Frank Zappa's long awaited concert film from one of his top bands (many would say his TOP BAND. PERIOD.) finally sees the light of the day. After over 40 years of sitting in the vault and immense technical difficulties the Zappa Family Trust faced with editing and syncing with audio (all explained in the liner notes), the HOLY GRAIL of Zappa concerts features jaw-dropping musicianship courtesy of FZ (vocals, guitar), Napoleon Murphy Brock (tenor sax, vocals), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), Bruce Fowler (trombone), Tom Fowler (bass), Ruth Underwood (percussion), Ralph Humphrey and Chester Thompson (drums), the bands charges through classics such as "Cosmik Debris", "Dog Breath/Uncle Meat", "Echidna's Arf", "Cheepnis" (Zappa's loving tribute to B-monster movies with excellent percussion wizardry by Underwood, Humphrey and Thompson), "Big Swifty", and the free jazz-rock n' roll-dance party-romp in the finale "Be-Bop Tango". The long wait was truly worth it!
The legendary CT-based progressive metal band who would later create masterpieces such as Perfect Symmetry, Parallels, and A Pleasant Shade of Grey started as a more straight-ahead metal band in the style of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, though you do get to hear small glimpses of their later style. Featuring the unique vocal stylings of John Arch, the 2002 remaster has good sound plus bonus tracks. Even better are the follow-ups, The Spectre Within (also a 2002 remaster with bonus) and the underground classic Awaken The Guardian, Arch's last LP before being replaced by present vocalist Ray Alder (Highly recommend the Deluxe Edition w/bonus discs and DVD).