Roxy And Elsewhere
Frank Zappa / Mothers Of Invention
Barking Pumpkin Records, 1974
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 03/03/2003
Something tells me that, if you look up the word "enigma" in thedictionary in a decade or so, you'll see Frank Zappa's picture nextto the definition.
There is no simple way to explain Zappa's musicalidiosyncracies, as he jumps from jazz to free-form improvisationalto doo-wop, often within the course of the same song. There is noway to explain why, in the midst of the brief period of Zappa'scommercial success in 1973 and 1974, that he would record andrelease an album like Roxy And Elsewhere, a two-record set featuring none of thesongs that were garnering him some well-deserved attention.
That all being said, Roxy And Elsewhere -- which, as its name suggests, wasrecorded in a small variety of different locations in concert -- isa pleasing disc, even if you have to have a certain knowledge ofZappa's work before you can truly appreciate this release.
Sometimes, you just have to let the music overtake you, tracktimings be damned. Such is the case with the set of music thatmakes up "Village Of The Sun," "Echidna's Arf (Of You)" and "Don'tYou Ever Wash That Thing?". Sure, you could sit there with astopwatch and try to figure out the exact moment one song ends andanother begins, but that would be missing the whole point of themusic. If anything, the fact that these tracks blend together sowell stand as a testament to Zappa's musical legacy, creating worksthat not only had a chemistry between them, but were alsointerchangable -- yet never losing that mystique about them.
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