I know there isn't a whole lot of interest in Frank Zappa here - that being said I must alert anyone who is sitting on the fence - this is a very good if not excellent release. All the tunes are spot on. DZ has developed into quite a nice guitar player - the solos are excellent. All the musicians are top notch. For any FZ fans out there - Ray White handles a lot of the vocals - as all the members seem to join in also.

It is a nicely priced 2 disc set culled from the last two years of Zappa Plays Zappa on the road. My favorites are Pygmy Twylyte, King Kong and the Deathless Horsie. This is the next best thing to actually having Frank up front leading the band. IMO it is one of this year's 10 best so far.

Almost surprised DZ would perform with Ray White, since Ray sometimes tours with Project Object.

(I believe the ZFT shuns Ike Willis because of that)

I saw the tour with Ray White right after they added Billy The Mountain to the set. It was fab.

I'm not sure what ZFT's issue w/Ike is, but Napoleon Murphy Brock toured with P/O as well, and ZPZ took him on the first tour. There seems to be more behind the animosity with Ike than just the P/O connection.

Dweezil has changed his style, and it fits Frank's music much better now. I just listened to "Sharleena" from "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 3", which had Dweezil doing a guest solo. Very much not Frank-like.

What I don't like quite as much is Dweezil's attitude that only he is capable of playing Frank's music "right". That, and the subtle shift from this outfit being known as Zappa Plays Zappa to the current incarnation as Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa, and this release coming under Dweezil's name alone.

I do think this tour had the band loosening up a bit and showing a bit more of their personality as opposed to sounding like someone aping Frank records. I think they've lost a bit of that on the current tour.

Alan