The Persuasions

On their 1970 debut, the Persuasions already sounded dated. Their a cappella style borrowed heavily from doo wop traditions and there's a hint of '60s soul in there as well. But the great thing about the Persuasions isn't their voices -- though those are certainly deft -- but rather the audience noise and street-corner atmospherics that seep into their recordings, giving them a found sound intimacy. This disk is especially notable for their cover of the Temptation's classic "Don't Look Back."

By recording half of this live, the best way to assure that the vocal textures will be lost (they sound better in subway tunnels than on stages anyway), Frank Zappa and/or his agents reduce this group to the level of Alice Cooper, Wild Man Fischer, and the GTOs--another act in the freak show. (Grade - C+)