BUFFALO

Frank Zappa once said or wrote that mainstream classical orchestras are no better than covers bands in a bar: all they do is rehash familiar tunes (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms...). I've always thought this statement reflected one of the main weaknesses in Zappa's own discography. With a few honourable exceptions ('Village of the Sun', for example), Zappa didn't really 'do' pure, honest emotion. As a consequence he failed to see that every decent performance of LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, the B-MINOR MASS and other classical masterpieces is a re-enactment of a specific drama which has the potential to excite listeners, and to move them to the core.

Actually, most of BUFFALO seems little better to me than a covers band. The musicianship is superb, of course - what else can you expect with Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and Zappa himself on lead guitar? But the BUFFALO band rushes through a lot of material that was originally recorded by older ensembles, and in many cases they add precisely nothing to earlier interpretations. To make matters worse, much of this album's repertoire (to borrow one of Zappa's favourite words) is so STUPID I find it hard to believe it didn't make its composer cringe. (At the time of the concert, he was forty years old!) In my opinion, tunes like 'Keep it Greasy', 'Buffalo Drowning Witch', 'Honey, Don't You Want a Man Like Me?', 'Stick It Out' and 'Ms Pinky' are all eminently forgettable. The ferocity with which this particular band races through 'Cosmic Debris', 'I'm so Cute' and a few other Zappa 'classics' almost makes up for the silliness, but it's not enough.

BUFFALO must have been recorded when Zappa was on a purely money-making tour. The whole thing fills me with longing for the far superior George Duke / Chester Thompson / Ruth Underwood band. There are a few points of light, though. The opening tune, 'Chunga's Revenge', features a breath-taking lead-guitar solo, and something similar can be found on the 23.36 minute 'The Torture Never Stops', which also includes a pleasant (and highly proggy) keyboard contribution from (I assume) Tommy Mars. When Zappa died, one journalist wrote that his guitar playing was 'never as great as Jimi Hendrix's', but I've got my doubts. Frank's solos invariably show you what a superb musician he was. I'm not sure if it's wise to listen to two or three of them in a row (as on SHUT UP AND PLAY YOUR GUITAR) but within the context of a gig they shine - even if the gig is stupid, like this one! I also get the impression Frank's deepest emotions (which may include an inner loneliness) speak from those solos, and yes, scattered throughout this collection there are two or three more of them, you know. For all those solos alone, this is an album not te be missed.

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