THE DUB ROOM SPECIAL!

This is another live album from FZ and two different lineups. It is also a soundtrack from the video of the same name. The order of the songs is different from the video and not all of the selections are on the CD, but other than that, it's the same music as the video. It kind of makes this soundtrack obsolete, that is, unless you want to listen to it in your vehicle or where ever you don't have video access. Honestly, it's well produced with great sound. But on the other hand, there are so many other live CDs out there from Frank, so it's probably collectors mostly that will be interested. The nice thing about the video is that you get to see the interplay between Frank and the band members, so that is one reason to get the video over the CD.

Tracks 2 (Stevie's Spanking) and 6 (Easy Meat) are both recorded live in New York City on October 31, 1981. The remainder of the album is recorded for a TV performance on August 24, 1974 and it features one of the best band line-ups that FZ had. Either way, all performances are excellent, so if you find it and you have no other live albums with this line up, then it's worth having.

The songs are all FZ staples. It starts off on track 1 with "Token of My Extreme" which is more or less a introduction to FZ appearing on stage, so not much there. Then we go right into "Stevie's Spanking" which features FZ humor and a killer guitar solo from Steve Vai and FZ which will put you into guitar hero heaven. Then you get two short doses of early FZ jazz in "The Dog Breath Variations" and "Uncle Meat", both very familiar songs for early FZ fans, but nothing out of the ordinary other than great group interplay. Next comes the immensely popular "Stinkfoot" with Frank's voice heavily processed to give him a static-y deep sound. Unfortunately Frank gets tired of the song before the guitar solo usually starts, so it is cut short but flows directly into "Easy Meat" which is one of the better live versions of the song with some more great group interplay.

"Montana" is a very ho-hum version of the song. "Inca Roads" however is excellent. Even if it is one of my favorite FZ songs, it is made even better with the +9 minute version and a great FZ guitar jam plus the vocals on the song are very good, as good sounding as if it were done in a studio and not for a TV show. Of course, Ruth Underwood is amazing on this as would be expected. If you haven't seen her live, then you definitely need to find this video. An amazingly underrated percussionist, underrated except for FZ fans that know just how great she is. Then, on a second instrumental break, there is a surprise keyboard solo which again is nothing short of amazing. Not to be outdone, Ruth comes back on the xylophone and friggin' blows everything away. Outstanding performances on this one.

"Room Service" is actually works better on the video as it is comedy interplay between FZ and singer George Duke while the band plays accompaniment in the background. But you do at least get the hear the audio portion, it's just better live. Just listening to the audio of this though gets old after the first time you hear it, so where "Inca Roads" adds so much to the album, "Room Service" takes it away, and it goes on for 10 minutes.

"Cosmik Debris" comes next and the verses are pretty much standard fare, but when you expect the guitar solo, you get a nice sax solo instead before the wah-wah guitar comes in, then a great bluesy keyboard solo, then FZ finally gives us another killer guitar solo. I'm not a big fan of this song usually, but I love the way everyone gets a chance to shine in the band during the longer than usual (at least for this song) instrumental break.

Finally, the ending track is "Florentine Pogen" is a pretty good version but the vocal part again works better on video. A little more than halfway through you get yet another excellent guitar solo from Frank that lasts the rest of the track and closes out the album.

Again, not a bad album, but the video works better for this show. With the CD you do at least get 4 excellent tracks while the others are only sub standard compared to other live versions out there. If you run into this one and need a live CD album from Frank, then get it. Otherwise, find the video. Besides it has a lot more on it. Good stuff, but not essential. 3 stars.