1976 + 1977 + 1978 + 1982 + 1984 Frank Zappa Mixed 12 Disc 1 - 76.02 1 Black Napkins 12.55 76-Oct-27 2 Advance Romance * 4.52 " 3 Black Napkins 8.18 77-Oct-31 4 The Torture Never Stops 9.11 78-Feb-17 (late show) 5 Zoot Allures 8.48 82-May-17 6 What's New In Baltimore 4.17 " 7 Watermelon In Easter Hay 5.05 " 8 Black Page #2 8.50 " 9 Sharleena 5.41 " 10 Zoot Allures 5.46 84-Oct-8 11 More Trouble Every Day 2.15 " ******************************************************* Many of these are incomplete songs. I really only like Zappa's guitar playing. The singing kind of sucks (imo). ******************************************************* 76-Oct-27: Leroy Theater - Pawtucket, RI (Dan Lampinski recording) 77-Oct-31: The Palladium - New York, NY (1st gen tape) 78-Feb-17: Falkoner Theatret - København, Denmark (late show) 82-May-17: Nouvel Hippodrome - Paris, France 84-Oct-8: Palasport San Siro - Milano, Italy * 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): 77-Oct-31: Halloween with FZ, and the last of a series of 6 Palladium shows, something Frank would repeat the following year to even greater effect. This show is the big one (well, perhaps not QUITE as big as 10/30), and provides a ton of highlights for the discerning listener. My tape ends with a cut-off Black Napkins, with lots of echo effects, sounding like it was starting to really get interesting. Perhaps not as wild as 10/30, but still a great show, and worthy of the FZ Halloween tradition. 78-Sept-17 (late): If there's one thing this band could be rightly accused of, it's predictable setlists. For the vast majority of the shows, the only deviation came during the encores. But for a few nights, when they played double sets, FZ decided to rearrange the setlists and throw in a few surprises, presumably so the people who attended both shows wouldn't get to hear two identical shows. This is one of those shows. While it's great to hear a rearranged set, and especially the rare items, there's one sad thing about it: FZ has decided to leave Wild Love/Yo Mama out. As it would turn out, we get more than enough madness to compensate for this loss, but I can only imagine what this show would have been like *with* those two... ...A few minutes later, we get to hear what's probably THE Torture Never Stops solo of the tour, if not the best ever. FZ starts out very passionate, slowly building to more and more energetic levels. 5 minutes into the solo, he throws in a couple of Mo's Vacation quotes, and this is where Bozzio and O'Hearn find new energy. They whip out a new, high-energy vamp, which brings new inspiration to FZ, and the solo goes on and on. At 9 minutes, it must be one of the longest solos I've heard, yet it never gets boring. Awesome. 82-May-17: You can tell what sort of mood Frank is in right off the bat with his Zoot Allures solo. Wwwwhaaaaaaang... rrrrwoooorrrrr... yes, it's feedback night at the Zappa corral. Frank can't seem to decide if he's playing whole notes or 64th notes, so he goes back and forth between them at whim. The other hint of what's to come is Chad doing some really weird fills after Frank completes his solo. Chad's in a mood to play... Sadly, the next expected highlight, Easy Meat, is cut off right away by Frank doing the standard 'Don't throw things on the stage, get me someone here to say it in French' schtick. It seems to bother him more than most nights, as the solo afterwards is short and boring. The show's energy has stopped dead at this point, and despite decent solos in Baltimore and Bamboozled, we're at a bit of a lull. ... going right into Watermelon, where you can feel Frank straining to break free of the sedate melody so he can rock out. Not the stately beauty of the album version, but still fab. Black Page #2 is really getting to be Frank's "let's experiment" song. It starts off slow with some low gronking, then off into fast and bulbous 64th notes again, then getting melodic and quoting Smoke on the Water and Cars. Throughout this weirdness, someone seems to have let Vinnie Colaiuta at the drumset - no, wait, it's Chad! And he's INSANE! Play this tape for anyone who might think the 80s drumming isn't as wacked out (pardon the pun) as its 70s counterparts. Sharleena starts out seemingly normal, a nice refreshing rest after King Kongs's outre antics. "Where'd she go?" quips Zappa as per usual. "Hope it wasn't Brussels" is the reply. Then he opens up and gives us the longest solo of the night... and it's beautiful! After so much fast metal, this is melodic, and stately, and GORGEOUS. And Frank seems to realize he's on to a good thing, as he keeps playing and playing. The band have to force him back to the head. Incredible, perhaps the best Sharleena I've ever heard.