1976 + 1978

Frank Zappa		Mixed 13


Disc 1  -  76.12
1	Torture Never Stops		 6.30 	76-Oct-24  (early show)
2	Black Napkins			12.21	"
3	Advance Romance  *	 	 6.53	"
4	Persona Non Grata		11.15	78-Oct-15  (late show)
5	Pound For A Brown		24.35	"
6	Pound For A Brown		14.36	78-Oct-27  (early show)


76-Oct-24:	Boston Music Hall - Boston, MA  (2nd gen)

78-Oct-15:	SUNY - Stony Brook, NY  (1st gen)

78-Oct-27:	Palladium - New York, NY  (1st gen)


*   w/ In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida excerpt



Notes on this material from the Frank Zappa Tape Reviewing Society 
(I sometimes only pick parts of the reviews that actually apply to 
the tracks above):


78-Oct-15 (late show):

This SBD is one of the must-have tapes from this tour, along with 
78-Oct-13 (late) and the Palladium shows. Like all of them, it has 
its drawbacks (small repertoire, weak vocals) but displays a band 
ready to cut loose like maniacs whenever it gets half a chance.

The opening Persona Non Grata solo is nearly as massive as its 
counterparts from 78-Oct-13 (late) and 78-Oct-27 (late) - by now, 
O'Hearn is here (and Ike is gone), and the board tape puts his 
contributions (tossing many of FZ's most pungent phrases back at 
him) into sharp relief. At the end, FZ quotes the intro to 
Mo's Vacation, leading to a mini-Mo's jam led by Barrow (pretty 
sure) before FZ starts the band intros.

Then "Pound," and all hell breaks loose. Aside from the usual 
percussion and keyboard solos (allowed to go longer tonight than 
usual), we get just about everything one could imagine (except for 
Thirteen and Shankar) - a jam between FZ and O'Hearn (with some 
assistance from the others), O'Hearn's Emperor Of Ohio rap and more. 
Definitely one of the classic moments of the year. Unfortunately, 
the SBD cuts during Tommy's solo, though many copies (not mine) 
have a few AUD-recorded minutes patched in to pick up the story.

Incidentally, this is one of the most commonly mislabelled FZ tapes 
I know of - I received it labelled as 
"Harvard Square Theatre - Cambridge, MA"



78-Oct-27 (early show):

This is another one of those tapes which you might get mostly in 
order to put everything in perspective.  The show is well-played 
and energetic, but it only hints at the musical madness to come 
in this run. Aside from a certain leap in confidence and firepower, 
you'd be hard-pressed to tell how far these guys have come since 
Saarbrucken.

The only true disappointment is the opening solo (over a unique 
vamp - uptempo reggae in A minor), which simply peters out after a 
promising start.  On the other hand, the only real musical highlight 
is Pound For A Brown, where Shankar makes his first, unannounced 
appearance after Ed's solo and turns out some fiery licks, prompting 
FZ to follow with a thrasing solo using an octave divider, with 
Vinnie going mad behind him.  There would be more and better examples 
of this Shankar/FZ interaction later.  Otherwise, we get the standard 
fall '78 set, with few extras.