A ten hour documentary? Produced by the band's own company? How can that be good?

Well, it is. One could reasonably expect that certain sordid details would be glossed over, but for the most part, they are here, along with incredible footage, new interviews, classic performances, home movies, and incredible 5.1 surround sound remixes of the songs in the soundtrack. Hearing "Something" or "A Day in the Life" in surround sound is a remarkable experience.

So, let's talk quality and bonus features.

The video quality is superb, and shows no issues of PAL to NTSC conversion, a remarkable feat considering how many dvds seem to mess this up lately. The picture is very sharp, and the encode seems to have been done at a very high rate, so there is simply no apparent artifacting.

The sound is perfect. I can't imagine how many hours of effort must have gone into remixing everything for this presentation, but it must have been an effort.

The bonus features are okay. We get to see the whole Threetle's jam session, with George getting impatient with the whole project. The two bonus videos are nice to have, it's especially nice to finally have the Real Love video. There are also some interviews in the studio that are a bit illuminating.

The set is absolutely worth your time, even if you already have the VHS or Laserdisc versions.

Take one mid-70's Hong Kong marital arts flick, disassemble it, add a bunch of footage and digital effects, and this is what you get. A very bizarre spoof of martial arts films that absolutely skewers the genre yet celebrates it at the same time.

The film is stupid, okay? If you don't laugh at incredibly stupid films, then don't watch this.

This film is really the equivalent of several funny people sitting on a couch and cracking lots of jokes and non-sequiters. Nothing is sacred, nothing is off-limits. (I take that back - there is a profound lack of cussing in this film, the whole thing appears to be ready to show in prime-time tv.) The result is a lot of humor that really is only funny if you enjoy that kind of humor in the first place - it's not universal, nor is it thought-provoking. It's just funny.

The DVD itself is very well done, lots of good features, high-quality all the way. The commentary is really fun to listen to, and the original dialogue feature is interesting.

Once upon a time, Frank Zappa planned on releasing an 8 (or 10, or was it 12) record set that would be the history of the Mothers of Invention. It never came out, though his "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore" is close to the same concept.

This was meant to be a sampler for that album, and possibly functions as a best of for a set that never existed. The material is wild, varied, and powerful. "Oh No" and it's segue into "Orange County Lumber Truck" may be one of the best chunks of music Zappa ever put down onto tape. "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama" is biting guitar work, and the final "Weasels Ripped My Flesh" is simply three minutes of painful feedback, followed by ecstatic applause, which just goes to show where the audience's heads were back then.

The cd presentation is very good - the sound is very clear, balanced, and hasn't been mucked with. A great listen.

Ah yes, Ruben and the Jets. Pull out your Verve vinyl, and listen to the vintage sounds of Zappa and the Mothers reconstructing their heritage of classic doo-wop and r&b.

What? Your vinyl was lost or destroyed? Your record player was donated to charity?

Well, go buy a record player and a copy of the old vinyl version of this, because the current cd is garbage!

In the mid 80's, Zappa decided that the drum and bass sounds on two of his album, WOIIFTM and Ruben, were simply not up to snuff. He made the thoroughly bizarre decision to re-record those parts with current band members.

The result is something like a modern remix of a sixties-era track - it just doesn't work. The bass and drums do things that nobody did in 1969. They simply sound wrong.

So, if you want to hear this album properly, get the old vinyl. The cd is good for a laugh, but not for much more.

Make no bones about it - this is the BEST collection currently available of Chaplin's Essanay and Mutual films. The quality is superb, the soundtracks reasonably good, and the documentary on Eric Campbell is a delight. If you already know these films but have hesitated to buy these dvds, this is the perfect opportunity. More importantly, don't buy any other company's cheapo version of these films. The discs from Laserlight, Madacy, Delta, and Koch video don't hold a candle to these. In fact, it would be a good idea to hold a candle to those other versions.

So, that's the good news. Now for the bad news.

First of all, the transfers for the Mutual films were done at the infancy of the dvd medium. The encoding for dvds has gotten much better, which means that the details of these great restorations are sometimes lost in digital noise. Zooming in even a little makes this very apparant. These films deserved to be re-encoded for dvd, and it is an absolute shame that Image did not see fit to do this. The films look fine when shown full screen, with only a few exceptions, but those exceptions really stand out. (Example - each film opens with a text card giving some information about the film. These text cards are often almost unreadable due to the fact that the encoder couldn't handle the detail.)

Second, these are the most complete versions of these films available, which is great, but unfortunately there are several bits missing. In "One A.M.", there is a whole sequence with Chaplin in mountain climbing gear that is missing. "Easy Street" is missing a title card and some shots. You get the idea. David Shephard did his absolute best to restore these films well, and he did a marvelous job, but like most archivists, he simply did not have access to every single possible piece of material available. There is another company in Europe currently doing a restoration of these same films, and we will see how they do, but I still support this version, mostly because Shephard tries his best to bring so many films to light, often at appalingly small profit.

Third - the music. Now, I find the music on these discs to be just fine, but I do feel a bit disappointed that the old Van Beuren scores aren't there for the Mutuals. It's like having a record that you listen to for years, with crackles and skips and all the flaws of vinyl, and then you get a cd of the same album and you miss the crackles and pops! Same for these soundtracks. I even miss the really stupid calls of "Fire" from "The Fireman".

I heartily endorse this set of discs, but also long for something just a little better. Maybe with time it will happen.

Well, the other reviews have said it - this is a FANTASTIC restoration, and the availability of the 1925 version makes it even better. You get TWO prints of the film for the price of one.

But, the ghosting effect on the restored version is simply awful. Folks, there is not a SINGLE clear frame in the whole film! Every frame is a composite of two films frames, and the whole thing makes the film look very clear but very blurred at the same time.

It's an incredible shame that this wasn't handled correctly. There is NO excuse for a film of this high quality to be spoiled by poor transfer to video. None.

But then, some people will watch this and not notice anything wrong. Your mileage may vary.

The other features on the two-disc set are absolutely worthwhile, and having the choice of soundtracks is fantastic.

So, caveat emptor on this one. There's much to recommend, but a big disappointment as well.

That's right, I listen to this cd, and think "That's nice, where is Hot Rats?" This is because for ages I listened to the original vinyl version of this album, making cassettes for my car and just enjoying the heck out of it.

But, when this album was reissued on cd, Zappa decided to do a substantial remix of the album. There are some huge changes, missing instruments, different solos, all kinds of things that are distracting to people used to the original mix.

Not to say that the new mix is bad - it's very good, in fact. Clear, noise-free, and well balanced. It's just not how it used to be.

As far as the album itself goes, there are some mind-boggling jazz/rock compositions here, with only one vocal piece in the whole album. We get the fantastic "Peaches and Regalia", the slimy "Willie the Pimp", the satisfying "Son of Mr. Green Genes", and more.

There is some astounding violin work here, some great guitar playing, and an very strong album that seems to come from one musical viewpoint, unlike the eclectic approach that Zappa usually takes.

Very worthwhile - now, if they would just issue Hot Rats on cd...

Anyother review will tell you about the content of this disc, so I will simply speak to the quality of the cd release.

This is as good as it is likely to get, and that's not bad. The album has only been tampered with minimally. The sound quality has held up remarkably well, and the indexing of the tracks has been vastly improved from the previous two-fer release.

The only gripe, and really, most listeners won't care, but the only gripe here is that there are some changes in the mix from the original release, which can be disconcerting for listeners who only now are giving up on their original vinyl copies. Those two listeners might not like this. The rest of us will love it!

This album is where Zappa finally gets to show his personal style, segueing tracks together with blasts of noise and musique concrete, having reprises of songs, crazy vocals, it's all here.

The disc suffers from one of Zappa's wierder reissue choices, the placement of a single in the middle of this album. "Big LEg Emma" and "Why Doncha Do Me Right" jsut don't fit in with the album, and should have been bonus tracks included at the end, or better yet, on an album of single tracks otherwise unavailable. But instead, they are shoved in the middle of the cd, regardless of the effect that they have on the flow of the tracks.

Another problem, at least with the original Ryco issue, is that the remarkably dense Zappa art is impossible to see. If you have a chance to see the cover from the original vinyl, you will see far more detail that is easily presented on cd-size graphics. This is a shame, since Zappa himself didi the design work.

Nevertheless, this is an important, good album, and worth your time.

This disc contains some of Zappa's early productions, mostly issued as local singles by a variety of companies. Del-Fi has gotten rights to quite a few songs, and, more amazingly, has gotten tapes as well.

The tracks are interesting, ranging from the bizarre late-night-horror-movie-host "Jeepers" songs to the Penguins doo-wop "Memories of El Monte". There are some wild touches here, such as the crazy sliding bass in "Jessie Lee" to the bizarre lyrics of "Hows Your Bird", which is perhaps the birth of the conceptual continuity that Zappa urged his listeners to believe in.

The quality of this disc is pretty good - the tapes have obviously deteriorated over the years, and some have not been stored properly, bu they still sound quite good. Listeners with very high quality systems and practiced ears will hear some treble deterioration, and some tiny drop-outs, but overall, the sound is quite good. It does appear that none of these tracks come from vinyl.

This album, when listened to alongside "The Lost Episodes" and "Mystery Disc", helps give a fairly complete picture of Zappa's pre-1966 activities.