Mothers' live album "Roxy and Elsewhere" is even more incredible. How incredible? I will argue that it was the best live unit ever assembled, and featured the late, great gift from God herself, George Duke; the incredibly talented master of mirth and music Napoleon Murphy Brock; the charming and musically lethal Ruth Underwood; the amazing Fowler brothers: Bruce on trombone, Walt on trumpets, and Tom on bass; and an amazing drum duet in the persons of Ralph Humphries and Chester Thompson. Album credits also include Don Preston and Jeff Simmons, who are no strangers to any Zappa-phile. The guy with the long hair and big nose is there too, playing guitar and jumping into the percussion area when he isn't too busy sitting down. This lineup is also featured on the "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Volume 2" which was recorded in Finland, and brings the complexity, soul, and utter joy of this unit as it slew that audience. By the late 1970s, the Mothers' lineup had changed, but the joy of the live performance went unbridled: add Adrian Belew and Terry Bozzio to a band and you cannot lose. And heck, I have to go back in time and mention Roy Estrada and the Flo and Eddie years - pure musical theater with a heavy emphasis on the music. The Mothers were a band that you wanted to see - not just hear.Let me get back to the point: I just got this DVD in the mail. Following a Halloween viewing of the 1994 film "Ed Wood," I eagerly turned the sound up on my "entertainment system," and awaited the revelation of this holy relic from the Zappa vaults. You just don't see this stuff anymore. As a fan of the "Dub Room Special," and of Bruce Bickford's stop-motion animation, I find that it distracts from what I want to see, which is the band. Why? Because each carefully-selected and intensively-rehearsed musician on Zappa's stage was a master of their instrument(s). This DVD gives you the music and no filler. Have you ever wanted to really get a good look at what two drummers look like when they play as a singular unit? You get that. You want to get a good gander at Ruth as she wears out marimbas and x-phones? You get that too. Do you miss George Duke? You get him in his glory, doing what we all love him for. Nappy and the Fowler Brothers? Well, Walt isn't on this DVD but Tom and Bruce are solid and the irrepressible Mr. Brock is always a joy to watch - switching from sax to flute to microphone and back again. You can easily see that the band was having a good time, the audience was having a good time (at least those who stood up for the Be Bop Tango), and YOU will have a good time too. Due to a camera screw-up with the audio synchronization, it took many years to re-create this show. The audio and video qualities display the meticulous hours it took to create this. Buy it. Buy two and give one to a total stranger. Buy three and tell people that you did! You get to watch a great band perform incredible feats - it is as visually stunning as it is musically stunning. Forty years. And I hear that there is a lot more film down there in the vaults - one could only imagine what is down there.

1973年12月のロキシーでのライブの映像作品で、フランク・ザッパ＆マザーズ名義。バンドのコンディションは極めて良く、非常に質の高い演奏が楽しめます。チェスター・トンプソンとラルフ・ハンフリーのツイン･ドラムにルース・アンダーウッドのパーカッション、ザッパ自身も途中で太鼓を叩いたりと、打楽器に高いウエイトを置いている点が特徴でしょうか？凄腕のミュージシャン達を自分の完全指揮下においているザッパもご満悦の様子。ザッパのバンドにおいては、各ミュージシャンが自分の個性を出すのは難しく、皆それぞれの短いソロ・タイムなどで目一杯自己主張する様子も見物。中でも一番異彩を放っているのはジョージ・デュークでしょう。この完全コントロール化でもきらりと光るプレイを随所で聴かせてくれます。お約束の、コンサート終盤で客をステージに上げての下品で世紀末的な馬鹿騒ぎも見所。リリースされたのは昨年の秋なのですが、カメラワークも悪くないし、映像もきれいだし、ザッパ存命中に日の目を見なかったのがちょっと不思議。ファンは必見です♪

Excelent dvd. The filming is not fantastic and Zappa wasn't very happy about it, but we must remember that we are talking about 1973. Technic was not so evolved as today. But it is a very good product and you can see in it that Frank Zappa was far more than a rock musiician. He was a vanguardist composer and conductor, using the tools of classic music, jazz, rock and opera, and it's impressive to note the extremely complex percussion work (two drummers, one fine percussionist, and sometimes Zappa himself helping). And how coud they do it live, on stage, that difficult and always changing music?! And the humour, of course, some between marx brothers and monty python. Buy it, what are you waiting for?

A friend of mine got me into Zappa's music about 20 years ago and since then I have picked up most of his catalog and his DVD's but I have really been waiting for a live Blu ray from this period of his career. The line up with Chester Thompson and Ruth Underwood I have always thought of as his most interesting period musicly. The Blu ray itself is excellent! A nice clean print, no more syncing issues and an excellent 5.1 mix. Now this brings me to the reason I am only giving it four stars, well there are two reasons. First the 5.1 mix is just regular Dolby Digital there are no HD audio options. Second is the fact that the accompany CD does not contain the whole show. However on the upside the main program is about 90 minutes long with an additional 20 minutes as a bonus which have also been given the 5.1 treatment. Even thou there are some issues, as mentioned, I love this Blu ray and it will get lots viewings. Now when is Baby Snakes coming out on Blu ray! Oh and how about an HD audio format for the next one

This cd+Blu-ray package is a must have for any Zappa fan. The performance is quirky and fun, exactly what you would expect from Zappa's spectacular line-up. The video restoration looks very good, especially if you compare it to the original edit of "Cheepnis" that Zappa did himself (you can find on youtube). There are a few extra performances on the special features menu as well and a little behind the scenes of recording with Zappa at the end.One thing that I should mention is that this isn't in traditional blu-ray packaging and rather in a Cd gatefold which threw me off a little. In the Amazon picture it looks to be a hard plastic case.5 stars for the cd/blu-ray package but 4 stars because of the misleading picture.

Probably one of the best if not the best Frank Zappa video