Baby Snakes available on DVD is a late 70's movie originally released as double videocassette at that time. Actually it is three movies in one: a concert-film, a documentary (indeed rockumentary) and, last but not least, an animation artwork featuring the stunning claymation done by Bruce Bickford. It's playing time last a little more than two hours, so most people will find something for their own taste. The most of it are concert sequences from a series of concerts in Halloween 1977. The bands performances are exquisite, changing between rock, fusion, stunning solos, composing by conducting tracks, funny songs and audience participation. A little bit you can find on the same named soundtrack album. You also see a lot of backstage scenes, funny looking audiences entering the concert-hall and so on, which i would describe as the documentary part of the movie. And finally there is a lot of wonderful clay-animation done by Bruce Bickford, it is not to much in relation to the playing time of the disc, but maybe caused the most hours of work for manufacturing this movie. If you are fair, you shouldn't wonder if Bickford was the second name on the DVD-case. Zappa later filled this gap with the title 'the amazing mister Bickford' for another video-release. The animation sequences are accompanied with soundtracks done by the same Band but sounding totally different to the stuff played in the concerts. You can see a few moments FZ conducting the band in the studio recording these soundtracks, otherwise you wouldn't believe hearing the same cast of musicians. This shows once more the unbelievable band-with of Zappa himself as well of the band-members. All in all the animation sequences are a very special part of the film, i wouldn't like to miss them. These single elements of the movie are melted together in a very chaotic way, just about the last hour consists only of concert recordings, but when you have reached this sequence you have a lot behind you, really! People who don't like FZ won't like this movie also, people who divide FZ in two persons (the good Zappa and the evil Zappa) will find a lot to pick out what they like, i for myself like to watch the disc from beginning to the end.
Review of Baby Snakes
