Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention In The
1960’s (MVD DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Main Program: B
Many Frank
Zappa titles have already arrived on DVD, but of the documentary types, Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention
In The 1960’s just edges out the Classic
Albums installment that included coverage of Over-Nite Sensation (1973) and Apostrophe
(1974) in one program. It is longer,
covers a longer period of time, deals with his amazing road to critical and
some commercial success and deals with all the live shows and the reactions
thereof. Though he dismissed the band by
the end of the decade, I was hoping we’d hear more about 200 Motels, but it was likely excluded since it was not issued
until 1971.
Once
again, you get a ton of great interviews, rare footage, stills and other items
that give you insight into the man, his one-time band, his life and music that
shows just how groundbreaking he was, they were and the effect they had on so
much talent around them. The debut
album, Freak Out gets a nice early
chunk of the 138 minutes of this never-boring program, but the highlight for me
was the coverage of how We’re In It For
The Money was made, how The Beatles objected to cover art intended to spoof
Sgt. Pepper’s (Zappa even found the
guy who did the printing of the original to get the colors the same) and how it
was only allowed to be inside the album packaging at the time.
It also
shows how radical he really was, but the program sticks with the band, so for
instance, we do not get to hear about his appearance in Bob Rafelson’s Head, the 1968 debut of the director (Five Easy Pieces) making the only film
The Monkees ever made together. Guess
they had to make cuts somewhere considering the length and diehard fans will
still likely think this is only a crash course of some kind. However, produced by the same group that does
the Under Review series, it is
must-see viewing even if you don’t like Zappa and company, because it does such
a fine job covering the period and music.
The 1.33
X 1 image varies as usual like all documentaries, but quality is good
considering the age of some of the film and black and white videotape and they
paid their music and video royalties for this one as usual. Detail limits are there, but that older footage
is in decent shape. The Dolby Digital
2.0 Stereo is sufficient and plays the music back just fine. Extras include extended interviews and text
on the contributors.
For more
on Zappa, try these links:
Baby Snakes (feature film)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/678/Baby+Snakes
Classic Albums: Frank Zappa – Apostrophe + Over-Nite
Sensation
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6312/Classic+Albums:++Frank+Zappa
Halloween (high definition sound DVD-Audio
format)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/406/Frank+Zappa+-+Halloween+(DVD-Audio
QuAUDIOPHILIAc (high definition sound DVD-Audio
format)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1636/Frank+Zappa+-+QuAUDIOPHILIAc
- Nicholas Sheffo
