DVD REVIEW: Frank Zappa: The Freak-Out List

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DVD REVIEW: Frank Zappa: The Freak-Out List

POSTED: Wednesday, April 21, 2010, 4:18 PM

Filed Under: Movies Movie Review

The secondary title of this DVD — The Freak-Out List (88 min., $19.95)— pulls its name from the liner notes of the debut album from Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Aptly titled Freak Out!, the record contained the aforementioned list in which Zappa extended a debt of gratitude to his influences. The list itself weaves its way through different genres — mainly classical, doo-wop and jazz — to form a tangible map beginning with Zappa's influencers and ending with his own catalogue of sounds. The DVD, which was released yesterday from Sexy Intellectual, opens with tie-dyed shots of Zappa, the sound of his music and music historian Alan Clayson explaining how Zappa was far beyond his peers due his eclectic taste in music. It's a powerhouse opening and you expect the rest of the "rockumentary" to keep up to speed with the aesthetic. It doesn't take long, though, before a "classical and avant-garde scholar" (yes, that was really his title appearing on the bottom of the screen) is talking about a few dead white guys who changed music: composers Richard Wagner, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky and Edgar VarÃ¨se. Similar comparisons continue when a classical piece is played, followed by one of Frankie's song, allowing viewers to draw their own comparisons. But psychedelic liquid drops are laid over images of landscapes felt like a desperate attempt to keep viewers interested/give them an acid flashback. Stoners looking to project this film on their dorm room wall will just end up being put to sleep. Rather, it's for the music geeks who get excited-in-the-pants over musical lineage.

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