Rating: 
Summary: Your Essential Frank Zappa DVD Purchase
Review: Excellent concert footage of FZ over Halloween 1978 with Adrian Belew on guitar, a very pouty Terry Bozzio (in what look like speedos) on drums, a fluid Patrick O'Hearn on bass unt a percussionist and 2 keyboardists. It's all performed in front of a rabid New York Palladium audience.What loses the 1 star is the Bruce Bickford claymation and too much time spent backstage listening to Roy Estrada (one of Zappa's former bass players) rambling on about nothing. The DVD is long enough (over 3 hours) and chocfull enough of live footage to overlook these annoyances, however.
Rating: 
Summary: Crazy at his best, Happy Halloween everybody
Review: Fantastic! Sound great and image TOO! The best version of BLACK NAPKIN i ever heard. Wonderful animation. Very pleasure to know how Frank built Baby Snakes song. Terry you are a good DEVIL and wonderful drummer. Gail, thank you for this gift, so go a head and let the video get out the vault.
Rating: 
Summary: Good concert w/some pedestrian waste of footage
Review: First of all, the band that performs during the live-in-NY segments is NOT the '79 one but the '77 one (the group that is also heard on "Sheik Yerbouti"). This can be pretty exciting because you get to see and hear them blazing away with involved pieces like "A Pound for a Brown on the Bus", "King Kong" (or what sounds like it to me), "City of Tiny Lights" and "Punky's Whips". It can also be as predictable as "Dina Mo Hum", "Camarillo Brillo", "Disco Boy", or other such crowd pleasers. I would have liked to see synchronous shots of the audience reacting - or not - to the music, ALL of it (and not just the crowd pleasers). But the views from the stage are mostly pitch black, save for the few characters up front. Frank Zappa plays Guitar God a little... or is filmed as such. Those guys are terrific musicians. Only problem is they really don't have much to say... Well not under the circumstances. But Zappa and his crew keep taping their "comments" backstage anyway... Ditto for the mostly wasted concert crowd, that all came to hear - you guessed? - "Dina Mo Hum"! And you will also waste a small part of your life with abstruse backstage "humor" involving Roy Estrada, a sink and an inflatable doll... Those three ingredients sound to you like a typical Mothers-era dadaism recipe? It ain't. Interesting in-the-works glimpses of the composer/band leader rehearsing some known pieces, but also some never heard electronic/vocal improvisations as incidental music to the incredible claymations of Bruce Bickford. This should have been really the heart of the project. When "Baby Snakes" first came out as a feature film, critics were wondering what the hell it was all about after all. I also do, to this day. Should have been a (much shorter!) TV special instead. It is a live concert recording, but also a film about Bickford's work... which has nothing to do with it! But get it if you are a real fan of that and/or of the late '77 Zappa band.
Rating:
Summary: This...is...FZ
Review: Frank Zappa fans will salivate over this DVD. The concert footage is stupendous (especially since it's from Halloween, FZ's favorite time to perform). The claymation is...well really weird, but it is for a Zappa project, y'know? The 5.1 mix is made to sound like a real concert. A lot of 5.1 concert DVDs squeeze all the lead vox into the center, and then kinda distribute the other stuff around to it's own little corner. That's not how rock shows sound. It's one big, loud, all-encompassing vortex of music, with little flourishes sent to a certain channel for dramatic effect once in a while. Okay, so the backstage goof-off footage gets a little tedious, we have to bare in mind that this is Frank Zappa, and anybody who knows anything about FZ will tell you he was often given to a bit of self-indulgence. So much of his humor remains to this day things that only he will ever understand completely, but that's what makes it fun. And then of course there's the music... Whoa... So break out your zircon encrusted tweezers and turn this "mother" up!
Rating:
Summary: The Real Frank Zappa Movie
Review: Frank Zappa, New York, Halloween ...... Bozzio, Belew, Bickford ....... how many more reasons could a person need to desire this majorly non-boring round thing???? The DVD release of Baby Snakes is a cause for celebration, both for long time fans and novices who are just discovering FZ - for the latter in particular, who never got the chance to experience the Zappa performance spectacle. At its core, Baby Snakes is a concert film, but it is also a keen insight into the man's creative mechanism, a free association style that embraced all manner of media in addition to music. A prime example is the generous screentime given to clay animator Bruce Bickford, with whom Zappa had worked with on a video project for PBS around 1975. Bickford creates erotic nightmares in clay and on film while Zappa prods him on in metaphorical abandon, the result complimented by jarring sound design created spontaneously by Zappa and his cohorts in the studio. We also witness FZ rehearsing his bandmates, creating on the spot extraveganzas with Roy Estrada and a gas mask, spying on the backstage cavortings of musicians and crewmates, possibly developing new theories and creative concepts from witnessing the bizarre goings on ...... Ultimately, in the course of its 2.75 hours' length, Baby Snakes evolves into a relentless live assault, a labor of love dedicated to the appreciative crowd of New York's finest crazy persons, who are also afforded ample screen time. We learn the History of the Poodle (God's 3rd mistake), witness a debut performance of "I Have Been In You", observe monster drummer Terry Ted Bozzio in a Speedo transform himself into the devil for the number "(Mammarian Protuberances) 'N' Beer", enjoy featured vocal performances by keyboardist Tommy Mars (Pound for a Brown), guest stunt guitarist Adrian Belew (City of Tiny Lites), and even FZ's bodyguard Big John Smothers (Muffin Man), witness the onstage flogging of unwitting audience members with a real leather whip ("This is Halloween, we don't **** around!!") and of course the recommended diet of Frank's own searing guitar work. A truly priceless moment in the film is Bozzio's drumming/vocal performance on the epic finale "Punky's Whips"; if only they gave Oscars for best supporting musical performance in a documentary. As for the DVD package itself: It is presented as a case study of People Who Do Things That Are Not Normal, complete with file folder bearing the official seal of the Department of Entertainment Security containing typewritten documents, photographs, trade reviews and other critical evidence. The transfer effort is admirable, though the film does show its age in some sections, graininess and a true live mix (not the "enhanced" type that Zappa favored on many audio releases) which at times loses definition. That's rock 'n roll. Due to compression and encoding issues associated with DVD production, the actual volume level is fairly low; this can of course be resolved by cranking your receiver, but you better be riding the levels when you push that menu button! These are minor quibbles in light of this significant video chronicle of the man Frank Zappa, who wrote, produced, directed, scored (duh) and largely financed the original film into existence back in 1979. The result the closest we've got to a legacy to a creative mind like few others .... watch him work, watch him play, listen as he has his say ("The important thing about this instrument is the way the air smells as it comes out of these holes"), see the Läther Band onstage, venting Warner Brothers rage ..... and don't forget to vote. We will never forget you, Frank.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: Great DVD. The audio is awesome with new 4 track stereo mixes. Hook this sucker up to a good stereo, crank up the volume and you'll think you're at the concert. Also included is the trailer to the upcoming (hopefully) Roxy DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Zappa as Artist
Review: Having read all the other reviews, I'd like to focus on the aspect of FZ as an Artist. Because that's what's on display, and is one reason for the extended bit with Bruce Bickford, who I think Frank saw as the claymation-artist version of himself. Someone gives Frank a card, and it has a quote, "The modern-day composer refuses to die," which Frank says must have its proper attribution to Edgar Varese- Edgar Varese was a composer/artist. Watch Frank as he manages to interact with the audience, shake everyone's hand, and sing his lyrics flawlessly. Despite a couple of "Go ---- yourself"s, Frank shows a lot of sensitivity to his young audience. The girl Angel, who basically wants Frank's baby, tries to interject something when he lets her onstage- his response is hilarious: he looks at her as if to say "Are you crazy?" then says, "Sounds like fun," and shuts her up with a munchkin-voiced "Stop it!" The key word to describe FZ here is "masterful," he is in charge every moment. The bit onstage with the toy police car, with the fake trombone-playing, and with Roy E. and his faulty improv with the gas-mask, are all about Frank incorporating something new into his music, improvising, having the band follow his descriptive hand-gestures, only to roll it all up in a ball and throw it in Roy's face, to see what reaction it will get. Was he self-indulgent, egocentric? Sure. Confident and cocky? Absolutely. You can be taken in by it or put off by it. Is the "Poodle Lecture" really a philosophical statement of life on earth? Nah. But it's funny, and draws the audience into his surrealistic world. The blow up doll and the raunchy lyrics, are all part of FZ's assault on mainstream attitudes. In the '60's, he trashed the middle-class, but he trashed the hippies, too. So he was an iconoclast, too. We need more of them.
Rating:
Summary: He can't play guitar Stef?
Review: Having saw Frank play live many times, especially in the 70's around Halloween time in Boston at the Music Hall, this dvd paints a good picture of his shows at that time. Having also seen Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Robin Trower, Dickey Betts, Gary Rossington, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana among many others, to hear someone say that Frank Zappa could not play guitar very well is actually pretty funny. Anyone that would say that (forget all the crazy non guitar stuff)about FZ must also think that about the names I listed above. I'm not sure why anyone would bother writing something like that about FZ, must have nothing better to do when they are not critiquing for Rolling Stone
Rating:
Summary: Self-indulgent anyone?
Review: Having seen large chunks of baby snakes before, namely the concert footage, i was looking forward to seeing the beast in its totality. And let's face it, the concert footage is the only reason to keep this dvd, because the rest is boring boring boring. All that Ms Pinky crapola, and the gas mask nonsense, and in fact any parts with the afro-wielding roy estrada, are serious fast forward contenders. Then you have the wonderful Mr. Bickford with his amazing claymation creations. It's great animation but utterly directionless. It gets old real quickly. Some highlights include Frank's soloing on black napkins muffin man and punk'y whip. The last hour of gig material is the cream of the dvd. Some parts of the concert are a bit tedious, like the poodle lecture, roy estrada, and some of the lyrics based songs like dinahmoe humm and disco boy. We do get to see some of the fans. And some of them are a bit worrying. Especially that girl Angel, who clings onto Frank for sizeable chunks of the film. Scary. A few words about the band. Excellent musicians one and all. But I found most of them annoying in the back stage tomfoolery. Terry Bozzio hams it up a lot, making funny faces and talking crap. adrian belew plays to the camera a bit too, and tommy mars. We don't see very much of Ed Mann and Peter Wolf, so we give them the benefit of the doubt. Patrick o hearn likewise. Roy Estrada however.... So if i had to change some things about baby snakes:
-sack roy estrada.
-more guitar soloing
-more instrumental music
-easy on the bruce bickford
-more shots of band in rehearsal
-more bandmember solos
-less onstage talky talky
-less of the sexual songs, which we've heard too many times and which become a bit boring
-maybe an interview with fz at some point, to give some focus Picture quality-average.
Sound Quality-good if you have the equipment, but i've heard better. But let's face it. This dvd is essential. It is by FRank Zappa. (unless you're lukewarm about him, in which case-avoid!!)
Rating:
Summary: 5 stars by default
Review: I basically agree with a lot of what theslime, the person who wrote the spotlight review, had to say. There are long segments of Baby Snakes that I regularly fast-forward. There is way too much backstage nonsense, only a tiny fraction of which is the least bit interesting. The animation is very stream of consciousness and I was bored with it at first but have grown to really appreciate what this guy was doing. However, what I want, and what everyone wants, and what Zappa should have known that everyone would want, is more concert footage! Get rid of the rest of it for all I care. The footage that we do see and hear is extremely worthwhile. In fact, Baby Snakes might be the only legitamite release to contain any good live Zappa on film. Some of the tunes are not my favorite. I don't care about seeing a live version of Bobby Brown Goes Down or I Have Been in You. I would have liked to have heard more instrumentals. However, Baby Snakes is a long movie and there is plenty of great material as well as some charged performances by the young band (obviously having the time of their lives.) Some of my favorites include: City of Tiny Lights, Black Page #2, Punky's Whips (Bozzio's "Punky" is oscar-worthy), King Kong/Pound for a Brown (will Bozzio explode at the climax of his solo?), Black Napkins, Muffin Man, San Bernadino...There is plenty here to make up for the gratuitous filler. This is the best live Zappa footage that I have seen and therefore it automatically gets the five stars.
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