New Zappa releases

[alucard]

I regret a bit that the Family Trust don't seem to have a coherent release strategy. I quite liked the Road Venues idea , nice layout , entire shows and not too expensive.
Most of the compilations are quite redundant. The other day I listened for the first time to Find Her Finer and one long track Subcutaneous Peril (about 20 minutes) was from the 71 Carnegie Hall concerts, I couldn't find the name on the Carnegie Hall set list, but supposed that it must come from one of the longer tracks and by comparing it is actually the solo parts from Billy The Mountain.
Seen that FHF is a 82 minutes 2CD set with 20 minutes already released this is a bit of a waste...

[Troopers For Sound]

I regret a bit that the Family Trust don't seem to have a coherent release strategy. I quite liked the Road Venues idea , nice layout , entire shows and not too expensive.
Most of the compilations are quite redundant. The other day I listened for the first time to Find Her Finer and one long track Subcutaneous Peril (about 20 minutes) was from the 71 Carnegie Hall concerts, I couldn't find the name on the Carnegie Hall set list, but supposed that it must come from one of the longer tracks and by comparing it is actually the solo parts from Billy The Mountain.
Seen that FHF is a 82 minutes 2CD set with 20 minutes already released this is a bit of a waste...

I'm guessing you mean Finer Moments??? The value in that record I suppose is mainly that it was compiled by Frank himself in the early 70s and just never released. So it's an alternate reality...something that maybe could have seen the light of day earlier. I quite like the current ZFT release strategy (lots of stuff...often!)...but the costume box is a pain in the ass as I've also really wanted to have the complete Halloween 81 shows. I didn't bother with Halloween '73 and just got the double CD version of HALLOWEEN 77.

Matt.

[alucard]

I'm guessing you mean Finer Moments??? The value in that record I suppose is mainly that it was compiled by Frank himself in the early 70s and just never released. So it's an alternate reality...something that maybe could have seen the light of day earlier. I quite like the current ZFT release strategy (lots of stuff...often!)...but the costume box is a pain in the ass as I've also really wanted to have the complete Halloween 81 shows. I didn't bother with Halloween '73 and just got the double CD version of HALLOWEEN 77.

Matt.

Yes , Finer Moments it was. I would like to have some of the 74 boots officially cleaned up and released. From memory they had trouble with the mixing desk and there are few official recordings from this period.

[Mister Triscuits]

I would like to have some of the 74 boots officially cleaned up and released. From memory they had trouble with the mixing desk and there are few official recordings from this period.

I was at one of those shows, 46 years ago this week, by the trimmed down six-piece Mothers lineup. As we were waiting outside for the doors to open, we could hear the band still soundchecking. Showtime came and went, and eventually they just let us in, with the band still on stage trying to get a sound. Once people were seated, Frank decided to play some music for us while the crew continued to work on the sound. After about four songs, Frank declared that it was about as good as it was going to get, and brought on the opening act, Tom Waits. Waits already had one album out and was on the eve of releasing his second, but he was still little known. (Ads for the show hadn't mentioned an opening act. Even the reviewer for the San Diego newspaper not only didn't know who he was, despite his local connections, he didn't even catch his last name.) Having already had a taste of the main attraction, the audience gave Waits a disgracefully hostile reception. I remember shouts of "Somebody shoot that fucker!" When the Mothers returned to the stage, Zappa called Waits back out to do a monologue (the old 12-inch man joke) while the band played his "Ol' 55" in the background. Great show in the end, but pale in comparison to the one I had seen the previous year with Ian Underwood, Jean-Luc Ponty, Bruce Fowler, and Sal Marquez still in the band.

[aith01]

I was at one of those shows, 46 years ago this week, by the trimmed down six-piece Mothers lineup. As we were waiting outside for the doors to open, we could hear the band still soundchecking. Showtime came and went, and eventually they just let us in, with the band still on stage trying to get a sound. Once people were seated, Frank decided to play some music for us while the crew continued to work on the sound. After about four songs, Frank declared that it was about as good as it was going to get, and brought on the opening act, Tom Waits. Waits already had one album out and was on the eve of releasing his second, but he was still little known. (Ads for the show hadn't mentioned an opening act. Even the reviewer for the San Diego newspaper not only didn't know who he was, despite his local connections, he didn't even catch his last name.) Having already had a taste of the main attraction, the audience gave Waits a disgracefully hostile reception. I remember shouts of "Somebody shoot that fucker!" When the Mothers returned to the stage, Zappa called Waits back out to do a monologue (the old 12-inch man joke) while the band played his "Ol' 55" in the background. Great show in the end, but pale in comparison to the one I had seen the previous year with Ian Underwood, Jean-Luc Ponty, Bruce Fowler, and Sal Marquez still in the band.

Wild story, man... Thanks for sharing!

[alucard]

I was at one of those shows, 46 years ago this week, by the trimmed down six-piece Mothers lineup. As we were waiting outside for the doors to open, we could hear the band still soundchecking. Showtime came and went, and eventually they just let us in, with the band still on stage trying to get a sound. Once people were seated, Frank decided to play some music for us while the crew continued to work on the sound. After about four songs, Frank declared that it was about as good as it was going to get, and brought on the opening act, Tom Waits. Waits already had one album out and was on the eve of releasing his second, but he was still little known. (Ads for the show hadn't mentioned an opening act. Even the reviewer for the San Diego newspaper not only didn't know who he was, despite his local connections, he didn't even catch his last name.) Having already had a taste of the main attraction, the audience gave Waits a disgracefully hostile reception. I remember shouts of "Somebody shoot that fucker!" When the Mothers returned to the stage, Zappa called Waits back out to do a monologue (the old 12-inch man joke) while the band played his "Ol' 55" in the background. Great show in the end, but pale in comparison to the one I had seen the previous year with Ian Underwood, Jean-Luc Ponty, Bruce Fowler, and Sal Marquez still in the band.

Would have liked to see that show you talk about. I saw him the first time in 78 in Düsseldorf /Germany , which was a great show, I have a boot of this show.
My favourite 74 boot is from October 'Swiss Cheese at The Festivalhalle Basel'( 2 CD Boot , soundboard VG) it was only one week after the famous Helsinki concert (YCDTOSA vol 2) and a different vibe and repertory , Zappa seems a bit tired and / or uninspired in his solos compared to the Helsinki show otherwise great and on the second CD there is also a partial show from Harrisburg 7th of November which is fantastic VG soundboard, the band is for one tighter then ever and on the other hand back home and close to the end of the tour so everything is quite relaxed, lots of gorgeous tempo shifts and fun, and my favourite version of Dupree’s Paradise with a monster bass solo from Fowler.

[Progatron]

I canceled my box set pre-order and went with the '81 Highlights disc instead. The more I thought about it, the more I just can't justify another bloated space-waster. I do want all that music, but I don't want to spend $140 on a Halloween costume in a massive box just to get it. For less than 10% of that cost, I'll go with the 1-disc version. To be honest, it was a relief to hit 'cancel'. One Halloween box is enough.

If only they'd make a clamshell set like with the recent Mothers 1970... that would be perfect for my tastes.

[pb2015]

The Halloween 81 set is out on streaming/YouTube and some people have reported already getting the CDs in the mail. Nicely mixed.

[chalkpie]

Haha - I fuckin love this tune so much! Poor bastards that had to learn it - they must have laughed their asses off trying to rehearse this stuff! I can see why FZ had to do an ungodly amount of edits to get the version on the "studio" album - definitely some fuck-ups here. But I love it anyway. One of my fav FZ tunes hands-down.

[Mister Triscuits]

Anyone who wants the full box and still hasn't ordered: importcds.com currently has it MUCH cheaper than I've seen elsewhere: $88.52. (I'm still passing, myself--I just bought the download.)

[StarThrower]

Haha - I fuckin love this tune so much! Poor bastards that had to learn it - they must have laughed their asses off trying to rehearse this stuff! I can see why FZ had to do an ungodly amount of edits to get the version on the "studio" album - definitely some fuck-ups here. But I love it anyway. One of my fav FZ tunes hands-down.

Did you listen to performance from the following night? It sounds a lot more confident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-3BLtSw5aM

[Troopers For Sound]

I'm enjoying this...the packaging actually made me laugh when I first took it out So there is that...just gotta find a home for the damn thing now.

I loved the early show. Less keen on the late Halloween show which seems to play it a little safer to my ears in terms of set list...and the main instrumental piece on the first half of the set, Sinister Footwear, never really clicked for me until the 88 band arrangement. I guess way more of the early show was unreleased as well. But hooray for the Envelopes/Drowning Witch/Baltimore/Moggio sequence. And the 10/31 Alien Orifice with the full length guitar solo is just stunning.

Matt.

[chalkpie]

Did you listen to performance from the following night? It sounds a lot more confident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-3BLtSw5aM

Not yet. I will thx Reidster.

[chalkpie]

I'm enjoying this...the packaging actually made me laugh when I first took it out So there is that...just gotta find a home for the damn thing now.

I loved the early show. Less keen on the late Halloween show which seems to play it a little safer to my ears in terms of set list...and the main instrumental piece on the first half of the set, Sinister Footwear, never really clicked for me until the 88 band arrangement. I guess way more of the early show was unreleased as well. But hooray for the Envelopes/Drowning Witch/Baltimore/Moggio sequence. And the 10/31 Alien Orifice with the full length guitar solo is just stunning.

Matt.

The track list on this thing is just unbelievable. I am a huge YAWYI (studio album) fan, and these tunes sound killer, plus I love the instrumental tunes from Witch, Utopia, etc. Great mix of everything. Maybe the '82 Europe tour was slightly tighter, but c'mon...this stuff is just ridunculous.

[Mister Triscuits]

ridunculous.

Riduncle Meat?

[chalkpie]

Riduncle Meat?

Yep.

[alucard]

Finally made it through the complete Halloween 81 boxset and must say I like it a lot a part from the ugly cover ( matter of taste)
Good thing on the first 4 CD´s there a no doubles, seen that the early show 31 of october was filmed and the late show not, they played two different sets the same night. Pure miracle that the band mastered to memorize so many tracks!!!
The sound is very good and I prefer the arrangements to the 79 and 80 shows. Everything is a bit lighter, a couple of Reggae versions, Torture, King Kong, Black Page, Chunga , Tommi Mars synth sounds better, and if I am not mistaken Zappa plays a Strat with a Floyd Rose ( ?) and starts doing dive bombs, nice whammy duet with Steve Vai on Spanking.
The YAWYI sequence has aged well and the band is very tight.
The third show on the first of November has basically the same set list as the first show but is equally good. Total thumbs up!

[chalkpie]

Finally made it through the complete Halloween 81 boxset and must say I like it a lot a part from the ugly cover ( matter of taste)
Good thing on the first 4 CD´s there a no doubles, seen that the early show 31 of october was filmed and the late show not, they played two different sets the same night. Pure miracle that the band mastered to memorize so many tracks!!!
The sound is very good and I prefer the arrangements to the 79 and 80 shows. Everything is a bit lighter, a couple of Reggae versions, Torture, King Kong, Black Page, Chunga , Tommi Mars synth sounds better, and if I am not mistaken Zappa plays a Strat with a Floyd Rose ( ?) and starts doing dive bombs, nice whammy duet with Steve Vai on Spanking.
The YAWYI sequence has aged well and the band is very tight.
The third show on the first of November has basically the same set list as the first show but is equally good. Total thumbs up!

Good review! This band is just killer. Have you seen The Torture Never Stops dvd?

[pb2015]

if I am not mistaken Zappa plays a Strat with a Floyd Rose ( ?) and starts doing dive bombs, nice whammy duet with Steve Vai on Spanking.

Others may know more than I do about guitar stuff but I think Zappa was primarily playing the Les Paul on this set and didn't start using Floyd Rose until 1982.

[polmico]

Anyone else miss Ike on these songs? Ray and Bobby are great. But, man, Ike Willis.

[ronmac]

Anyone else miss Ike on these songs? Ray and Bobby are great. But, man, Ike Willis.

I love Ike, but I can listen to Ray White sing all day long.

[TheLoony]

So there's a new doc on Frank called Zappa, coming out soon on some service or another, I forget which. I think it's gonna be an On Demand product, yeah, it's only playing for one day in theaters. Only saw this a few hours ago and had to reboot my mind for details.

I'd pay for this one as it looks good but they better do it right. No crappy docs, come on now. We've had enough of those.

ETA: Sorry, didn't see the thread for this one.

[polmico]

I love Ike, but I can listen to Ray White sing all day long.

It’s the low end of the vocal harmonies where I miss Ike. It’s Frank alone on the low end here. No one here (Ike and Napoleon before him) to mask his clear shortcomings as a vocalist.

[ronmac]

Not sure if it was this thread or not, but I followed the advice and got "Buffalo" a while back.

Man, it kills! They are just so on! It's also refreshing to hear a complete show.

[chalkpie]

Not sure if it was this thread or not, but I followed the advice and got "Buffalo" a while back.

Man, it kills! They are just so on! It's also refreshing to hear a complete show.

Yeah man....Buffalo is crazy great. Congrats.