200 Motels

Anyone who followed Frank Zappa's career for any length of time knew not only to expect the unexpected, but to definitely not expect the normal. Mayb ...

200 Motels
Provided By:The Daily Vault

200 Motels
Frank Zappa / Mothers Of Invention
Rykodisc, 1971
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 09/07/2005
Anyone who followed Frank Zappa's career for any length of timeknew not only to expect the unexpected, but to definitely notexpect the normal. Maybe that's what scared me away from thesoundtrack to 200 Motels, the "unofficial" second movie from Zappa and theMothers Of Invention (the first movie, Uncle Meat, would not be finished for well over anotherdecade), when I found a cassette copy in the cut-out bins of SoundWarehouse. I listened to it once, was thoroughly disgusted at whatI heard, and filed it away in the Pierce Memorial Archives.
Finally released on CD only a few years ago, the soundtrackturns out to have more substance than one might have expected, andthere is something to be said for the underlying story of life onwhat seems to be the never-ending road. But 200 Motels is no Uncle Meat in terms of music - nor is it the absolutedisaster I thought it was when I first listened to it all thoseyears ago.
Zappa and crew work the storyline of how life on the road canmake you crazy in surprisingly well - the dilemma of Jeff Simmonson whether to leave the band (a storyline based somewhat in fact)during "Dental Hygiene Dilemma" and "Does This Kind Of Life LookInteresting To You?" does hint at the fact that touring life isn'tall glitter, illicit sex and beer, but can be mentally draining.And, while I freely admit I'm a hypocrite for liking this set oftracks just one review after slamming Zappa's sophomoric sexualhumor, I can't help but like "She Painted Up Her Face," "Half ADozen Provocative Squats" and "Shove It Right In" (all merged intoone as "Shove It Right In" on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Volume 6), which takes onthe groupie scene and how some would do anything to lay claim tosleeping with a rock star.
Yet there are many points during the soundtrack where things gettedious and far too repetitious. The whole selection of tracksbased around "This Town Is A Sealed Tuna Fish Sandwich" may havebeen okay had it been limited to one or two tracks, but carrying iton and on (albeit for only four tracks, but I believe this took up10 minutes) gets real old, real quick. It almost suggests thatZappa ran out of ideas to illustrate the tedium of road life.Likewise, many of the instrumental tracks that are scatteredthroughout the two discs sound tired and uninspired - nothing likethe exciting jazz-rock combos that can be found on Uncle Meat.

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