VINELAND

[Greg Montalbano]

I never lived in The Zone in WWII; never hunted aligators under the streets
of NY;  and sure never saw that Khirgiz light.
But I DID live in southern, central and northern California during the two
decades described in VINELAND... and I'm here to tell you, our boy NAILED it.
Every landscape, freeway, fogbank, dope war, hippie folklore, revolutionary
fantasy hand-job and fascist paramilitary exercise was (and in some cases IS)
precisely as described.  (makes me wonder about the accuracy of his other
novels.)
Anyway, while perusing my moldering record collection, I came across what
I would like to submit as the perfect audio companion to VINELAND:  none
other than the venerable WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY, third album of
Frank Zappa and the MOI.  I can't think of any one album that better reflects
the mood of VL -- such tunes as "Are You Hung Up?", "Who Needs the Peace Corps?
", "Concentration Moon", "Flower Punk', and the ever-popular "What's the
Ugliest Part of Your Body?".... but I'm sure if one of YOU can think of a
more representative album, I'll be hearing about it shortly.