BABY SNAKES

This is the soundtrack to a film of performances from the late 70's, and while it's a decent enough listen, it's nowhere near essential. The best performance on here is one of "Titties and Beer," which is a lot of fun but not terribly different from the rendition on Zappa in New York. The least interesting track on here is also from Zappa in New York, in the form of "Punky's Whips." Blah blah blah, "I ain't gay," blah blah blah. It does enter some cool jamming at the very end, but that's hardly enough to make up for the rest of the track.

Much of the rest of the album is also devoted to the smutty side of Frank's writing style. There are faithful renditions of "Jones Crusher" and "Disco Boy," and "Dinah Moe Hum" (which strangely sounds slightly better here than in the original; there's a stronger, less overtly porno cheese groove here than there) features Frank grabbing a guy from the audience and making him dance and lip synch while Frank performs. There's a quick runthrough of "Baby Snakes" (is this the exact same studio version as before?), a decent runthrough of "The Black Page #2," and ... crap, that's it, except for an "intro rap" at the beginning. Gosh this album is short.

Basically, this album is a nice little historical curio, but while I do enjoy it, it's not essential. Get it if you find it cheap, but don't expect anything from it that you can't already get elsewhere.