Ike Willis & ZAPPATiKA Featuring: Jeff Hollie& Craig Twister Steward: Welcome to the Starlight Lounge

The Ike Willis & ZAPPATiKA European tour was a special one. They were joined by two Frank Zappa alumni: Jeff Hollie (sax) and Craig Twister Steward (harp). The new live album Welcome to the Starlight Lounge, recorded during shows in the UK and Germany, is a consolation for those who could not attend in person and a nice souvenir for those who did. The songs are served as one huge single continuous file, just like an actual concert. With the presence of Willis, Hollie and Steward three of the musicians of Joe's Garage were on hand, so it made sense that a sizeable slice of the show consisted of songs taken from one of Frank Zappa's finest albums.

Willis' voice is fine form and Steward's bluesy harp and Hollie's sax are spot on. Anglo-Dutch tribute band ZAPPATiKA are one of the top acts on the circuit, with guitar player Zap Mcinnes comes close to FZ's tone. Percussionist/synth player Hieronymus Bongo also takes care of the background vocals notes, drummer Diego Mocci is a master of any time signature that is put in from of him, Fred Händl's keyboards are playful and bass player Joep Oosterbaan is obviously an avid student of Scott Tunes.

The sound is more balanced than its predessor "Live in Liverpool" and you will be hard pressed to pinpoint the acoustic differences and difficulties that they must have run into when they mixed down the album as if it were recorded at a single show.