The
soundtrack
to
Frank Zappa
's strange early-'70s film
200 Motels
was always doomed to be a peripheral entry in his discography. The movie's story was not easy to follow, and neither is the record (not that plot was ever a big focus of the production). It's typically wacky
Zappa
of the era, with unpredictable sharp turns between crunchy
rock
bombast, orchestration, and
jazz
/
classical
influences, as well as interjections of wacky spoken dialogue. Those who like his late-'60s/early-'70s work -- not as song-oriented as his first albums, in other words, but not as "serious" or as silly as his later records -- will probably like this fine, although it's not up to the level of
Uncle Meat
. It's funny in spots as well, especially the part where a disgruntled sideman gets tempted away from the band to do his own thing (a libretto that was, apparently, based on real-life incidents concerning
sideman
Jeff Simmons
, who left during the project). On the other hand, there's a growing tendency to deploy the smutty, cheap humor that would soon dominate much of
's work. ~ Richie Unterberger