Much ado about muffin (From Western Telegraph)

Much ado about muffin

Live review: The Muffin Men, Queens Hall, Narberth, March 5th

Bands of all descriptions still draw inspiration from the rich musical loam of two of the last century's greatest composers, Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart.

Although they are not a tribute band as such, the Liverpool-based Muffin Men play Zappa and Beefheart's influential music in their own style, as a labour of love.

Always more than just a purveyor of colour-drenched 60s psychedelia, Zappa, a musical innovator, was also a satirist, known for his scathing lyrical wit at a time when the west coast hippie movement took itself very seriously indeed.

Zappa's music ranges (broadly) from boogie blues and doo-wop to jazz fusion, as in tonight's instrumental opener Cletusawreetus-awrightus, a single release in 1972.

Two living legends joined the Muffin Men on stage. The first was American Jimmy Carl Black, a man with a rich musical pedigree as founder member of the Mothers Of Invention and Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band, and whose vocals captured the gritty smoky depths of Beefheart's Plastic Factory - blues rock in the Howlin' Wolf mode.

Focusing the awe struck crowd still further, Welsh legend Micky Jones (of late 60s band Man) joined the Muffin Men for some musical alchemy with an extended jam on the King Kong theme - a thrilling piece of musical archaeology, updated.

Back for the second half, the band, so tight they seemed telepathically connected, gave us a Hot Rats medley.

The music was hot, but the proficiency of the musicians was eye popping. Jimmy rejoined for eyebrow raiser of its time, Flower Punk, from Zappa's We're Only In It For The Money, an album so hip it has never dated, but it was Duke Of Prunes that finally convinced everyone that they should be on that dance floor.

And with dancing shoes firmly in place, the encore could only really be from Beefheart's (1967) album Safe As Milk. Rearranged, but still bearing their full bodied blues imprints, Sure 'Nuff 'n Yes I Do and Dropout Boogie blew the cobwebs from your soul.

To anyone who might have been put off attending this gig by thinking that it was for Zappa and Beefheart cognoscenti only, you missed a treat. The Muffin Men's arrangements and set choice ensured that the music was always accessible and very, very danceable.

So when they return (and they will do, hopefully), please, please catch them - you won't be sorry.