Zappa's avant-garde flounders in the past

By George Kanzler Jr.

The Star-Ledger, 16 October 1978

It's 13 vears since the Mothers of Invention burst on the rock scene trying to freak out the establishment and the hippies all at once. Judging from Frank Zappa's appearance at the Capitol in Passaic over the weekend, not much has changed in his act, the times have just passed him by.

His new band is called Zappa, but it looks and sounds suspiciously like many Mothers of the past. This time they come in pairs: Two guitarists, two bassists, two keyboard-synthesizer players, two percussionists. And the two Frank Zappas, rock's most schizoid, two-faced boy.

Frank Zappa always had trouble taking pop music seriously on the one hand – hence his many satires, often emphasizing the dumbness he perceived in the music; while on the other hand claiming to be a pioneer in contemporary electronic music and often dubbing himself the best electric guitar player of his era.

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Zappa's latest gimmick – or electronic experiment – is cordless, remote guitars. He had two of these newly outfitted gadgets among a battery of electronic equipment on stage at the Capitol. Too bad it was about the only new thing he had to offer.

The Mothers of Invention were best in two fields that require constant innovation and change: Satire and experimental music.

Their musical experiments, the ones not directly related to their satire, were basically syntheses of disparate elements in modern music, from rock to electronic to modern classical.

Once the synthesis has accomplished it is no longer outrageous or startling or particularly engrossing. There's nothing as stale as yesterday's avant-arde, unless it continues to progress. Judging from Zappa's long, conducted electronic pieces, he is still toying with the same stale old ideas. He can't really want to be taken seriously – or can he?

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Since Zappa expects the same old satire to work, judging from the songs presented as funny, maybe he does believe in the music too.

But he doesn't act like it. At least he remains on stage most of the time while not playing – desultorily tuning instruments, smoking cigarettes and listening with a cocked head to the music around him.

Despite a high level of energy from his band, Frank Zappa acted like a Rip Van Winkle suddenly back on the scene a decade late, trying to do what he did before as if the last 10 years never had happened.

Yet his heart did not even seem to be in it. He did encores, yes, but he clowned through them, giving the crowd what he thought they wanted.

Frank Zappa didn't get his reputation by being predictable, and his satire never attacked easy targets. Now it all smells like the nostalgia of a rock revival show by an avant-garde turned traditional – something ripe for a satire.

The Mothers once made a very funny and sarcastic album about the rock business called "We're Only In It For The Money." Regretfully I must conclude that that's why Frank Zappa is still in it today – because he sure isn't producing anything new musically or satirically.