YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE, VOL. 2

Its impossible to review this album and do it justice, as it is with all Zappa live albums. His concerts were more like comedy shows, much like Tenacious D or Flight of the Conchords: plenty of audience participation and lots of improv stuff. The main difference is that Zappa and Co. would do much more jazzy stuff with plenty of solos. This concert is by far the best of them, surpassing both Roxy & Elsewhere and The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life. The band is so tight its unbelievable, and they know the songs well, so comes easy and nothing sounds strained. The highlights of this concert are the rare early version of RDZNL, Room Service (with plenty of conversation between Frank and Napoleon maybe?), The dissonant vocal harmonies of Approximate, the weirded out insanity of Dupree's Paradise, The Finnish Tango, and the slow dramatic closer of a small section of Big Swifty. Dupree's Paradise is especially good, even though it takes a while to get going, because of the funny conversations and stunning solos from flute, guitar, sax, everything. The Massive drum solo is also intensely amazing, giving him almost 10 minutes to do his thing. I mention these hightlights, but they are merely the perfect songs out of the amazing ones. The entire disc is worth listening to many times over, giving you a perfect taste of Frank Zappa's (much like the little-known Giles, Giles and Fripp) Cheerful Insanity. This is the height of his career, and although he made many great albums after this, this was never again recreated.