Description
With such a vast catalogue of broadcast material available at first glance it would appear easy to put together a "best of" of Frank Zappa and Zappa & The Mothers. However, taking the lyrical content of some of the older songs into account it becomes necessary to filter out some of the more controversial efforts that would not quite square with a contemporary audience. This we have done without, we hope, offending the hardcore Zappa aficionados among you.
With that caveat in place, we are still left with a plethora of great tunes and great playing to choose from. Zappa's bands were always hard touring outfits, and the tightness of the arrangements gives credit to both this and the hard work put in at various pre-tour rehearsal rooms. Most of the notable musicians who graced the bands over the decades are featured here. George Duke, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Ruth Underwood, Beefheart, and Ike Willis all feature as well as the complete early Mothers line-ups on King Kong etc. The one constant is Zappa's brilliant and subtle guitar playing which soars in and around the complex arrangements as if visiting each piece lightly before moving on.
Zappa remains a controversial figure both for the genius and forward-looking nature of his music as well as for his unorthodox views on certain topics. Let us put the latter behind us and enjoy one of the 20th. Century's musical geniuses as he is best remembered, playing live.
Tracks taken from:
Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden September 30th 1967 Sveriges radio
Theatre De L'Olympia, Paris, France October 26th 1968 Radio France
Fillmore West, San Francisco on November 6th 1970 KSAN-FM
Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, N.Y. November 15th 1974WNEW-FM
County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas, May 23rd 1975 KLAQ-FM
War Memorial Gym, Vancouver October 1st 1975 CBC-FM
Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, October 13th 1978 2nd Show, WDHA-FM,
Tower Theater, Philadelphia, PA April 29th 1980 (Early Show) WMMR-FM
Palladium, New York on October 31st 1981 WNEW-FM
TLNBOX3 Stonybrook, New York, NY November 3rd 1984 WLIR-FM
