Released: 1975
Tracks: Debra Kadabra; Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy; Sam With the Showing Scalp Flat Top; Poofter’s Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead; 200 Years Old; Cucamonga; Advance Romance; Man With the Woman Head; Muffin Man
Best track: Muffin Man
Tracks to skip: 200 Years Old, Cucamonga
This album is another (rather abrupt) change in direction after the previous two “prog funk” albums. Of course, with Zappa, it’s expected that he’s not going to do anything for 3 albums in a row. Bongo Fury stands as the only one of its kind in Zappa’s discography. It’s officially a dual album with Zappa and Captain Beefheart, but in reality it’s Zappa’s band with Beefheart guesting on half of the tracks. For the band, it’s mostly the same lineup that recorded Roxy & OSFA except switching out Ruth Underwood’s percussion for Denny Walley’s slide guitar, the on and off addition of Bruce Fowler on trombone and swapping Chester Thompson with Terry Bozzio on the drums. So, in a way, it’s the lone link between the ’73-’75 band and the ’76-’78 band with Bozzio as the hinge. However, Bongo Fury sounds nothing like either of those groups. For the most part, thanks to Denny Walley and Beefheart’s vocals and harmonica, this is probably the bluesiest album Zappa ever recorded.
Sometimes I don’t know what to think about it. It certainly doesn’t feel like a cohesive album. It’s just kinda thrown together in places. The 2 Beefheart-penned tracks, Sam… and Man with the Woman Head, are basically spoken word things with the band improvising behind the Captain. I don’t always listen to them, but they’re interesting. It’s amusing when Zappa inserts the Louie Louie riff in the middle of Sam as he does at hundreds of points in his catalog. Both of the tracks I always skip, 200 Years Old and Cucamonga, are the sole studio tracks recorded with the OSFA group without Ruth. These are presumably some of the tracks that were to be on the OSFA follow up (as Zappa mentioned in that album’s liner notes) as well as some of the tracks on Sleep Dirt and Studio Tan. I really don’t like either of these songs. Cucamonga has a nice story behind it, but the song itself it pretty bad. Poofter’s is a decent song and Debra Kadabra is good, but the structure on it is all over the map. I’ve grown to like it though.
So, you have a bunch of ‘iffy’ material and then you have 3 absolutely kick ass, classic and amazing tracks in Carolina Hard-core Ecstasy, Advance Romance and Muffin Man. The guitar solo in Carolina is excellent, as is Zappa’s bluesy one in Advance Romance, but THE moment of this album is Zappa’s solo in Muffin Man. In my opinion, this is the moment that Frank Zappa ceases to be a good guitar player and becomes an EXCELLENT guitar player. It has a great riff, some amusing lyrics, but the solo is so meaty. I love listening to it. It’s true you can get Muffin Man on the ‘best of’ Strictly Commercial, but this album is essential for Carolina and Advance Romance. These three compositions totally justify all the not so great stuff on here. Like I said, it’s a strange album, but all in all it’s pretty enjoyable. Oh, and Zappa’s vocal outro on Muffin Man is classic.
Rating: 86
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