Man, where do I begin?
The term "Behemoth" would be applicable to this monstrosity. Yes, it's long. Very long.
Baby Snakes is the perfect exemplar of his 4th band's power, yet it drags along with pointless moments that seem to take forever to end. First, let me address to Roy Estrada problem. Who is Roy Estrada you might ask? Answer: You don't want to know, you really, really don't want to know.
Ok, I'll give it a shot. Roy Estrada is some really weird dude who somehow conveniently, almost by divine providence was in the Mothers before Zappa joined. If you can believe this. That Zappa would stumble upon an already freaky band before defiguring it into the Mother(fuckers) seems almost inconceivable. It truly was an act of some rock and roll deity. I don't believe these deities have been too kind to us as of late, but anywhoo.
Yes, Roy Estrada was some really weird guy. Weird and achingly disturbing. For instance, on the cover of "We're Only In It For the Money" he's dressed in a yellow lace moomoo staring at the freak who just bought the album with some emotionally ambiguous expression, pouting his lips into a thin, straight watchamacallit while staring with his eyebrows lowered like some angry hawk...I don't know. I can't describe superhuman emotions. ...and that's what this guy is. Anyone who can conjure up performances as Roy does is something more than human in my book.
But lets look at the movie. It starts off well and then we find out that the first third of the three hour epic is an artsy collage of weirdness. Bruce Bickfords disturbing animation, Zappa being a jerk, and some music. Enter Estrada. Yes, this is where the man makes his stamp on the film. Out of the various footage are scenes recorded back stage with the band fooling around. One of the most scarring of these backstage freak outs are a series of weird performances by Estrada...and a blow up doll. Of course Zappa needs to incorporate conceptual continuity. So what do we get? Roy Estrada molesting a blow up doll in all too many inconceivably dark ways with a (sexually aroused) gas mask. Fit with his usual demented singing, shouting, and dare I say it... phony vomiting, you'll be asking yourself if this is Zappa's artistic masterpiece or a high school film made by teenage Zappa and his classmates. Actually it's a bit of both. Terry Bozzio entertains by making allusions to his prettiness (which he really is), telling the camera that Zappa's bodyguard Smothers wants to rape him. Etc, etc. The real music doesn't actually really take off ti'll the first hour mark. It starts off slow with a few highlights. Adrian Belew is of particular note with his great acting, humor, and singing. He would later take much of the style he developed here and develop it with Crimson pieces like "Indiscipline".
The highlight of the film, bar none, unsurprisingly feature Bozzio. Man can that guy drum, and sing, and melt our eyes away. With "Titties and Beer" he thrashes through the performance of the Devil, making great theater and hard hitting rock and roll. However nothing can prepare the viewer for the assault of "Punky's Whips". Oh man, I've really gotten to the good stuff. To put this performace simply: it rocks, it has soars, and it's sexy as all hell. Forget Led Zeppelin, the Zappa concerts are where the action is! Ok, I'll give details. Essentially this is a song about Terry's lust for a boy, yes I said boy, named Punky Meadows from a glam band Angel. This is why this song rules. You've got an already pretty "Angelic" drummer, who can pound his drums like an animal and can sing like the devil, singing about another angelic boy, with the most erotic lyrics Zappa has ever written. Can anyone see how this is unusual? This is Zappa! The freak master of ugly music and ugly people! What are we getting here? A musical peep show with "ugly" Zappa on guitar and providing the lyrics. To boost, the performance is killer! This among the best rock performances I've heard or seen since Led Zeppelin's Albert Hall concert. No note is wasted and every note is indulged with rabid homo erotic lust. That's the thing. This is a song that above any other, truly and majestically celebrates gay lust, and it's still satire/parody, but nowhere does Zappa snear at the concepts presented here. It's almost as if he wanted to have a little gay moment. This duality of parody and celebration of homo eroticism, coupled with the overall killer performance of the piece is what makes this song great. Watch the end however, Bozzio gives the viewers a surprise. (Yes, when I said this was a peep show, I really, honest to God meant it.)
And that pretty much sums the film up. It quickly ends after that number.
Watch it if only for Punky's Whips. Oh, and Zappa totally lets loose on that one.
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