BABY SNAKES

This 'Baby Snakes' album is really a partial soundtrack of the DVD recording of the concert that this music comes from. Even though the concert is great, full of energy and great and hilarious music and other antics, and the music on this CD reflects that, the CD is not even 40 minutes long. Yeah, it's a good reflection of the concert, but you would be better off either getting the DVD, which is excellent, by the way, or getting the 2012 CD release which contains the music from the entire DVD. So, this CD is now pretty much obsolete, but collectors will still be interested in it.

So anyway, the CD is well produced and recorded, the music is great, but it is now pretty much obsolete. Also, the CD version has an Intro Rap which is not available on the LP version. The Intro Rap relives the story of how Warren Cuccurillo got to be introduced to FZ and eventually be part of the band. It segues right into 'Baby Snakes', which happens to be the exact same version as the one on the 'Shiek Yerbouti' album, just in an edited version. However, the 'Intro Rap' is not on the 'Shiek Yerbouti' album, so there you go. Confused yet?

Anyway, the antics and music continue on after this, reflecting a very enthusiastic and well done show, which is much better reflected in the DVD version. The CD does include the part of the devil played by Terry Bozzio in the hilarious adaptation of 'T*tties and Beer', the outstanding and nearly impossible to perform performance of 'Black Page #2' which is a song that was originally a drum solo that FZ rearranged for the full band, resulting in a manuscript page that was nearly black from all of the notes on it, hence the name, you also get to hear Adrian Belew (later from King Crimson) in action along with Patrick O'Hearn, Terry Bozzio, Peter Wolf and all of the other excellent band members. This is one of FZ's tightest band line-ups, which makes this performance that much more enjoyable and exciting to watch.

So, yes it's a good performance, but you would be better off getting the DVD or the newly reissued full performance on audio. This particular CD is obsolete and short, let alone the fact that it is only partial. So unfortunately, I can only give this one a rating for collectors only, but you should get yourself hooked up with one of the other available releases because this is an excellent performance, essential for any Zappa fan or anyone curious about his performances as it is a great example of Zappa in a live setting.