The Band from Utopia: A Tribute to the Music of Frank Zappa

Those who saw Rock School (the documentary, not the similarly-named Jack Black comedy) will no doubt remember the climax, in which a group of young musicians, having been browbeaten and ridiculed throughout the film by their obnoxious, self-involved teacher, perform a startlingly skillful version of Frank Zappa's "Inca Roads" at a Zappa fest in Germany. Here we have essentially an extended version of the same thing; the musicians are older and much more experienced (nearly all of them actually played with the late bandleader-composer-guitarist), but Germany is once again the setting for a tribute to Zappa's sometimes weird, sometimes wonderful music. The nine compositions are drawn from all phases of Zappa's oeuvre, from 1969's Uncle Meat through various '70s and '80s recordings, while the band members—who include keyboardist Tommy Mars, guitarist-singer Ike Willis, and the amazing trombonist Bruce Fowler—range from guys who played on albums like Over-Nite Sensation, Joe's Garage, and Sheik Yerbouti to a couple who were on Zappa's last concert tour in 1988. The result, predictably, is a mixed bag. You've got straight-ahead blues ("Bamboozled by Love") and hard rock ("The Illinois Enema Bandit"), extended compositions with avant-garde leanings ("Bebop Tango") and/or complex time signatures ("Andy"), regular doses of sophomoric humor and serious intent…in other words, a representative sampling of Zappa's prolific output between the mid-'60s, when the Mothers of Invention first made the scene, and his death in 1993. All in all, The Band from Utopia, which was recorded in 1994, would likely have made Frank proud, but his absence makes it something less than an essential purchase. Optional. Aud: P. (S. Graham)