Moxy Fruvous, "Live Noise," (The Bottom Line), three and a half stars.
Not since the early '70s "Fillmore East" heyday of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention has a band been quite so technically brilliant but so completely off the wall as Moxy Fruvous.
It's said that Moxy has to be seen to be believed and after several studio albums the Canadian quartet has wisely issued this career-spanning live set culled from its Fall 1997 North American Tour.
The trademark four-part harmonies are gloriously intact, blending perfectly into offbeat tales like "Michigan Militia," the tongue-twisting, rapid-fire "Johnny Saucep'n," and two very different versions of the doo-wop diamond "King of Spain."
Exceptional covers of Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer," and The Bee Bees' "I've Gotta Get a Message to You," round out the set that also features healthy doses of the Moxy's [sic] twisted between-song stage banter.
(Moxy Fruvous will perform Oct. 30-31 at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton).
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