aaamusic | On 04, Dec 2011

London Tuesday 29th November, 2011

Musician Frank Zappa produced over 80 albums which combined progressive rock with avant-garde jazz and surrealistic lyrics.

Dweezil Zappa, Frank’s son, continues to loyally honour his fathers work 18 years since his father’s death. In particular, he re-creates and sensitively reminds us of those classic songs which were better known.

Central to the evening was a full performance of Frank Zappa’s 1974 album Apostrophe (‘), from which Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow was Zappa’s only hit single.
A huge screen above the stage showed old audio and visual concert footage of Frank humerously playing Cosmik Debris as the 8 piece band played with him.
Dweezil has matured to a remarkable guitarist in his own right and energetic vocalist Ben Thomas helps rekindle the passion for the music through his enthusiasm.

For some this music has never been easy and they view it as an acquired taste. Though parts of the set were very experimental and hard to follow, there was a sharp professionalism combined with great silliness. It was a memorable and crazy evening as perfectionist Frank Zappa would have wanted it.

Author: Anthony Weightman