ROCK AND ROLL SHOW OFFS:
FRANK ZAPPA AND STEVE VAI

I recently found yet another fantastic clip on Youtube, and I figured I'd better post it sooner rather than later, assuming that the popular video website is eventually going to have pull its best stuff due to various lawsuits, if they don't cut some fantastic deals first.

Anyway, the clip is taken from Video from Hell, FZ's promotional video for his tour supporting the album Jazz from Hell back in the mid 80s. I saw it years ago when I was an undergrad at UT and barely remember it. That is, I barely remember it except for this particular live performance, which has taken on near-icon status in the section of my brain reserved for Frank Zappa worship. The studio version of the song, "Stevie's Spanking" from the 1984 album Them or Us, is typical Zappa fare, a simple but infectious groove, lots of ornamentation, with naughty, near-obscene lyrics, all serving as an excuse for long and complex guitar solos. The "Live duet version" played at a 1982 concert in Rome, however, does away with the lyrics entirely and just goes for the jam.

And what a jam it is! It opens with about twenty seconds of FZ guitar fanfare, essentially musically introducing then wunderkind Steve Vai's solo, approximately two minutes of sheer guitar virtuosity. They hit the hook and then go into Zappa's solo, which isn't as good as Vai's, and certainly isn't the best I've ever heard from FZ, but still pretty great nonetheless. Ultimately, none of that matters one way or the other because those first two solos are only the warm up for the duet. Three minutes into Zappa's guitar meanderings, he steps over into Vai's spotlight and the two play together for the rest of the eight minute song. And lemme tell ya, it's fucking magic.

It's so weird that what first attracted me to Zappa when I was a kid were his funny lyrics and bizarre compositions. Of course, I still love those aspects of his work, but what's kept me with him for so many years is the incredible playing on every single song he's ever done. Eat your heart out, Eric Clapton. Bite me, Jimmy Page. Take some heroin, Duane Allman. Go to hell, Randy Rhodes. Zappa and his crew were always better than everybody. If you consider yourself a rock music fan at all, you simply must go check out this performance of "Stevie's Spanking."

Click here to rock the fuck out.



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