FLEX-ABLE LEFTOVERS

I guess I'm dealing with a different song order than what's listed above, as I'm listening to the 25th Anniversary edition.

And of course, being Flex-Able Leftovers, these are (please forgive me) the supposed leftovers from Flex-Able (1984), and we gotst plenty of quirk and ZAPPA-isms herein (see below).

"You Didn't Break It" nearly broke me: just terrible. Then... saved(!) by the beautiful "Bledsoe Bluvd", the first of many Zappa-esque likely-Zappa-homages, perhaps most reminiscent of Vai's own "Salamanders In The Sun" of the aforementioned release. This is followed by "The Beast of Love", a low-energy, silly lounge tune (not unlike some early-80s FZ repertoire--replete with *snork(s)!*). The bizarre hilarity continues on "So Happy", a strange rambling about "never being sad" and eventually featuring Vai-penned guitar-transcription (I can't believe he continued with this insanity after getting out from under "the whip"...).

Continuing on, "Details at 10" is quite the early-Vai tune. I really actually like his voice; sorta forgot how decent he is in this department, ya know... for obvious reasons. It is most apparent on this track that Suzannah "Thana" Harris (wife of Bob) is the main female vocalist on the album; she is most famous as the (I think excellent) vocalist on Zappa's Sleep Dirt's 1991 overdubs for CD (my preferred version). She delivers a very nice fake news report about... some admittedly awful things (this bit sort of reminded me of "Greggery Peccary", not in theme, but in effect).

"Little Pieces of Seaweed" was... okay...

"Chronic Insomnia" was... a lot... Atonality, discordance, noise. Take that as you will... [Not so] Strangely enough, this made the very handsome "Natural Born Boy" all the more satisfying. Great riff, great melody and some of the greatest (straightest) playing that we've been offered on this journey. Welcomed, to say the least...

Regardless of when it was actually recorded (even if it was recorded yesterday--the recording for this ended in 1998, by the way), "Massacre" is insane. Just another proof, if we needed one, of Vai being one of the greats (love him or hate him). And speaking of... taste... "Fuck Yourself" is... uhhh... well performed?... I really disliked it. This moment(?) and this compilation was saved(?) by the very, again, Sleep Dirt-esque "X-Equalibrium Dance". That weird alien guitar tone that shimmers and wavers. Hard to explain if you don't know it.

For my closing thoughts, see my opening thoughts.

True Rate: 2.5/5.0

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