Frank Zappa - Hunchentoot! (1972)

December 1971 is still remembered as the bleakest month in Zappa history. On 4 December a crazed fan fired a flare gun during the band's performance at the Montreux Casino in Geneva, Switzerland, causing the venue's heating system to explode, and starting a fire that left several fans injured, the band's equipment destroyed, and the venue itself burned to the ground. The fire inspired Deep Purple's classic 'Smoke On The Water'. Six days later, on 10 December, Zappa and his band were playing a concert at the Rainbow Theatre in London, when disgruntled fan Trevor Charles Howell pushed Zappa off the stage, inflicting multiple injuries and ultimately leaving him in a wheelchair. The "Rainbow Theatre Incident" took place during the band's encore, as Zappa (in a nod to his British surroundings) launched into a cover of the Beatles' 'I Want to Hold Your Hand'. That slightly sarcastic performance seemed to spark the rage of Howell, a 24-year-old manual worker, who raced to the stage, pushing Zappa into the venue's concrete orchestra pit, much to the horror of the band and audience. "The band thought I was dead," Zappa later recalled in his 1989 autobiography 'The Real Frank Zappa Book'. "My head was over on my shoulder, and my neck was bent like it was broken. I had a gash in my chin, a hole in the back of my head, a broken rib, and a fractured leg. One arm was paralyzed." As Howell attempted to flee, he was caught by enraged audience members, who passed him off to Zappa's roadies, who may or may not have roughed him up a little, and meanwhile, rumours of Zappa's allegedly fatal accident spread like wildfire throughout the crowd. The vicious attack forced the band to cancel the remaining dates of their tour, leaving Zappa wheelchair-bound for nearly a year. While recovering from his injuries in the summer of 1972, Zappa wrote a musical science-fiction script for a two-act Broadway stage production. He designed the costumes, wrote stage instructions, and composed the musical score for 'Hunchentoot!', which would have required a 42-member cast. 

The main character in 'Hunchentoot!' is Drakma (Queen of Cosmic Greed), an alien that wants to invade Earth, and other characters were the title character, who was a giant spider, Durk (a shifty Earthling con-man of the future), six Forceling players, a 22-piece orchestra and a 10-voice chorus, and a narrator. Renowned author William Burroughs, of 'The Naked Lunch' fame, expressed interest in playing the narrator of the show should it reach Broadway, and Taj Mahal read for the giant spider. However, Zappa had no one in mind for the role of the evil space girl. "I've looked and looked and looked," he complained with a touch of mischievous irony, "And it's such a difficult part to sing - besides which it's a comedy role - that it's hard to find somebody with a voice that can actually do the notes and still do the comedy stuff too. Actually, the only person who could probably do it with ease would be Barbra Streisand, but she's busy and she's having her hair done and so forth." 'Hunchentoot!' was never staged, although near the end of his life Zappa did try to find a director to film it, and he approached Terry Gilliam and the crew of Mystery Science Theater 3000, but nothing came of it. Some of the music later appeared on his 1979 album 'Sleep Dirt' in instrumental form, although the tracks did originally have vocals provided by Thana Harris during preparations for the stage show. 'Overture' was re-titled as 'Regyptian Strut' on 'Sleep Dirt', and while the track 'The Human Mind Is The Ultimate Power' has not yet surfaced, 'The Ocean Is The Ultimate Solution' from 'Sleep Dirt' has such a similar title that they must be connected, and so I've used that track for this reconstructed version of the soundtrack of the abandoned stage show. 'Think It Over' would later become 'The Grand Wazoo', and I've used an alternate recording of that, which together with the Harris-sung songs, and a live take of 'Cheepnis' from when Zappa returned to touring, is as close as we'll get to hearing this mysterious production.   

   
Track listing

01 Overture
02 Time Is Money
03 The Human Mind Is The Ultimate Power
04 Think It Over
05 Flambay
06 Spider Of Destiny
07 Think It Over (Reprise)
08 The Planet Of My Dreams
09 Cheepnis
10 Epilogue

BBC Concert Orchestra - Prog Rock: A Fanfare For The Common Man (2026)

The BBC Proms season is underway again, and Saturday 18th July's Prom was titled 'Prog Rock: A Fanfare for the Common Man'. Back in the heady days of the late 1960's and early-to-mid 70s, Prog(ressive Rock) was music unconstrained by established forms and conventions of blues, rhythm and blues, or folk music, although it often contained elements of these – and other genres including jazz. Indeed, a number of Prog Rockers had a background in jazz music, and like most musicians in these bands, they could really play. Much of the Prog Rock canon is difficult stuff involving unconventional time signatures, complex structures and harmonies and requires virtuosic playing and singing to pull it off. In a packed Albert Hall, the audience were treated to an aural tour of Prog Rock Land, rather like one of those old LP samplers which gave you tracks from many different bands. On this occasion, the variety of the music was cleverly guaranteed by having enlisted no fewer than seven different arrangers for the twenty songs performed by the always excellent BBC Concert Orchestra. One orchestrator, no matter how skilled, would have given us something more akin to a Prog Rock suite, which would have been less varied and not as interesting. Perhaps inevitably, the concert opened with Emerson, Lake and Palmer's re-working of Aaron Copland's 'Fanfare for the Common Man', arranged by Robert Ames for orchestra and rock band, and he also conducted the whole show. He proved ideal in leading proceedings, as he has a passion for the music and a masterful ability to keep the orchestra on track through tricky changes of tempo, dynamics and time signatures. As a nice touch, Carl Palmer played drums, and has lost none of his impressive ability. Ames then took us through pieces which had been first recorded by Jethro Tull, Genesis, Renaissance, The Moody Blues, Van der Graff Generator, Yes and Mike Oldfield. All were well played and nicely sung by the orchestra and singers Gruff Rhys, Guy Garvey, Jane Weaver, Peter Hammill and The Staves. 

A high point of this first half was Soft Machine’s 'Out-Bloody-Rageous', which lived up to its title with some fiendishly difficult rhythms and a top of the range, largely improvised sopranino sax solo by Andy Findon, while Peter Hamill was another surprise guest, taking lead vocal on his own 'Refugees'. Part two gave us music by Keith Emerson, Genesis, Gentle Giant, The Incredible String Band and Supertramp, and a highlight was a medley of non-UK tracks from Focus, Osibisa and Frank Zappa, all very skilfully orchestrated by Christian Balvig. Fiona Brice's arrangement of three King Crimson songs was equally brilliant and superbly sung by Guy Garvey and Gruff Rhys. As the concert moved towards its conclusion there had to be a taste of Pink Floyd, and there was, with 'The Great Gig In The Sky'. Still poignant and full of longing, the original improvised female vocal part was sung with heart and great skill by Vanessa Haynes. Again arranged by Fiona Brice, the orchestra’s masterful control made for a memorable musical experience for everyone listening. The evening ended appropriately with 'The Great Gates Of Kyiv' from Mussorgsky's 'Pictures At An Exhibition'. The original orchestration of this piano piece was by Ravel, before Keith Emerson arranged it for his rock band, and Robert Ames adapted it further. There’s no doubting the evening’s success, and the programme rightly earned several encores, and brought many in the audience to their feet to deliver rapturous applause. Here is the full concert, with just the announcements removed for a smoother flow, and although I felt that a couple of the tracks didn't work as well as others, it was an innovative idea, and is well worth a listen if you're a prog rock fan. 

Track listing

01 Fanfare For The Common Man - Emerson, Lake & Palmer (Copland arr. Robert Ames)
02 Living In The Past - Jethro Tull (arr. Sam Gale)
03 Out-Bloody-Rageous - Soft Machine (arr. Sam Gale)
04 I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) - Genesis (arr. Sam Gale)
05 Northern Lights - Renaissance (arr. Christian Balvig)
06 Nights In White Satin - The Moody Blues (arr. Fiona Brice)
07 Refugees - Van Der Graaf Generator (arr. Adam Dennis)
08 And You And I - Yes (arr. Peter Riley)
09 Tubular Bells, Part One (excerpts) - Mike Oldfield (arr. Adam Dennis)
10 Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression, Part 2 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer (arr. Robert Ames)
11 Sylvia - Focus (arr. Christian Balvig)
12 Komfo - Osibisa (arr. Christian Balvig)
13 Peaches En Regalia - Frank Zappa (arr. Christian Balvig)
14 21st Century Schizoid Man/I Talk to The Wind/Court Of The Crimson King - King Crimson                                                                                                                              (arr. Fiona Brice)
15 Entangled - Genesis (arr Fiona Brice)
16 On Reflection - Gentle Giant (arr. Sam Gale)
17 Maker Of Islands - The Incredible String Band (arr. Christian Balvig)
18 Great Gig In The Sky - Pink Floyd (arr. Fiona Brice)
19 Crime Of The Century - Supertramp (arr. Christian Balvig)
20 The Great Gates Of Kiev - Emerson, Lake & Palmer - (Mussorgsky arr. Robert Ames)

Performers:
Guy Garvey vocals
Jane Weaver vocals
Gruff Rhys vocals
Carl Palmer drums
Peter Hammill vocals
Vanessa Hayes vocals
The Staves vocals
BBC Concert Orchestra
Robert Ames conductor

The Mothers Of Invention - Live At The Ark, Boston 1969 (1969)

And now for another live album which I believe is of historical significance, as it's a newly remastered version of one of the best early Mothers Of Invention bootlegs. The performance, choice of repertoire, and overall sound quality are exceptional, and make this a no-brainer for anyone even slightly interested in live Mothers Of Invention. Circulating copies of this show were off by 40 samples, causing the stereo image to smear and lean to the right, and fixing this did a world of good, and centred and stabilized the stereo image. Fixing the muddy EQ has also really brought the recording to life, but nothing else was done to enhance the sound. This version of the show is unedited, and has several more minutes of material, as well as the correct sequencing compared to the original bootleg LP, and the 'Beat The Boots' versions. The show was recorded at The Ark, in Boston in July 1969, and includes both sides of the single that they recorded in an attempt to get the group played on the radio, as well as a superb Uncle Meat/King Kong medley, and plenty of banter from Zappa between the songs. This is certainly the best quality show that I've heard from the late 60's Mothers, and I agree with the original poster that fans of the band need to hear this.  

Track listing

01 Intro
02 Big Leg Emma 
03 Some Ballet Music
04 Status Back Baby 
05 Valarie
06 My Guitar
07 Uncle Meat> 
08 Drum Duet>
09 King Kong

Frank Zappa - Chalk Pie (1982)

'Chalk Pie' was a live album planned for release in 1982, featuring music recorded on Frank Zappa's  1981 tour. When it was delivered to the folks at his label it was not greeted enthusiastically, as the previous year Zappa had released two double albums and one triple, and so not wanting to overload his fans with product they asked for a single album instead. Zappa capitulated, and presented them with 'Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch', which they released in 1982. Almost all of the material that makes up 'Chalk Pie' ended up being released on various Zappa albums throughout the 1980's, although there are quite a few things which you will only find on this version. Some fans have found it a much better album than '...Drowning Witch', as it contains some of Zappa's more enjoyable difficult compositions of the time, as opposed to the 'silly songs' that make up side one of that album. The first side of 'Chalk Pie' is the same as side two of '...Drowning Witch', but with a different mix of the title track, incorporating the group vocal section from a Santa Monica gig, Zappa's vocal section from the Chicago late show, the first guitar solo from The Ritz, and the second solo from the Chicago late show. As well as that, it all contains studio overdubs, some of which render the basic tracks almost unrecognizable. 

'Envelopes' and 'Teenage Prostitute' are also live with studio overdubs, while 'The Dangerous Kitchen' is the same recording as on 'The Man From Utopia' but mixed differently, giving more prominence to Steve Vai's guitar. 'Chalk Pie' is a different mix to that on the 'Guitar' album, and 'We're Turning Again' is a combination of recordings from Santa Monica and Salt Lake City. 'Alien Orifice' is an unreleased version from Salt Lake City, and 'The Jazz Discharge Party Hats' is the same mix as on 'The Man From Utopia'. 'The Torture Never Stops' guitar solo is a previously unreleased take, and 'What's New In Baltimore?' is a different mix to that on 'Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention', as the guitar solo is longer, and it has fewer studio overdubs. 'Moggio' is the same recording as used on 'The Man From Utopia', but a different mix, and it's followed by a previously unreleased take of the guitar solo from 'The Black Page #2'. 'Clownz on Velvet' is an unreleased recording from The Ritz in November 1981, with Al Di Meola guesting on lead guitar, and 'Frogs with Dirty Little Lips' features Zappa's son Ahmet. It's a shame that 'Chalk Pie' went unreleased, as the continuity is excellent, as is the track selection, and while this may not be for newcomers to Zappa's music, it's certainly an essential listen for fans of the great man. 

Track listing

01 Drowning Witch
02 Envelopes
03 Teen-Age Prostitute
04 The Dangerous Kitchen
05 Chalk Pie
06 We're Turning Again
07 Alien Orifice
08 The Jazz Discharge Party Hats
09 The Torture Never Stops - guitar solo 
10 What's New In Baltimore?
11 Moggio
12 The Black Page #2 - guitar solo 
13 Clownz On Velvet
14 Frogs With Dirty Little Lips

Adrian Belew - ...and on guitar (1993)

Robert Steven (Adrian) Belew was born on 23 December 1949 in Covington, Kentucky, and in his early teens he played drums with the Ludlow High School marching band, and later with the high-school covers band The Denems. Inspired by Jimi Hendrix, he took up guitar when he was bedridden for several months with mononucleosis, and at age 17 he was further inspired by a club performance of blues-rock musician Lonnie Mack, who became a lifelong personal friend. He wasn't inclined to study music formally, but taught himself by listening to records, and rapidly became a high-school guitar hero. While maturing as a player and mastering various playing styles, he became increasingly preoccupied with ways to avoid sounding like everybody else, and eventually found his own sound and style by learning how to make his guitar mimic sound effects such as car horns, animal noises, or industrial sounds and then applying those sounds to relatively standard songs. In the mid-1970's, having formally changed his first name to his preferred choice of Adrian, Belew moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a full-time career as a professional musician, and by 1977 he was playing with the regionally-popular cover band Sweetheart. While playing at a Sweetheart gig at Fanny's Bar in Nashville, he was discovered by Frank Zappa, who had been tipped off regarding the band's talents by his chauffeur. Zappa approached Belew and discussed auditioning him for an upcoming tour, although Belew did not receive an official invitation to audition for nearly a year. During this time Sweetheart split up, and so once the formal invitation came, he flew out to Los Angeles and found himself auditioning alongside more formally trained musicians, and following a more intimate second audition Zappa was impressed enough to hire Belew on a handshake deal for a year. 

He toured with the Zappa band and appeared on Zappa's 1979 album 'Sheik Yerbouti', most notably performing a Bob Dylan impersonation on the song 'Flakes', and he also appeared in Zappa's 1979 concert film 'Baby Snakes'. Although he was mostly credited as rhythm guitarist, he also played lead, melody, or noise lines, as well as singing lead on two songs. After seeing Belew at a Zappa concert in Cologne, Brian Eno recommended that David Bowie offer to hire him once the Zappa tour was finished. Belew accepted the offer, and he played on Bowie's Isolar II Tour in 1978, as well as contributing to his next studio album, 'Lodger'. In 1980 Belew formed a new band, GaGa, for which he served as the singer, guitarist, drummer, and primary songwriter, and on one of his frequent visits to New York City, he became friends with the up-and-coming band Talking Heads, who invited him to join them onstage for performances of their signature song 'Psycho Killer', where he impressed them with his wild and unorthodox guitar soloing. It was also around this time that he met Robert Fripp at a Steve Reich concert, and in July of that year GaGa was invited to open several New York-area concerts for Fripp's band the League Of Gentlemen. Following his working with Brian Eno on Bowie's 'Lodger' album, he was invited to add guitar solos to several tracks on Eno's next production job, Talking Heads' 'Remain In Light' album, and his involvement with them extended to playing on the band's spin-off projects, such as Tom Tom Club, and David Byrne's and Jerry Harrison's solo albums. Unfortunately, Belew's experience with Tom Tom Club was less harmonious than his previous work with Talking Heads, and their recording engineer, Steven Stanley, was vocal about his dislike of distorted guitar, and erased the majority of Belew's solos during the mixing sessions. By now Belew's rising profile had gained him a solo record contract with Island Records, and in the down time at the Tom Tom Club sessions, members of GaGa joined him at Compass Point and backed him on a set of parallel recordings which would result in Belew's first solo album, 1982's 'Lone Rhino'. The album provided a home for various GaGa songs and blended various elements of Belew's work over the past decade, including snappy and noisy Zappa/Byrne-influenced songs, dabblings in world music, opportunities for animal/mechanical sounds on guitar, and sonic experiments reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix. 

In 1981 Belew was invited to join Robert Fripp's new band Discipline, with Bill Bruford and Tony Levin, and during initial touring the members discussed the possibility of renaming themselves King Crimson. This had not been the original intention for the band, but all members generally agreed that this would be both appropriate and useful, and so his time with King Crimson began in 1981 and he stayed with them until 2009, one of the longest tenures in the band by anyone other than founder Robert Fripp. As part of the agreement to his joining, he insisted that he would be allowed time to continue and develop his new solo career, to which Fripp agreed. The renamed band released the well-received 'Discipline' album in 1981, followed by the equally fine 'Beat' in 1982, and 'Three Of A Perfect Pair' in 1984. Following King Crimson's breakup and hiatus in 1984, Belew formed the pop band The Bears with fellow guitarist and singer Rob Fetters, drummer Chris Arduser, and bass guitarist Bob Nyswonger, releasing two albums on I.R.S. Records subsidiary Primitive Man Recording Company, with 1987's 'The Bears' and 1988's 'Rise And Shine'. After three years of constant recording, promotion, and touring, the band broke up in 1989 following the collapse of PMRC, although Belew has continued to tour and record, either solo or with new bands that he had formed. He was at his most busy as a session player during the 80's, and during this period he contributed to Ryuichi Sakamoto's 'Left-handed Dream', Joan Armatrading's 'The Key', Peter Wolf's 'Lights Out' and Jean Michel Jarre's 'Zoolook', as well as playing on Cyndi Lauper's 'True Colors' and Paul Simon's 'Graceland'. This collection of his session work includes songs from all those albums, plus many more tracks, and on every one you can hear his inimitable guitar tones, adding something a little bit special to the songs. 

Track listing

Disc One

01 Red Money (from 'Lodger' by David Bowie 1979)
02 Jones Crusher (from 'Sheik Yerbouti' by Frank Zappa 1979)
03 The Great Curve (from 'Remain In Light' by Talking Heads 1980)
04 Eggs In A Briar Patch (from 'The Catherine Wheel' by David Byrne 1981)
05 Things Fall Apart (from 'The Red And The Black' by Jerry Harrison 1981)  
06 The Twilight Clone (from 'Magic Windows' by Herbie Hancock 1981)  
07 L'Elphant (from 'Tom Tom Club' by Tom Tom Club 1981)
08 Relache (from 'Left-Handed Dream' by Ryuichi Sakamoto 1981) 

Disc Two

01 Sweet Little Woman (from 'Sheffield Steel' by Joe Cocker 1982)
02 (I Love It When You) Call Me Names (from 'The Key' by Joan Armatrading 1983)
03 Blah Blah Cafe (from 'Zoolook' by Jean Michel Jarre 1984)
04 Billy Bigtime (from 'Lights Out' by Peter Wolf 1984)
05 Sharkey's Day (from 'Mister Heartbreak' by Laurie Anderson 1984)
06 What's Going On (from 'True Colors' by Cyndi Lauper 1986)
07 Boy In The Bubble (from 'Graceland' by Paul Simon 1986)
08 God Shuffled His Feet (from 'God Shuffled His Feet' by Crash Test Dummies 1993)

Frank Zappa - Crush All Boxes (1980)

In 1980 Frank Zappa started recording songs for a new album, which was to be titled 'Fred Zeplinnn', but shortly after it was completed Led Zeppelin's drummer John Bonham suddenly passed away, so the pun didn't seem that funny anymore, and at the last minute Zappa decided to change the title of the record to 'Crush All Boxes'. This refers to a long-time feud between him and his former record company Warner Bros., who were still trying to cash in on their long-terminated contract by releasing a couple of box sets of compilations of older material, which Zappa totally disagreed with. On 11 October 1980, Zappa rather naively took the completed album with him to KUNM Radio in Albuquerque and played the whole thing on air while being interviewed by the resident DJ. Not surprisingly, enterprising fans taped the radio shows and almost immediately bootleg copies of the album stated to appear, leading to Zappa cancelling its official release. The songs later appeared on 'Tinsel Town Rebellion' and 'You Are What You Is', but in different mixes, with the original versions having a noticeable clarity of the voices and instruments, while 'Easy Meat' has a completely different guitar solo, and you can actually hear the trumpet overdubs that Bob Harris played during the solo and at the end of the song. The artwork had already been commissioned from Cal Schenkel, so when 'Crush All Boxes ' was cancelled, he just used the original artwork for 'Tinseltown Rebellion' and over-painted the title, but you can actually still see some of the original writing underneath. There are currently two different bootlegs of this album doing the rounds, one which was taped from the radio broadcast and one taken from the original acetate, which runs noticeably slower on some of the songs. The albumsforgottenreconstructed site posted this album a few months ago, and by comparing the lengths of the songs I'd say that that version was taken from the radio broadcast, so I don't feel too bad about posting this version taken directly from the test pressing acetate, and you can pick which one you prefer. 

Track listing

01 Doreen
02 Fine Girl
03 Easy Meat
04 Goblin Girl
05 Society Pages
06 I'm A Beautiful Guy
07 Beauty Knows No Pain
08 Charlie's Enormous Mouth
09 Any Downers
10 Conehead

The Mothers - Just Another Band From L.A. (1972)

When Frank Zappa started to put together the live tapes that the Mothers Of Invention had recorded in 1971 for their proposed live release, he originally envisioned it as a vinyl double album, and acetates were even pressed and given to the band members, with a track listing of:
Side One:
Call Any Vegetable 
Eddie, Are You Kidding? 
Magdalena
Dog Breath
Side Two:
Billy The Mountain (Part 1)
     - Introduction
     - Phase I (The Royalties Arrive)
     - Phase II And Newscast
     - The Legendary Low Budget Hero
     - The Flies
Side Three:
Billy The Mountain (Part 2) 
     - Studebacher Hoch
     - The Conclusion
The Subcutaneous Peril 
Side Four:
An Easy Substitute For Eternity Itself
     - Don's Solo
     - Ian's Solo
     - Aynsley's Solo
     - Frank's Solo

For unknown reasons, plans for the double set were abandoned and the album was released in the single record format that we know today. Originally 'Billy The Mountain' was much longer, and was on two sides of the record, but in order to fit it onto one side of the single album version Zappa removed an 8'51 min section from the second half of the track, reducing it down to a more manageable 24 minutes. For this reconstruction I've located the missing section and I've slotted it back into the original recording, restoring it to the full 33 minutes take. Two of the other tracks that were originally earmarked for the record were collages that Zappa cut and pasted from the 'A Pound For A Brown On The Bus' and 'King Kong' solos from a 1971 concert at Carnegie Hall, and Zappa aficionado br1tag has re-composed the original sequences, including Don Preston's full solo which was abbreviated to fit onto a single side of the vinyl album. So for fans who love the original record and want hear more, here is the reconstructed double album version for your enjoyment. 

Track listing 

01 Call Any Vegetable
02 Eddie, Are You Kidding?
03 Magdalena
04 Dog Breath
05 Billy The Mountain
06 The Subcutaneous Peril
07 An Easy Substitute For Eternity Itself

Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention featuring Captain Beefheart - Guitarist In Bondage (1975)

I recently found a Frank Zappa/Captain Beefheart bootleg titled 'Improvisations', which looked so intriguing that I had to download it. On listening to it, and doing some online research, it turned out to be just the second disc of a 2CD bootleg of Zappa and The Mothers 1975 concert at Providence, Rhode Island, and so logically the next step was to download the whole concert rather than just hear half of it. Of all the Frank Zappa tours, the spring of 1975 is the most unusual and frustrating, as the performances could range from absolutely exhilarating to rather drab, with sloppy renditions of composed core pieces like 'Advance Romance' and 'Willie The Pimp' played in the midst of brilliant improvisations by both Zappa and Captain Beefheart and the other musicians in the band. Add to this the paucity of really good recordings, and the frustration is obvious, but luckily Zappa's April 26th show in Providence was taped by legendary bootlegger Dan Lampinski, and not only is it arguably the best sounding show from the tour, it’s a tight and enjoyable performance. It is an amazing sounding document which captures the chaotic, eclectic turns in the set starting off with an atonal cacophony of noise in the beginning improvisation, leading into 'Muffin Man', which is played as an instrumental but contains Zappa’s band introduction, and is followed by the song that they usually start off the show with, 'Stinkfoot'. Mothers classics like 'I’m Not Satisfied' and 'Pound For A Brown' are scattered throughout the set, alongside Beefheart collaborations such as 'Poofter’s Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead'. For me, the best thing about the recording was the superb lengthy instrumental portions of the songs, often featuring some stunning guitar-work from Zappa, and so as I'd been persuaded to listen to this expecting some intriguing improvisations from the band, I thought that I'd carry that to it's logical conclusion, and pick out my favourite instrumental sections and combine them together to make up over an hour of the very best of Zappa/Beefheart and the Mothers improvisational skills. If you want to hear the whole concert then it's here on Soulseek, but for me this selection condenses the whole thing down into an hour of the Mothers finest.  

Track listing

01 Why Doesn't Someone Give Him A Pepsi (a.k.a. The Torture Never Stops)
02 Montana
03 Penguin In Bondage
04 Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy
05 Willie The Pimp
06 Advance Romance 

Al Di Meola - ...and on guitar (1993)

Al Laurence Dimeola (aka Al Di Meola) was born on 22 July 1954 in Jersey City, New Jersey, and grew up in Bergenfield, New Jersey, attending Bergenfield High School. In 1971 he enrolled in Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and in 1974 he joined Chick Corea's band, Return To Forever, playing with the band until a major lineup shift in 1976, which was the year that saw the release of their masterpiece album 'Romantic Warrior', featuring the classic line-up of Corea, Di Meola, Stanley Clark, and Lenny White. At the beginning of his career he was noted for his technical mastery and extremely fast, complex guitar solos and compositions, but even on his early albums he had begun to explore Mediterranean cultures and acoustic genres like flamenco, and he continued to explore Latin music within the jazz fusion genre on albums like 'Casino' and 'Splendido Hotel', as well as guesting on a number of albums by Greek musician George Dalares. He also exhibited a more subtle touch on acoustic numbers like 'Fantasia Suite For Two Guitars' from his 'Casino' album, and on the best-selling live album with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia, 'Friday Night In San Francisco'. With Scenario he explored the electronic side of jazz in a collaboration with Jan Hammer, and this led to him expanding his horizons further with the acoustic album 'Cielo e Terra'. Because of his technique on his early recordings, Di Meola became arguably the most important pioneer of shred guitar, leading to him being invited to sit in with Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention at one of their gigs in 1981, which luckily was recorded. In addition to a prolific solo career, he has engaged in successful collaborations with bassist Stanley Clarke, keyboardist Jan Hammer, violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, and guitarists John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía, as well as guesting on a select number of records from former band-mates and friends.

Track listing

01 Prince Of The Sea (from 'Venusian Summer' by Lenny White 1975)
02 Stellar (from 'Go' by Stomu Yamash'ta 1976)
03 Clownz On Velvet (from live concert with Frank Zappa November 1981)
04 Compadres (from 'Touchstone' by Chick Corea 1982)
05 Allergies (from 'Hearts And Bones' by Paul Simon 1983)
06 Perasmenes Mou Agapes (from 'Latin' by George Dalares 1988)
07 Tangos (from 'Jazzpana' by Vince Mendoza & Arif Mardin 1993)

For MAC users

Press command+shift+period (to show hidden files) and a grayed out folder '...and on guitar" will appear and the mp3s will be inside. Either drag those to another folder OR rename the folder without any periods at the beginning. Press command+shift+period to once again hide the hidden files.

Frank Zappa - ...and on guitar (1978)

Frank Vincent Zappa was born on 21 December 21 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland, and was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems. A doctor treated his sinusitis by inserting a pellet of radium into each of his nostrils, as at the time little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation, and that might explain why nasal imagery and references appear in his music and lyrics, as well as in the collage album covers created by his long-time collaborator Cal Schenkel. Zappa joined his first band at Mission Bay High School in San Diego as the drummer, and he was interested in sounds for their own sake, particularly the sounds of drums and other percussion instruments. At Antelope Valley High School, Zappa met Don Glen Vliet (who later changed his name to Don Van Vliet and adopted the stage name Captain Beefheart), and he played drums in local band the Blackouts, but he also started to develop an interest in the guitar, and in 1957 he was given his first instrument. Zappa's interest in composing and arranging flourished in his last high-school years, and by his final year he was writing, arranging and conducting avant-garde performance pieces for the school orchestra, and after he left high school he attempted to earn a living as a musician and composer. During the early 1960's, Zappa wrote and produced songs for other local artists, and in 1964 he moved into the Pal studio and began routinely working 12 hours or more per day recording and experimenting with overdubbing and audio tape manipulation. Aided by his income from film composing, Zappa took over the studio from Paul Buff, and renamed it Studio Z, although it was rarely booked for recordings by other musicians, and following a brief prison sentence for recording alleged pornographic mateiral there, he could no longer afford to pay the rent on the studio and was evicted, with the building being torm down in 1966. That was also the year that Zappa formed The Mothers, and recorded the classic 'Freak Out' album, which was to put him on the path to being one of the most influential musicians in the world. In July of that year he was asked to produce some tracks for The Animals, one of which was his own composition 'All Night Long'. The following year he played guitar on both sides of a 7" single by Tommy Flanders, and on the A-side of Barry Goldberg's 'Carry On' single. 
During the late 1960's, Zappa continued to develop the business sides of his career, and he and Herb Cohen formed the Bizarre Records and Straight Records labels, distributed by Warner Bros. Records, releasing albums by Alice Cooper, The Persuasions, and Wild Man Fischer, on whose record he also played guitar. In 1970 Zappa helped out former band-mate Jeff Simmons by producing and playing on his first proper solo album (following a collaborative film soundtrack with Randy Sterling), and the same year he composed the music for Jean-Luc Ponty's 'King Kong' album, as well as playing on the record, and afterwards asked the violinist to join The Mothers Of Invention as a permanent member. In 1971 he and the Mothers were part of John Lennon's live performance at the Fillmore East in New York City on 6 June 1971, which was taped and released the following year on John Lennon & Yoko Ono's 'Some Time In New York City' album. In 1968 The Mothers Of Invention had released a pastiche of 50's doo-wop music under the title of 'Cruising With Reuben & The Jet's', and four years later a Los Angeles band named themselves after the album, producing two records of their own, the first of which was produced by Zappa, as well on him contributing one song to it, and playing guitar on another. In 1974 he helped out former Mothers' keyboardist George Duke on his own album 'Feel', and in 1976 he managed to reform Grand Funk Railroad, who had just broken up, by telling then that he wanted to produce them, which he did on their 'Good Singin', Good Playin'' album, on which he played guitar on one track. In 1976 Zappa was in Montreal for a concert, and was asked by Robert Charlebois to participate in the recording of a track on his new album. Zappa accepted and showed up the next day in a Montreal Studio to record the solo on 'Petroleum', not only playing the end solo, but also participating in the arrangements, but then  Charlebois sat on the tapes for over a year before the album eventually appeared in 1977. After Grand Funk Railroad  broke up in 1976, band members Don Brewer, Mel Schacher, and Craig Frost formed the group Flint and released their self titled album in 1978, and because of his connection with the members from their 'Good Singin', Good Playin'' album, Zappa offered to play guitar on a couple of tracks. Obviously this is a very concise biography of Frank Vincent Zappa, just concentrating on his collaborations with other artists, but he has lived the most fascinating life, and the 'radium up the nose' story is fairly typical of the sort of thing that happened to him, so do check out his Wikipedia page while you are listening to this diverse collection of music that he's been involved with throughout the 60's and 70's.   

Track listing

01 All Night Long (from 'Animalism' by The Animals 1966)
02 Friday Night City (single by Tommy Flanders 1967)
03 Carry On (single by Barry Goldberg 1967)
04 The Circle (from 'An Evening With Wild Man Fischer' by Wild Man Fischer 1968)
05 How Would You Like To Have A Head Like That? (from 'King Kong' by Jean-Luc Ponty 1970)
06 Raye (from 'Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up' by Jeff Simmons 1970)
07 Well (Baby Please Don’t Go) (from 'Some Time In New York City' by Lennon/Ono 1972)
08 Dedicated To The One I Love (from 'For Real!' by Ruben And The Jets 1973)
09 Old Slippers (from 'Feel' by George Duke 1974)
10 Out To Get You (from 'Good Singin' Good Playin'' by Grand Funk Railroad 1976)
11 Petroleum (from 'Swing Charlebois Swing' by Robert Charlebois 1977)
12 You'll Never Be The Same (from 'Flint' by Flint 1978)

The Mothers Of Invention - Red Tubular Lighter (1970)

The 1970 line-up of the Mother Of Invention is rightly regarded as one of the best there has been, consisting as it did of Aynsley Dunbar (drums), George Duke (piano/keys/trombone), Ian Underwood (organ/keys/guitar), Jeff Simmons (bass/vocals) and Flo & Eddie aka Howard Kaylan (vocals), and Mark Volman (vocals/percussion). Flo & Eddie were still part of The Turtles, and so performed under aliases to skirt contractual limitations of performing under their own names. This version of The Mothers came to an end in January 1971 when Simmons quit the band during the making of the '200 Motels' movie. While this line-up toured extensively, they only recorded one album, 'Chunga's Revenge', although they did visit London-based Trident Studios on June 21-22 1970 with a young, unknown engineer by the name of Roy Thomas Baker, several years before he’d go on to have massive success working with Queen, The Cars and Alice Cooper. Here they recorded a number of mostly instrumental pieces, some of which were later used on other albums, but most of which have remained unreleased until they surfaced on the recent 'Mothers 1970' archive release. Two months later they reconvened at Whitney Studios in Glendale, and laid down some vocals tracks, which would later be used as part of their live shows under the collective name of 'The Opera', with Flo & Eddie performing skits as well as singing (three of these later turned up on the '200 Motels' soundtrack album). By taking  the best of both recording sessions we can make up an album of great music recorded by this stellar line-up of the band in 1970. I've made a few edits, such as combining 'Lola Steponsky' and 'Giraffe', as they both used the same melody, and trimming some of the longer tracks which went on a bit too long, as I felt that there was an overabundance of drum solos on the London recordings. These instrumental pieces now slot very nicely between the 'Opera' tracks from Glendale, making a remarkably cohesive album considering the different style of music recorded at each studio.    

Track listing

01 What Will This Morning Bring Me This Evening?
02 Red Tubular Lighter
03 What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are?
04 B'Wana Dik
05 Item 1
06 Envelopes
07 Latex Solar Beef
08 Daddy, Daddy, Daddy    
09 Lola Steponsky's Giraffe
10 Magic Fingers               
11 Wonderful Wino
12 What Will This Evening Bring Me This Morning?       

For anyone who wants to burn this collection to a CD, SmithWorksGrafx has designed some groovy artwork for the back cover. 

Frank Zappa - Hats Rot (1970)

Once I'd extracted all the best tracks for the 'Son Of Hot Rats' album, there were a number of pieces left over which were just too good to ignore. 'Transition' is one a number of tracks of this title recorded by the band, and this version is the full one, which originally incorporated a two minute section which later became 'Twenty Small Cigars', but which I've removed to leave just the unique portion of the track. We were also treated to the full ten minute take of 'Directly From My Heart To You', which eventually ended up in a truncated form on 'Weasels Ripped My Flesh'. As the 'song' part of the track is already available on an album, and because I was running long on playing time, I've extracted the excellent solos from the second half of the recording and re-titled it appropriately. 'Piano Music' is another piece that had various recordings, and this take is 'Section 3', which is very loosely based on the riff from 'Peaches En Regalia', but which then veers off into a totally different direction. Finally, we have the full 27 minute take of 'Another Waltz', which in an edited form became 'Little House I Used To Live In' on 'Burnt Weeny Sandwich', but which must have been difficult to edit as it all sounds so good. These four tracks make up a 41 minute album which completes the 'Hot Rats' trilogy, and while I'm the first to admit that it's not as good as the 'Son Of...' album, it's still well worth hearing if you're a fan of the original release. 

Track listing

01 Transition
02 Music From The Heart
03 Piano Music #3
04 Another Waltz

Frank Zappa - Son Of Hot Rats (1970) UPDATE

The big news this year for Zappaholics was the announcement that there would be a 'Hot Rats' box set towards the end of the year, which would include hours of recordings made during the 'Hot Rats' sessions. It's finally here, and we have not been let down by what's on it. The 6CD box documents and compiles every composition recorded during several days in July 1969 when Zappa recorded a wealth of material that ended up being used not only for the 'Hot Rats' album, but throughout multiple releases during his lifetime. It's filled with an abundance of rare and unedited mixes, work mixes, relevant Vault nuggets and complete basic tracks mixed from the original multi-track master tapes by Craig Parker Adams and mastered by Bob Ludwig. The collection provides a fascinating look into the making of this classic album, and includes essentially every musical entity that was recorded during these iconic sessions, including tracks which would subsequently become part of Zappa’s albums 'Burnt Weeny Sandwich', 'Weasels Ripped My Flesh', 'Studio Tan', and 'Chunga’s Revenge'. After working my way through them and finding recordings that I never knew existed, I've decided to update my 'Son Of Hot Rats' album to replace some of the tracks whch didn't really fit the original concept with versions that I now know were definitely recorded at the same time as the final 'Hot Rats' tracks. I've therefore replaced 'Lemme Take You To The Beach' with the original instrumental backing before the vocals were added in the early 70's, and added the full eight minute 1970 mix of 'Bognor Regis'. As it was now turning into an almost completely instrumental album, and getting longer all the time, I decided to remove the vocal parts from 'Sharleena' and just leave the solos, add the unedited take of 'Lil' Clanton Shuffle', remove 'Excentrifugal Forz' completely, and replace 'Twenty Small Cigars' with the original 'Transition', but as it was almost musically identical I've kept the title. After a little re-jigging of the running order it sounded pretty good, and so here is the updated album. I'm leaving the original post in place in case anyone still wants to hear that, and the other good news is that there are enough tracks left over to compile a third album in the trilogy, which will follow when I've put it together. 

Track listing

01 Bognor Regis
02 Dame Margret's Son To Be A Bride
03 Twenty Small Cigars
04 Chunga Basement
05 Introducing The Toads Of The Short Forest>
06 Sharleena
07 Lil' Clanton Shuffle

Rachel Flowers - Plays Zappa (2018)

Rachel Flowers has always had an affinity with Frank Zappa, sharing a birthday with him on 21st December (1993 for Rachel and 1940 for Frank). Even more spooky is the fact that Zappa died just 17 days before Rachel was born, so believers in reincarnation can draw their own conclusions. She has covered more Zappa compositions than any other artist, even her beloved Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and so I thought it was worth collecting them all together on one 43 minute 'album'. Rachel regularly plays with Dweezil Zappa in his Zappa Plays Zappa band, and excerpts from some of their gigs are available on Youtube, so do search them out. There's also an hour-long video here showing the recording process of the 'Zomby Woof' track, and how Rachel plays and overdubs all the instruments herself to make up the track. So as not to infringe copyright, the links are directly to Rachel's Soundcloud page and to Youtube, and it's entirely up to you if you download them yourself. To reacquaint yourself with Rachel's amazing story then check out her Prog rock post.

Track listing

01 Inca Roads
02 Zoot Allures
03 Montana
04 Peaches En Regalia
05 The Black Page 1
06 The Black Page 2
07 Zomby Woof
08 The Mammy Anthem

All titles composed by Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa - Son Of Hot Rats (1970)

Following the release of 'Uncle Meat' in 1969, Frank Zappa disbanded the Mothers Of Invention and put together a new band, retaining only Ian Underwood from the Mothers, and adding Max Bennett and Shuggie Otis on bass, John Guerin, Paul Humphrey and Ron Selico on drums, Don "Sugarcane" Harris and Jean-Luc Ponty on violin, and an uncredited Lowell George on rhythm guitar. Using these musicians 'Hot Rats' was recorded between July 18 and August 30 1969 at TTG Studios in Hollywood. Because they were using new 16-track technology, only a few musicians were required to create an especially rich instrumental texture which gives the sound of a large group. It was this use of advanced overdubbing that was the main motivation for Zappa, who hated playing in a studio, and so the band were able to lay down basic tracks and Zappa would then tinker with them, speeding up and slowing down the tapes to create unusual effects. There was therefore more music taped than was needed for a single album, but never one to waste anything, Zappa used a lot of it on his later albums.
The opening to 'Toads of the Short Forest' from 'Weasels Ripped My Flesh', 'Twenty Small Cigars' from 'Chunga's Revenge', 'Excentrifugal Forz' (with overdubs done in 1973) from 'Apostrophe (')', and 'Lemme Take You To The Beach' from 'Studio Tan' were all taped at these sessions. Other songs, such as 'L'il Clanton Shuffle' and 'Bognor Regis' were released posthumously, the former on 'The Lost Episodes', and 'Bognor Regis' only on bootleg (which is ridiculous, as it's brilliant). The band stayed together for only a year, but in March 1970 they added Aynsley Dunbar on drums and laid down two more tracks, 'Sharleena' and 'Chunga Basement', and so this potential follow-up to the classic 'Hot Rats' includes everything that this incarnation of the band recorded in the studio. Normally I can take or leave Zappa, but 'Hot Rats' is one of my favourite ever albums, and as this collection is in a similar vein (with just a little more vocal), I think it hangs together really well. I've had to make a few edits, extracting the beginning of 'Toads...' and seguing it into 'Excentrifugal Forz', giving a better fade to 'Twenty Small Cigars', and cutting 'Sharleena' before it starts to get weird, but the rest is as it was taped nearly 50 years ago. The cover is from the original photo-shoot by Andee Eye (nee Nathanson), who posted it on Facebook recently 'for a giggle'.

Track listing

01 Lemme Take You To The Beach
02 Bognor Regis
03 Twenty Small Cigars
04 Chunga Basement
05 Introducing The Toads Of The Short Forest>
06 Excentrifugal Forz
07 L'il Clanton Shuffle
08 Sharleena

Frank Zappa & Captain Beefheart - Beef Zap (1998)

Following my recent Captain Beefheart post, Craig Cobalt commented that he was also a fan, and had complied his own album made up of Frank Zappa songs which feature the good Captain on vocals. I knew about 'Willie The Pimp' and the 'Bongo Fury' collaboration, but I hadn't heard Zappa's 'Lost Episodes' or 'Mystery Disc' albums, and so I thought that it was worth putting it together to see how it sounded. The answer is 'pretty damn good', and so Chris has given me permission to post it here. He titled it 'Beef Zap', and so I've gone literal with the cover, and the only thing Chris wanted was the first 30 seconds of 'Poofter's Froth Wyoming...' to be cut so that it flowed better, so having done that the result is another fine record from two of rock music's most visionary mavericks. 

Track listing

01 The Birth Of Captain Beefheart
02 Willie The Pimp
03 Sam With The Showing Scalp Flat Top
04 Debra Kadabra
05 Man With The Woman Head
06 200 Years Old
07 I'm A Band Leader
08 Alley Cat
09 Metal Man Has Won His Wings
10 Lost In A Whirlpool
11 Tiger Roach
12 I Was A Teenage Malt Shop
13 Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead
14 The Grand Wazoo