Released: March 1983
Tracklist
- Intro Rap/Baby Snakes
- Titties & Beer
- The Black Page #2
- Jones Crusher
- Disco Boy
- Dinah-Moe Humm
- Punky’s Whips
Line-up
Frank Zappa, Terry Bozzio, Roy Estrada, Adrian Belew, Ed Mann, Patrick O’Hearn, Tommy Mars, Peter Wolf
This album consists of live versions of previously recorded songs that were included in the movie “Baby Snakes” that weren’t also on the “Sheik Yerbouti” album. It originally came out on a mail order only vinyl picture disc, but it was remixed and re-released on cd in the late 1980’s. It is a fun record to listen to and this band (from 1977 I believe) was fantastic. It was recorded on Halloween at the Palladium (I believe) in New York. Those had to be some of the most insane shows in the history of RocknRoll, with the real insanity coming out of the audience and the supreme musicianship on stage.This wasn’t the violent raging insanity we witness sometimes today, but a friendly freakout fun kind of insanity.(By the way, the newly released DVD version of the “BABY SNAKES” movie is fanFUCKINGtastic. One gets to relive the experience in Dolby 5.1 surround. The picture is crystal clear, better than in your dingy little midnight movie theater with the blown speaker system could ever be.)
While the movie is a maestrowerk. . . .of sorts, the album by far is completely useless. You would have better luck just recording the audio from the movie and then seperate the tracks. Or better yet, find the complete shows/rehersals via bootlegg and enjoy what was left out of the film. Rather than this pitiful sampler.
I really loved this album when I got the mail order vinyl version. I really loved the cd version I got later on.
Now I have the DVD.
I still like to listen to this album when I’m away form my television. Lovely performances especially of Punky’s Whips, The Black Page and Disco Boy. A good way to concentrate on the actual notes involved.
Prefer these versions of ‘Black Page #2’ and ‘Punky’s Whips’ to the ones on ‘Zappa on New York’. Reckon it’s Tommy Mars and Peter Wolf and their amazing keyboards that does it for me.
I absolutely love “Baby Snakes” the movie. I first saw it in a dorm room (in the old 2-hour edited down VHS Barfko-Swill version). I already knew of Zappa, but after that first showing, I was enthralled. I also agree with the above reviewers who have criticized the all-too-brief nature of this release, considering the large amount of music and songs included in the full-length movie. I admit (years ago) to dumping a copy of the stereo soundtrack directly from the VHS tape so that I could have a more “fleshed out” soundtrack to “Baby Snakes”.
This movie and band (the 1977 band) represents the young, sweaty, horny-style of Zappa music presentation that began somewhere around the “Bongo Fury” album, and reached its zeinth with this onslaught. Frankly (heh, heh) the sound of the band is fairly “floppy”, with Bozzio’s huge toms and O’Hearn’s rubbery fretless bass playing, but I don’t care. This is ROCK Zappa, with all the balls-to-the-wall urgency one could ask for. It’s heavy, it’s thick, it’s burnin’ and it makes your heart pound for more. I would also like to give a very strong recommendation to the most recent DVD release of the movie, with an excellent remix of the entire soundtrack by Dweezil that I think is the best release yet. Enjoy this summary CD, but definitely get the DVD and CRANK IT UP for the visceral experience of your life. If you like Frank with balls-out rockin and HUGE SG guitar tone, don’t pass “Baby Snakes” up…….ESSENTIAL!
I’ve noticed that there is a discrepancy on the recorded version vs. Film with Punky’s lips the bit where Terry goes “oh, Punky, you’re too much” Adrian answers “Whaddya want you homo?” and on the DVD that part isn’t there, unless it is from another night that isn’t shown in the movie. hmmmm. That has ben how I’ve answered any call for my attention this week!!!