Live Zappa

gotcha. I may try to cajole my wife into going but I think I'll get a raised eyebrow for my effort.

Might shoot for Birmingham, August 12

Come to Dallas! It's only a nine hour drive.

I'd do it for a September show, but my work schedule will be too hairy in mid-August to be away that many days.

Some day I'll catch a Zappa family concert with you. If only to be regaled with all your Zappa stories.

Turns out I'm not going to be able to catch the Grandmothers show next week. Pretty bummed.

Here's 30 minutes from the 1973 Roxy performances. Catch it before ZFT lawyers find out about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnDqHppWS_Q

^^^ still on youtube as of today. Kinda surprising, or maybe the estate just thinks it's good advertising for when the DVD finally surfaces.

Here's one I had never heard before today - I was off the FZ bus by the time of Joe's Garage II and III - but this is "Watermelon in Easter Hay'-level beautiful, if only it weren't for Frank's stupid lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ypZrkjgBQ

Just found out the 1981 show at the Palladium is on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQDTXF63vug

I'm stuck in a Zappahole. Went straight from the '81 show into this 1973 Stockholm one. Video quality isn't great, but the show itself is a corker. I've heard it many times but watching it, even in low quality, is great. Franks outfit is something else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BynKe8BjIxk

Yeah, that Stockholm show is a fun one. Just discovered that recently myself.

It's so cool to watch after having had years of listening to the audio from it. And it seems so incredibly alive when compared to the '81 show which is technically better -- almost note perfect -- but a bit soulless.

Visuals add so much, esp. the Roxy footage, which is amazeballs. I'll try to watch that '81 show at some point, but while those guys are technically brilliant, that band and that setlist are really not up my alley.

The only time I ever saw him was 1974, and I wish more I had more than the vague, fuzzy memories I'm left with. Damn teenage drinking. Kinda wish I would have seen him later too, although I was so far off the Zappatrain in the 80s.

I think all his 80s bands suffered from that soullessness. He had a harder and harder time reconciling conflicting desires -- he wanted that note-perfect execution, but he would also tell the players to "put some eyebrows on it" or "put some garlic in it." He never achieved better than the 73-74 bands, imo.
xxpost

Dan, I would say the '81 show is mainly worth watching for the solos. Steve and Frank really pushed each other into some crazy spaces. But yeah, the setlist is a bit of a shame. Pretty much every show post '78 or so is, as William put it, about conflicting desires. The perfectionist drove the life from his own work.

One of these days, William, we will find a way to meet halfway between our respective abodes and just chat over coffee or beer or something. Well worth the hours of driving to get you to wax eloquent about Zappa. Dan, your welcome to join too, wherever you may be coming from.

watched a bit of that 73 clip (75 is about as far as I go w/ frank) -- great stuff! being in zappa's band must've been hard.

Wow, just when I say I can't remember my only Zappa show, I discover there's a soundboard recording:

http://www.discogs.com/Frank-Zappa-Saint-Mothers-In-Saint-Paul/release/2203684

and I'm listening to part of it as I type. Lots of spoken word tomfoolery so far, which is basically one of my only memories of the show.

That's amazing!

I found a better looking version of the Stockholm show I embedded above:

http://youtu.be/yqfx2cTeCFk

One of these days, William, we will find a way to meet halfway between our respective abodes and just chat over coffee or beer or something. Well worth the hours of driving to get you to wax eloquent about Zappa. Dan, your welcome to join too, wherever you may be coming from.

Sounds like fun! Maybe in NYC for an Ed Palermo show, and we can heckle him for not getting it just right.

Sure! NYC sounds better than the probable middle points of Little Rock or Shreveport.

I'm in St. Paul, MN. Triangulate that...

I believe I've convinced myself to see Zappa Plays Zappa next time they come through.

So, when are we all going to Kansas City?

http://www.jambands.com/news/2013/04/30/zappa-plays-zappa-to-celebrate-roxy-elsewhere-with-tour/

I might roadtrip to one of these dates.

I can't believe they're skipping the whole South. They were just here but not playing Roxy material. Grr.

Easily my most played Zappa album. Roadtrip to Eau Claire, WI might be in the offing.

It's tempting to go back to Eau Claire, why because the Norske Nook and 837 kinds of pie.

^^^ truthbomb

I didn't know that A Token Of His Extreme finally got an official dvd release. Primo '74 Zappa that I've watched in crappy form many times so I need to pick this up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN1h2w7gqvY#

oh hai, anybody for the complete Mount St. Mary's concert from 1963?

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/opus_5_young_frank_zappas_early_avant_garde

http://youtu.be/rwoTPS8gbJM

getting obsessed with Roxy and Elsewhere, it's such a perfect combo of what make Zappa such an enormous turn-off and why some of us still keep coming back - the band is just locked into this singular groove, Z's playing finds all these different pockets of goodness and just sounds so great, and then...he fuckin'...keeps right on blowing the minds of the sheeple on the mic with the assistance of his entire ensemble. like, they all think the same utterly tiresome schtick isn't just a fine way to bide time between killer playing, but the best way. and at the same time, sometimes, I feel like, well, who gives a shit - "Village of the Sun" is such a total gem, who cares if the people making it are the worst kinda people to be around - but then they keep right on insisting that you're not just gonna listen to their music, you have to take their personalities, warts and all, mainly warts, in the bargain.

but Jesus Christ "Village of the Sun" is killing me.

I beg you to get Roxy the Movie if you haven't already.

That "Village/Echidna's/Don't You Ever..." segment is one of my most played sides of vinyl ever; I've listened to that thing hundreds of times.

And I got to see The Grandmothers do a spot-on recreation at a festival once.

That "Village/Echidna's/Don't You Ever..." segment is one of my most played sides of vinyl ever; I've listened to that thing hundreds of times.

it's just fuckin' unbelievable. still surprising after all these years. but to get to it, you have to really bite your lip through that "Penguin in Bondage" intro...which, at several points, feels actually funny instead of forced-laugh funny: the moments when the band are talking to each other, bouncing off each other...Zappa is the artist about whom I should probably write a long piece that I really don't wanna write

Anger was one of his four food groups, along with coffee, cigarettes and staff paper — the tragedy of the 1973-74 band, the best band he ever had, was that he seemed to break it up because it didn't feed his anger. Everybody was too fuckin' happy! "Village" and "Cheepnis" were clear cracks in his misanthropy, signs of him taking actual pleasure in the world that wasn't at anyone else's expense.

Yeah the other great stretch is "Cheepnis/Orange County/More Trouble." I never play the "Penguin" side, or "Bebop Tango." That's a 2LP set that could have been a single disc imo.

c'mon guys, Pygmy Twylyte is great. Probably the Zappa track that gets stuck in my head most frequently.

i really like the summer '73 arrangement of "village of the sun" with an intro/outro dropped from later versions, and lead vox by george duke. it's here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx74o-AjmdA

here's a nice version of dummy up featuring soul singer erma coffee guesting on vocals from the "un-concert":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khUu2LGjEg8

"Village" and "Cheepnis" were clear cracks in his misanthropy, signs of him taking actual pleasure in the world that wasn't at anyone else's expense.

I don't know about this. As a diehard fan of Roxy and this era of Zappa in general, I always heard "Village of the Sun" as a potshot; the kind of sentiment every rural person suspects is in the thoughts of every snobby so-called "coastal elite." The song is about Palmdale / Lancaster, a place from which Zappa escaped, and I always heard this as him ridiculing the "turkey farmers" who are "all still there"--"I don't know how the people stand it, but I guess they do," etc

Listening to the Roxy box now and omg this solo on the first version of Penguin is so fucking hot..... how did he not put this out before? Insane.

The Roxy box is pretty much the only Zappa I'm gonna listen to from here on out.

i nearly bought a copy of "Just Another Band From L.A." last weekend. i love that version of "Billy the Mountain"

This is so great -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvtvVf8_ITE

i guess i can't go on and on about zappa in the beefheart thread so i'm here to talk about how much i, like everyone who's ever encountered them, love the roxy '73 performances, what a fucking band. zappa's an insufferable nerd but at least very few of the songs are about sex (this is what kills over-nite sensation for me even though it is ecstatically played) and did i mention the band???? i was so surprised by the appearance of my man george duke. glad i persevered after nearly being defeated by uncle meat

however i also think this is close to the end of my zappa journey; i'm gonna check bongo fury and then the läther stuff and then i don't really think there's a lot left for me after that. which is fine bc the first incarnation of the mothers -> zappa's jazz/big band records -> the george duke mothers spans a ton of music. i even downloaded the roxy box

ranking is totally antithetical to the zappa project but this is where i land so far:

one size fits all
roxy & elsewhere
the grand wazoo
hot rats
weasels ripped my flesh
burnt weeny sandwich
we're only in it for the money
waka/jawaka
apostrophe (')
cruising with ruben and the jets
freak out!
lumpy gravy (orchestra only version)
uncle meat
over-nite sensation
lumpy gravy (musique concrete version)

i like uncle meat more than i've implied in this post and previous ones but also i mainly just like "king kong" "sleeping in a jar" and "dog breath"

oh i forgot absolutely free. good record but i think i'd put it after over-nite sensation, another one sunk by its lyrics

Brad, have you heard You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore vol. 2? It's a full concert (actually pieced together from more than one show) by that almighty 73-74 band, Helsinki late '74. Really, really good.

the 73-74 band was a motherfucker. curious about whether you've heard the live grand wazoo release. it's a really interesting one. also, on the hot rats tip, there's one live gig the hot rats group with sugarcane harris did, march 7, 1970 at the olympic theatre. it's a really nice set. it opens with the ten-minute version of "sharleena" featuring sugarcane harris as heard on the "lost episodes" release; one of his finer moments.

there's also a really nice tape of zappa and shuggie otis jamming on acoustic guitars together on the johnny otis show in '70. that's a good one as well.

and oh, if you like the hot rats band, you should definitely check out the pure food and drug act. sugarcane with the fantastic harvey mandel on lead guitar. the record of theirs i keep coming back to is a live recording from pasadena '71, super stretched out jamming, but for more concise stuff there's a live set of theirs released in '72 as "choice cuts" - i should probably give it another listen!

god that "dupree's paradise" video upthread is so fuckin rad. jean-luc ponty shreds

yeah sleep dirt is great. you might want to avoid getting the version with vocals though.

However, with the CD release in 1991, Zappa added new overdubs to the recordings. Zappa asked singer Thana Harris to add vocals to three songs. Zappa had originally envisioned "Flambay", "Spider of Destiny", and "Time is Money" as part of his abandoned 1972 musical, Hunchentoot, and thus, these songs were originally intended to be sung.

yeah i'm not going anywhere near that. i'm v thankful for (most) of the 2012 reissues of the zappa catalog, they really removed the main obstacle to exploring zappa: how much he loved to ruin his own music

(i say most bc i had to look up specific box sets to find the original mixes of freak out!, uncle meat, cruising with ruben and the jets, and zappa in new york, so, like, it's still not easy)

lmao that when joe gets out of prison the world has been converted into a WELFARE STATE oh no!!!!!!

For some reason Bongo Fury has totally passed me by, will give that one a listen

ok my main problem with shut up 'n play yer guitar is there's too much guitar

Yeah, even though I’m a fan of his guitar playing by and large, I don’t find him interesting enough to sustain that kind of listening. I did just put on YCDTOSA 2 tonight, and although I still think some songs are played too fast, overall the first disc is really impressive.

I was still in my first flush of FZ adoration when Shut Up n Play Yer Guitar came out (I bought it in its original mail-order incarnation as 3 individual LPs) but I can imagine it being wearing. The followup set of solos, Guitar, is the one that tries my patience.

I just got tix to see Dweezil play highlights from Roxy and Elsewhere and Apostrophe, it’s the 50th anniversary of both. I’ve never seen him, and those are two of my favorite Zappa albums. I’m excited.

Any Zappa alum in the current Dweezil band?

The advertising didn’t say.

Listening to first disc of ‘Shut Up and Play yer Guitar’ last week, it occurred to me if Autechre was a prog rawk band it would probably sound something like this. There is not a straight beat on that whole record.

I was also watching one of those videos on the tube going over Zappa’s chord progressions and the time signature madness in some of those tunes, is pretty wild.