Does Humor Belong in Music? Frank Zappa Live

Frank Zappa caught live in 1984 at New York City's The Pier.

For longtime fans and un-Zapped neophytes alike, Does Humor Belong in Music? presents the late, great Frank Zappa at his mischievous best. Unlike the infamously rambling Baby Snakes, this hour-long, digitally remastered 14-song set (culled from FZ's performance at the Pier in New York City on August 26, 1984) is 95% music, punctuated with brief interview clips (including the inane titular question, and Frank's expectedly affirmative response), and featuring one of the tightest bands that Zappa ever assembled. Everybody participates in Zappa's unique parade of musical fusion, street theater, and defiant anti-establishment sarcasm, with Zappa playing masterful conductor when he's not riffing with nimble-fingered fretwork (notably during "Zoot Allures," "Cosmik Debris," and Greg Allman's "Whipping Post," the set's only cover song). His trademark humor extends to all of his bandmates, especially Ray White and Ike Willis (guitars, vocals) and Bobby Martin (keyboards, vocals), and any topic is fair game for Zappa's skewering, frequently explicit lyrics, from pop-culture sellouts and corrupt recording executives ("Tinsel Town Rebellion") to greedy politicians ("Hot Plate Heaven at the Green Hotel"). Each song is performed to perfection while espousing FZ's impassioned philosophy of taking nothing seriously except the music. In that regard, this Zappa Live DVD represents pure genius at work, having fun and taking no prisoners. --Jeff Shannon