Search - Le Bocal :: Oh No Just Another Frank Zappa Memorial Barbecue

Whatever we conceive well, we express clearly

Peppino | 03/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"and the 10th year of the passing from terra of FZ went by in the States without much fanfare, sad enough. But FZ's clearly conceived musical vision will live on, in this case, the new CD from Le Bocal, a modern French big band , "commissioned" by the distributors of Rykodisc in France to record select compositions of FZ. By sheer serendipity, this band was really perfect choice to record "Zappamusics",as they already exhibit 3 features found in all Zappa aggregations, exceptional musicianship, a fine sense of humor,and they have their feet in the worlds of jazz, rock and classical music forms, same time. The real beauty here lies in fact that , this is relative "unique" in the performance, ~ these musicians are not "Zappatistas" in the sense that, say Ed Palermo(1000stars) or Mike Keneally are .
(MR Keneally in particular has his guitar style completely drenched in Frank Zappa's concepts in the way many Jazz musicians continue follow in the Wes Montgomery mold, for example). The approach to these compositions is to attack each one with total individuality,
"de-composing" the tune first, while returning at some point in the piece to refer directly to the original Zappa conception. So you have innovation meeting the Zappa "tradition" 50/50 !(I was tempted to break down this review "track by track", but this would ruin what is a galaxy of surprises in this recording. I like all to listen for themselves!)

Suffice to say, elements of jazz, funk/rock, beguine/tango, ...all done in the combination serious/madcap style , an approach that is common among the progressive European big bands (as Pierre Døerge New Jungle Orchestra,Carlo Actis Dato Band, pino Minafra, Daniele Sepe,Wilem Breuker Collectif,Edvard Vesala, etc ).
The arrangements are always interesting, the dynamic of the grupo is over the moon! A first class band in every way. Most interesting, the guitar work from both soloistas is NOT derived from FZ cliché in the least manner, but each plays in his own mad jazz -influenced fusion style , a better comparison would be Philip Catherine!
(I think this is an excellent way to approach the guitar on this cd, as Zappa was one of the few melodic and consistantly interesting "rock" style soloists on guitar, IMO).
No imitation here, just innovation.

2 highlights 'solo-wise', first the Herbie Hancock /Keith Jarret -inspired piano solo from Rita on "Blessed Relief".The second , a real treat. On "King Kong" (which is not treated as the airy 6/8 performance from"Uncle Meat", but as a lumbering funk-infused rendition), the solo begins, you cannot decipher what instrument it is!
No , not keyboards, not guitar.
What it is is Laurent's unique "Jimi Hendrix meets Sun Ra at Pete Cosey's place" electric VIOLIN! Sugarcane Harris on LSD, Jean Luc Ponty in the crazyloco institution! It really makes this track "fly"! Another revelation, the composition "Take your Clothes Off...", from the "... In It For the Money" recording , which might appear, first glance, to be a throwaway track.
To the opposite, the version begins with a jazz guitar solo , the chords over a "faux-bossa" groove, before moving on to cartoon absurdity of the original composition, then a funk vamp and saxofone solo!
Vocal renditions of idiot B** Son,Mr Green Genes and Oh! No! further the humor in musics cause, without going overboard (as FZ sometimes did himself). A little corny these "Le Bocalistas",but the compositions warrant this type vocal humor fun. I could talk hours on this recording, but I spare you all! the only composition that will never 100 % resonate in me is their fine version of "Blessed Relief". The FZ version was perfect, and the trumpet solo from Sal Marquez, George Duke's fender piano solo, and FZ's own Wha-wha acustic guitar solo can never be equalled, IMO! Still, this version of Le Bocal VERY enjoyable!

Another fine contribution to the keeping the flame of Zappamusics alive, and with a fresh(and French!) conception.They play the stars outta these compositions really. One MILLION stars reviewed! Not a bad note in the recording. Enjoy!"

Zappa Swings!

Taylor Martin | 02/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"OK, you're here to find out about another cover of Zappa tunes.

You're probably not a person who only knows of FZ's genius through

"Don't Eat The Yellow Snow"or because you have the soundtrack from

"The Ice Storm." Personally, I find that

college students smoking a bong while listening to "I'm The Slime" is offensive.

Frank hated drugs and was known to fire people if they showed up stoned for

a session.



No, you're reading this because you want to know if this is as good as Ensemble

Modern's "Greggory Peckary" or fun as George Thorogood's version of "Trouble Coming

Everyday." And, it's that good and better. Le Bocal does for Frank what the

Swingle Singers did for Mozart: they make it swing.



Their version of "Little Umbrellas" is great and the 2 versions of "Oh, No!", one with

vocals and one sans vocal is wonderful. The other songs don't just cover

Zappa, but rearrange, tear down, and make the music fun. It's not a

ponderous tribute

nor a badly played miss of what the music means to us who are

called "hardcore." We want to remember Frank, even if he didn't care.



If it's a choice between the recently released "MOFO, 40th Aniversary of Freak Out!"

and this which is about 4 years old, I'd go for this. The former is 4 discs

which are 50% redundant. If I want to do Zappa at a karioke, the second

disc of MOFO is good as it's rehearsal grade stuff without the vocals. Plus, the

vinyl CDC cover is so tight on the discs, you risk breaking them when you

try to play them. But if you want to hear FZ fresh and alive, get the Barbecue. Le Bocal really shows

how good the music is and as FZ said "Music is the Best!"



And, please Gale, don't sue me for using that motto without paying a royalty.

You've got enough to handle trying to keep "Project/Object" from using that term

as the name of their band. Maybe if you took more time for the music,

instead of trying to get every penny you can out of your late husband's

Trust, you might have better product coming out.



Taylor Martin"