To my mind, being compared to Zappa may be good or bad, as FZ was something of a flawed genius.
Like the best of Zappa, this album is a display of extraordinary musicianship; tight, complex, co-ordinated music in which the band can all change direction in a second, so that the music is constantly full of surprises.
For me, the downside is actually the same as the upside. I find all the hectic swirling through a dozen styles in a dozen minutes rather unsettling, and for some reason, as with Zappa, it makes me doubt the sincerity of what the musicians are doing; are they really "into it" or is this just a little spoof they`re running through ? Listening to the album one more time while I writing this, I found I had to take it off as it was just too distracting, and I came to this conclusion:-
Making music is like making love - for everyone`s satisfaction, you should keep going for a good few minutes before you mix things up and head off in some unexpected direction!
So, after a long trial period, I`m just voting OK for this album; impressive, sophisticated, but not my style tbh.
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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953
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