i love frank zappa. I didn't really know much about frank zappa the first time i watched this video. I was in a friends apartment and everybody fell asleep while watching it except me and another guy. We were glued to it. The muscianship is unmatched by any video i have seen accept maybe sign of the times or rashaan roland kirk at the montery jazz fest. i was so impressed with what i saw and heard that i was instantly transformed into a zappa fan. If you don't like this video but are still interested in zappa you should check out something from one of his other periods. I most like the funk/fusion sound of the early 70's ie live at the roxy and elsewhere. but the pure zanyness of we're only in it for the money is unique and wonderful. babbbbbieeee snnnaaaaa-eaaaaa-eaaa-eaaakes!
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artstockton7 September 2002
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heybike1 January 2005Zappa was great. An okay guitarist, but a genius composer/band leader. He was the Miles Davis of rock- finding the best young musicians and pushing them to the next level. That's what he did with Terry Bozzio, who (in my opinion) steals the show(DVD). Highlights are 'Pound for a Brown' with Bozzio, Mars and O'hearn getting real intense, the pre-'Disco-boy' drum solo, Bozzio's awesome performance on 'Punky's Whips,' and of course the great abstract claymation. I'd be happy if this video was all claymation and drum solos, but most of the rest of the movie is cool too. The dood with the blow-up doll and gas mask gets kinda annoying, but the DVD makes up for it by having Adrian Belew dance around in a dress. I'd strongly recommend this to any drummer because there are some great close-ups on Bozzio as he hurts the feelings of other drummers by keeping perfect grooves and being funny at the same time. That's what I'm talking' about.
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jreichbart21 October 2004Nearly all aspects of Zappa creativity are reflected here: Several really long guitar solos, the classic "goofy" crowd pleasing songs, amazing playing by the band (Black Page 2 and many others), funny monologues, on-stage audience participation bits as well as some amazing conducting on some free-form pieces. It's also interesting to compare this to "Does Humor..." which I also love. It's true that in "Does Humor..." the video quality is cleaner, but I actually like that slightly fuzzy older look. But more importantly, in BBSNX Zappa is much, much more energetic, and in addition, the individual talents of the band members really shine here: Tommy Mars has a truly amazing keyboard solo and Terry Bozzio is utilized to the max, including performing, possibly, the best drum solo I've seen on video. I also liked the fact that the audio/video sync is pretty much 99.9% right on. No overdubs, no nothing - what you hear is what you see ("The Song Remains The Same" comes to mind as an unfortunate example of the opposite). I read some complaints about the back stage antics and the claymation stuff (which I liked). keep in mind though, this DVD is so long that even if you skip those things you still get two full hours of first rate concert footage. Enjoy!
How I miss Frank... Can you imagine what he may have had to say today about the state of music, politics and everything in between? -
Gore-Hound20 December 2003I am so glad this movie was finally released on DVD. My VHS copy was starting to wear out. This movie is a must for any Zappa fan. Thoroughly enjoyable, every minute of it. The claymation is unbelievable. The concert footage is amazing. The backstage antics are hilarious. And, Frank Zappa was a brilliant guitar player.
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ixxxi8012 January 2004What else can you say about the man? Zappa is easily one of the most important musicians of all time. "Baby Snakes" is another example of his onstage brilliance. For anyone who appreciates Frank, and his legacy, the film is a must. Thanks go to Gail and the Zappa family trust for finally starting to release (and rerelase) this stuff from the vault. Please Gail, keep it up...and thanks!
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kutaycoskun-5950927 January 2020Zappa has the best band out there. Incredible artistic talent and imagination throughout the whole film. The movie contains backstage footage, live performances and much more. And the animation! So unique, I personally haven't seen anything like it. You got to watch this if you're a Zappa fan or a fan of experimental art.
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mjsmith26 January 1999Filmed at the Felt Forum Halloween shows in 1977, this mixture of concert performances and Bruce Bedford's clay animation footage is well worth seeing best in its original 3-hour version, rather than the 90-minute version Zappa re-edited in 1984.
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mrrockandroll29 December 2003Excellent late 1970's concert footage from Zappa and his crazy band of extremely talented musicians. An absolute must see for any Zappa fan and an adequate introduction for those unfamiliar with the genius of Frank Zappa. This footage centers around a New York City concert from '77 so it doesn't totally encompass the many complex layers and personalities that Zappa emulated over the years, but it still provides a nice document to one of Frank's more accessible periods. It helps if you're a huge Zappa fan to begin with, which I am, so to me this footage is a treasure. A couple of points, though, just to be a bit objective: Others have mentioned the claymation, which for claymation is really some of the coolest I've ever seen, but I can only watch that stuff for a few minutes before I'm bored with it. It's cool and it's wild and it fits right in with Zappa's strangeness, but it's still only claymation to me. I'd just as soon watch some trippy computer generated psychedelic images to be honest. There's probably only about 15 minutes of it or so in the whole film anyway, so it's no big deal.
I would have also preferred a set list that had more guitar work in it, but we still get some great tracks including "San Ber'dino," "Muffin Man," "City of Tiny Lights" and the amazing "Black Napkins." Take a real good listen to "Black Napkins" and try and tell me this guy wasn't at least as good, if not better, than Hendrix himself. Overall, this is a great film for those that are already into Zappa. For those that aren't familiar with him, this film gives you a good idea of what it was like to see him in the late 1970's (his performances, style and content constantly changed over the years, so Zappa in concert in 1977 is a LOT different than Zappa in '69 or '73 or '85 ... you get the picture). Narrow thinkers and those with closed minds might want to stick with Dave Matthews or whatever else the corporate labels are spoon-feeding you on commercial radio these days. Man, do we need Zappa now more than ever! Can you image the way he'd rip into Brittney and Bush and O.J. Simpson and all the crap we're putting up with in the world today?? Long live Frank Zappa!! -
reinbo13 December 2003This is by far the best concert movie ever. Forget Gimme Shelter or Woodstock. Zappa and his band really show what they with their highly skilled musical craftmanship can do. a Must for every zappa afficionado!
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I picked this DVD from my local library because I wanted to know more about Zappa (I had heard a couple of albums before). I had to watch this film in two parts, because the first half was just too much for my head. On the second half, there is less nonsense and more quality music and fan interaction. Zappa is an interesting person, but this movie might be too long for all but the biggest Zappa fans.
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As many reviewers have already noted, Leonard Maltin gave this a BOMB rating in his book, complaining (among other things) it's way too long. The truth is Maltin never liked long movies regardless of the director, and he's probably not a Frank Zappa fan. In other words, not liking long movies is just one of his pet peeves, and he's generally an excellent critic. So, having said all that, let's review the film at hand, Baby Snakes....
Baby Snakes is a fantastic film, thoroughly engaging throughout its nearly 3 hour running time. If you are a Zappa fan (like me), you'll love this film more than non Zappa fans will. Even if you don't like Frank that much but love rock music, you should still see this film. It's one of the best (and most underappreciated) rock docs ever made. It's also interesting as Zappa produced, directed , and distributed it himself. It's filled with great performances (Zappa's late 70's band was one of his most creative), hilarious back stage stuff, and brilliant, surreal animation by Bruce Bickford. If you love Frank and his music, you owe it to yourself to watch this film. It's easy to find on DVD. -
Zapple1008 June 2014I'm not saying the claymation is bad, but after awhile it gave me a headache. In small dosages it's OK. Gumby was good cause it didn't look like he was on speed. This claymation moves too fast. After awhile you're begging it to stop.
Also, not my favorite Zappa band. After "One Size Fits All," the music went downhill. Too much 3rd grade humor. It got to the point where Zappa could put out anything and people would eat it up cause it done by Zappa. Done by anybody else and it would have been trashed. I guess it sells, and Zappa had to put out stuff like this to finance his more serious music. -
JeffG.3 June 1999A must-see for every Zappa fan. This film must be seen in its original 3-hour version if possible. The live concert footage shows perfectly what an incredible musician/composer/bandleader Zappa was. The rest of the band (featuring Adrian Belew, Tommy Mars and Terry Bozzio) put in great performances as well. I wish the re-release of the "Baby Snakes" CD from four years ago was expanded to include more concert footage from this movie.
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Wow!
I just saw this movie for the first time today. I had already seen SOME parts of it, but never THE WHOLE MOVIE. It's great to see Frank Zappa work with his band and enjoying himself. He does a few very interesting guitar solo's, which I think are GREAT to experience. Some parts of this movie are backstage events. Some parts are clay-animation, which is done really nice!
The movie ends with a GRAND FINALE, that takes about an hour of uninterrupted live footage, which does get quite intense at some points.
Glad this movie was made! -
Phantom Moonhead14 March 2000This is a three hour,two tape set of a Frank Zappa concert in 1977 and there is just a lot of fun here. Not for every taste but any real music fan should find this inspired to say the least. There are many scenes of Bill Bickford's clay animation and it is truly incredible. That alone is worth seeking out the original uncut version,not the newer edited 90 minute version because it puts all other claymation to shame. If your not a Zappa fan,take it with a big grain of salt. If you are,you don't want to miss this. It's a lot better than "200 Motels". Enjoy!
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ursinator221 July 2007Baby Snakes available on DVD is a late 70's movie originally released as double videocassette at that time. Actually it is three movies in one: a concert-film, a documentary (indeed rockumentary) and, last but not least, an animation artwork featuring the stunning claymation done by Bruce Bickford. It's playing time last a little more than two hours, so most people will find something for their own taste. The most of it are concert sequences from a series of concerts in Halloween 1977. The bands performances are exquisite, changing between rock, fusion, stunning solos, composing by conducting tracks, funny songs and audience participation. A little bit you can find on the same named soundtrack album. You also see a lot of backstage scenes, funny looking audiences entering the concert-hall and so on, which i would describe as the documentary part of the movie. And finally there is a lot of wonderful clay-animation done by Bruce Bickford, it is not to much in relation to the playing time of the disc, but maybe caused the most hours of work for manufacturing this movie. If you are fair, you shouldn't wonder if Bickford was the second name on the DVD-case. Zappa later filled this gap with the title 'the amazing mister Bickford' for another video-release. The animation sequences are accompanied with soundtracks done by the same Band but sounding totally different to the stuff played in the concerts. You can see a few moments FZ conducting the band in the studio recording these soundtracks, otherwise you wouldn't believe hearing the same cast of musicians. This shows once more the unbelievable band-with of Zappa himself as well of the band-members. All in all the animation sequences are a very special part of the film, i wouldn't like to miss them. These single elements of the movie are melted together in a very chaotic way, just about the last hour consists only of concert recordings, but when you have reached this sequence you have a lot behind you, really! People who don't like FZ won't like this movie also, people who divide FZ in two persons (the good Zappa and the evil Zappa) will find a lot to pick out what they like, i for myself like to watch the disc from beginning to the end.
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whirlybird2415 March 2003I was never really into Zappa, but I am a stop motion animator and I have to say that this thing (2 tape version) has some of the best claymation I have ever seen. (Bruce Bickford)- Zappa and his band doing the soundtrack is right on the money, too. After seeing this film I think I get the whole Zappa trip.
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moonisgod26 July 2000Like anything else that Frank Zappa did, if you don't understand it you won't like it. And it's really easy to miss Frank's point sometimes. "Baby Snakes" is simply footage of a Zappa Halloween show cut with Bickford claymation footage. Good if you like that kinda stuff, but dreadfully dull for everyone else. The best place to start learning about Frank Zappa is from his albums, NOT from the videos.
For Zappa fans, the footage is great, and the sound quality is excellent (much better than "200 Motels"). The animation doesn't make much sense. Plus, this video has the great scene of legendary drummer Terry Bozzio singing "T*****s and Beer" in a devil mask. -
tedg22 June 2008It takes a long time for image conventions to mature, very much longer than generations of technologies and people, I fear. That surely is true for conventions that scape reality, and surf dreams in some deliberate manner.
I think there is a thread, incubated in massive and broad doses of thuja, and only sculpted decodes later at great cost by Joyce. Its the first structure of image worlds where parallel realities and times are woven in a sort of dark time. Its NOT stream of consciousness, because it has little to do with conscious mechanics. Its other-conscious folding, and still the most elaborate and broad.
I'm interested because we won't have a real cinematic vocabulary until we have something this magnificent, or monstrous, depending on how risky your life is.
Whoever really attempts this has to understand Zappa. He's a sort of Joyce of rock music, who understood rock as sound folding. He made a couple movies. While these aren't clever or important, its interesting to be exposed to what he thought mapped into film. His earlier movie was chaotic and accidental where his music never was. His music is strictly composed, very deliberate.
This second film is much more interesting. Its part concert film after the manner of Pennebaker. We get to listen to intelligent music played for dummies, and listen to their reaction. They think its the same as acid music and demented. The audience sections are straight Pennebaker.
But there are other sections as well, involving some very interesting claymation. To understand where this comes from, you have to see the exploitive and uncomfortable "Monster Road" which features the disturbed Bruce Bickford, the animation artist featured in about a tenth of this film.
Now, Zappa is never beyond the cheap shot, and most know him for this because his music is too complex for most. And he deliberately obfuscates the complexity. At about the 65 minute mark in the original cut, is the best sequence. Bickford merges faces of all types, sexual encounters (also of all types) and journeys interrupted. The transformations have a very deliberate grammar, not designed but following the urge of the bent mind managing the hands.
Unfortunately, he doesn't know much about camera stuff, so what we have are images arranged for a fixed frame and lighting. You will have to slow things down to get it, and oddly, you are much better off without Zappa's accompaniment. What he chooses to put with these images is unlike his dense music and more a collection of honks and squeeks. So you'll have to put the space you get from baby snakes 9the song) with these images. This is utter mastery of one corner of image superposition born of that French romance with absinthe.
I have no idea if this is the end of the line.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.