Frank Zappa: Dub Room Special
by Frank Zappa, Clark Santee, Dick Darley
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DVD details
Actor: Chester Thompson, Frank Zappa, George Duke, Ruth Underwood, Tom FowlerDirector: Clark Santee, Dick Darley, Frank Zappa
Writer: Frank Zappa
Producer: Bennett Glotzer
Producer: Bill Boggs
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Best of, Color, DVD, Explicit Lyrics, Live, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-10-18
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Eagle Rock Ent
DVD Reviews of Frank Zappa: Dub Room Special
DVD Review: Hillariously Cool
Summary: 4 Stars
I've been a Zappa fan for some time now, but only recently have I been purchasing the videos he produced.
This one was one of the tamer videos out, although it's still funny and entertaining. It gives you an inside look at his creative process, along with some straight forward performances with the group of muzishnins that he created some of his finest compositions. It seems that the times that he was touring with Ruth Underwood, George Duke, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Tom Fowler, and Chester Thompson, (and Marty Perellis as the gorilla), he had the most fun. I have a recording of FZ with that band in Harrisburg, PA circa '74, and he always seemed to be enjoying himself.
There are other more recent performances from NYC in '81, that are amazing as well, plus some claymation from Bruce Bickford.
All in all a very cool video.
DVD Review: Frustrating presentation of good material
Summary: 3 Stars
With the "Dub Room Special" we see another example of Frank Zappa's limitations as a director of visual material. His music is brilliant but the videos refuse to present the music as is. I am very sad about this.
In the first section Zappa shows claymation of Bruce Bickford over "Dog Breath Variations/Uncle Meat." I'd rather see the band play the music than the animation (which entertains for one or two viewings at most) but the bigger problem is that mediocre sound effects for the animation are played over the music.
Later, video of Massimo Bassili picking his nose is shown over "Cocaine Decisions" with silly sound effects thrown in. Again, sound effects ruin the audio from the band's performance.
For me, a fan of the music, these additions make the video unwatchable.
It's interesting (and maybe even ground-breaking for the time) that Zappa used an editing facility as a studio to construct this video but he wastes time interviewing Compact Video employees, having them say how unprecedented his process is.
Just show the music.
There was more than one Frank Zappa (composer, guitarist, band leader, social commentator, vaudevillian clown, adolescent humorist, etc.) and the one to whom I am devoted is the composer and musician. With his videos he consistently shows the adolescent humorist to the detriment of the music.
(Dweezil is assembling a video of footage from the original Roxy Theater performances. I trust he has the sense to show the performances in a straightforward way that his father would not.)
DVD Review: Good DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a good mix of live shows. Early zappa and later zappa. pretty good song selection. Zappa looked pretty un healthy and not as happy in the later 80's.DVD Review: Essential
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are a current, new or beginning Zappa fan this DVD is greatness.
Without using to many words like "awesome and cool" it is a great and easy watch. Without question this is one of those "must see" videos. The audio is great as always and the performances are a pleasure. No one likes drawn out reviews so I will wrap this up quick. This is a good starting video for new fans and a great nostalgia thing for old ones.
We should all be thankful for Frank's great documentation of his stuff....
DVD Review: I am torn on how many stars to give this
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Dub Room Special" is a somewhat interesting, somewhat inconsistent, somewhat annoying, sometimes brilliant film comprised from the 1974 tour, the 1981 tour, some straggler footage from 1982, and some clips from 1968, all spliced together in a documentary(?) film I have never seen on TV, its intended medium, despite some not-so-TV-friendly content.
Of course, the music itself, is always tops in its field, but there are some issues with the editing. Some people complain about several intros missing from the final edit, but I understand this. It is meant to look in on the band while on stage, but why would the solo from "Montana" be taken out? Time constraints? Chronology and continuity are obviously not an issue here, as the skit number "Room Service," which is a dialogue based only on inside jokes taken from lyrics from "Roxy & Elsewhere," features an extremely sweat-soaked Napoleon Murphy Brock, and this is only a few minutes into the film, but the next time you see him, he is dry. This sequence is obviously from the later part of the show. No biggie, just a talking point.
One thing, the 1974 line-up of The Mothers apparently gave FZ a far more enjoyable time on stage than the 1981 band. In 1974, he is laughing and cracking jokes from the stage, and generally having fun. Jump to 1981: he is stone-faced throughout, almost like some field marshall, but with a gaudy jumpsuit. Both of the two bands featured play their material wonderfully, the chops of the players is never an issue. He always used the best musicians he could find at any time.
The animated segments are, in my opinion, incredible. Even though Zappa is briefly shown in a clip toying with the animation process, this is the forte of Bruce Bickford. Some people complain about the segments being too long, obstructing one's enjoyment of the band itself, but I just see it as a visual compliment to the music. But, in my humble opinion, the sound effects in the animations could have been erased, or at least, toned down. This DOES interfere with my enjoyment of the music. But watching these segments, I am astonished.
Some of the "interviews" are superfluous, specious even, but this is pretty much a film of Frank Zappa having fun in the "Dub Room." It is what is said to be. But, I do have to concur with many of this video's critics when it comes to Massimo, the nose-picking journalist. His "song," as it were, is one of Frank's duds. And including it on the Mothers' LP "Uncle Meat," WHY??? And I don't mind peurile humor, but listening to the bridge in "Montana," while seeing him with his finger all the way up in his nose, giving the camera a 'fecal-matter-eating' grin, is simply juvenile. I showed this part to my 6-year old niece, and she just said "...eww." Sometimes the humor just falls flat.
But to sum it up, "The Dub Room Special" is a patchwork of what Frank Zappa was doing in 1981 and 1982, with some gems from 1974, for good measure.
He was definitely a better musician than he was a film maker.
Description of Frank Zappa: Dub Room Special
Previously released on VHS and Beta and only available through mail order, Frank Zappa's Dub Room Special is an extremely rare TV special comprising two live performances from one of Rock's great individuals. Zappa's unparalleled abilities as a composer, guitarist, and absurdist/social commentator run rampant on The Dub Room Special - and it is a unique window on his willingness to push the envelope of what is possible no matter how improbable. Selections from two separate concerts, one, called A Token of His Extreme, shot in 1974 at Los Angeles public television station KCET and one in 1981 filmed at his annual New York Halloween show, are interspersed with then-cutting edge claymation/stop motion animation from Bruce Bickford and assorted comedy bits.Since 1966, Zappa had established himself as perhaps the most fearless musician known to popular music. He incorporated modern classical music, blazing rock and blues and doo wop, guitar solos he called "air sculpture" and an extremely cynical point of view to forge a legacy that remains completely unique 12 years after his death.
Live performances by two very different groups led by the late Frank Zappa are the main attraction of Dub Room Special, a relatively rare DVD offering from one of contemporary music's most prolific and hard-to-classify figures. There were always two sides to Zappa (who died in 1993), from serious composer/musician to potty-mouthed frat boy, from innovator, iconoclast, and provocateur to juvenile shtick-meister. Both are on display here, but while there's plenty of fooling around, onstage and off, in the end it's Zappa's music that makes the more profound impression. The earlier of the two performances, recorded in 1974 and entitled "A Token of His Extreme," finds George Duke (keyboards), Chester Thompson (drums), the zany Napoleon Murphy Brock (woodwinds), and Ruth Underwood (mallet percussion) joining the guitarist for renditions of "Montana," "Florentine Pogen," "Inca Roads," and others, all showcasing both Zappa's warped sense of humor and the remarkable complexity and avant-garde flavor of his compositions; this is arguably the best band he ever assembled, and perhaps the best visual record of a Zappa gig. The second show, from Halloween 1981, is less distinguished. The musicians, though far less prominent than those from the earlier group (with the exception of hotshot guitarist Steve Vai), are excellent, but the material is weaker, and the entire proceeding is marred by "Stevie's Spanking," a moronic ode to Vai's visit with a kinky groupie. Elsewhere, Bruce Bickford's stop motion clay animation (also featured throughout Baby Snakes, a 2003 Zappa DVD release) is clever but somewhat overused; and there's little excuse for the bits featuring Italian "journalist" Massimo Bassoli (whose main talent seems to be picking his nose) or the inclusion of the very dated "Valley Girl" documentary, featuring Zappa's daughter Moon Unit. --Sam Graham
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