BONGO FURY

One would think that an album pairing of Frank Zappa with his good friend Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) would be a work of brilliance. But on this album they appear to be together to have fun, not to create intense avant-garde art. The music on the album is primarily blues based. While there are some of those typical Zappa difficult to play flourishes, this is still one of his simpler albums. And a few of the songs, written to commemorate, ar make fun of, the United States bicentennial in 1976, are now very dated.

Nonetheless, this is a fun album. Beefheart's primary contribution, two bizarre pieces of poetry, are a riot. And Carolina Hard Core Ecstasy, along with Advance Romance are Zappa at his scatlological best. The closer, Muffin Man, became a favorite as a closer for Zappa's shows right through to the end.

If you are looking for pure Zappa or Beefheart, this isn't the place. But it is a good album.