In a sense, calling
\nChunga’s Revenge<\/i> a Frank Zappa solo album is a bit of a
\nmisnomer. In reality, this was the birth cry of the third iteration
\nof the Mothers Of Invention, welcoming Howard Kaylan and Mark
\nVolman into the fold. Yet this is indeed classified as a Zappa solo
\ndisc, and while it shows a bit more focus than the previous release<\/p>\n
Weasels Ripped My Flesh<\/i> (which was a Mothers Of Invention
\nrelease), it does feel like a bit of a transitory disc, made to
\norder while Zappa plotted his next career move.<\/p>\n
It’s not that the content is bad, or even forgettable. In fact,
\nmany of the compositions contained on this disc rank among Zappa’s
\nbest for this stage of his career. Tracks like “Transylvanian
\nBoogie,” “Twenty Small Cigars” and – to a point – “The Nancy &
\nMary Music” all demonstrate both the growth as a songwriter that
\nZappa had experienced and more confidence as a frontman. Even the
\nedge in the sound of his guitar solos was beginning to come to the
\nforefront.<\/p>\n
Yet one can’t help but notice an occasional lack of passion on
\nChunga’s Revenge<\/i> – almost as if this disc was testing the
\nwaters with the band before they threw things into overdrive. “Road
\nLadies” is a decent enough blues number, lacking the raunchiness
\nthat would mark the “Flo & Eddie” era of the Mothers, while
\n“Would You Go All The Way?” hints at that sort of mischief without
\ngetting offensive. Even the doo-wop throwback, “Sharleena,” just
\ndoesn’t have the same kind of magic that tracks from even earlier
\nin the year, such as “Valarie,” had.<\/p>\n
What is interesting is how the rhythmic structure of Zappa’s
\nmusic is brought to the forefront. “The Clap” is comprised solely
\nof percussion instruments, and works well, though it sometimes
\nfeels like it’s too brief. (Then again, maybe Zappa knew not to
\noverdo it on a good thing.) Likewise, George Duke turns in an
\namazing performance during “The Nancy & Mary Music” by
\nperforming a drum solo – in scat-style vocals! The fact that
\nneither Duke nor the rest of the band miss a single beat shows the
\namazing dexterity that Zappa demanded from his musicians, as well
\nas himself.<\/p>\n
The key phrase to describe
\nChunga’s Revenge<\/i> is this: it’s enjoyable, but it often feels
\nlike a throw-away record. When I do dig this one out of the Pierce
\nMemorial Archives for an afternoon’s listen, it almost has the
\nmusical effect of Chinese food – that is, after the hour, I don’t
\nquite feel satisfied. It’s kind of a shame, really, as this disc
\nmarked an improvement over
\nWeasels Ripped My Flesh<\/i> in that most of the musical
\nweirdness was gone. Who knew that it would be replaced by something
\nelse entirely – but we’ll get to that next time.<\/p>\n
2005 Christopher Thelen and “The Daily Vault.” All rights
\nreserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without
\nwritten permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of the
\nZappa Family Trust \/ record label, and is used for informational
\npurposes only.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5625],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-38510","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-frank-zappa","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38510"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38510"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}