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Audience 9.1 - Every now and then you get a tape you knew nothing about and it just blows you away. This is one such. Epic performance for starters, but it’s also got a great, lively energy and a totally in-the-pocket sound. The whole band is inspired, the songs just sound incredibly fresh, every solo is a thrill, and the crowd seems to be aware that they are witnessing an inspired concert performance. -
Soundboard 9.7 - Sound quality is top notch. Also features 3 bonus tracks taken from a 1976 official unreleased album entitled "Impossible Album". -
Audience 9.3 - This is the 4th show (5-25-88) of the rare 8CD set "I Am The Clouds" which were the last 4 shows recorded in Germany in 1988 during the final days of Franks touring. (also offered individually or as a set) "I would say the 11 piece band from 1988 is probably one of the best bands that I've had out, if not the best band. Its a combination of guys that I've worked with for a long time, plus adding a horn section." - Frank Zappa -
Soundboard - Sounds like it may actually be a close mic’d recording as there is little audience noise and yet there is a sense of the venue and atmosphere in the vocals especially. Very good! -
Audience 8.4 - Pretty darn good for a small club gig with amateur audience recording technique, if indeed it was done by an audience member. As you know, Frank sometimes recorded the band, not always through the board either. -
Audience 8.5 - Sounds typical of medium halls where there’s some atmosphere but not terrible echo, a nice balance. Sonically, this is a little above average maybe, you get everything in balance, no ultra high highs or deep throbbing lows either. -
Audience 9.0 - I like the sound of this recording, it’s got a very nice and smooth bass which is pretty articulate, and the instruments in general are in perfect harmony with each other, you would be hard pressed to get a better mix even through the board. It’s also a historic concert, for the obvious reasons, and hearing it knowing what happened later, it adds another dimension. A great one! 04-12-1971 Montreux Casino, Switzerland 1. Intro, 2. Peaches En Regalia, 3. Tears Began To Fall, She Painted Up Her Face, Half A Dozen Provocative Squats, 4. Call Any Vegetable, 5. Anyway The Wind Blows, 6. Magdalena, Dog Breath, 7. Sofa Suite, 8. Pound For A Brown, Sleeping In A Jar, 9. Wonderful Wino, Sharleena, Cruisin' For Burgers, 10.King Kong (interrupted by fire) 11.FIRE! -
Audience 8.8 - This is a well rounded recording that delivers most of what is required to ensure a show remains worthy of repeat listens. The only real limitations I could discern are a slight “noisiness” somewhere between the upper mid band and the high band frequencies that are more noticeable during cymbal crashes – and even then it’s minimal. Maybe another critical observation is the overall audio mix coming from the stage is not ideal, it’s not bad, but it’s not as guitar/vocal prominent as you might be used to, again even that is being overly critical because it’s also not that bad. This is a good tape that may not satisfy the perfectionists out there but will take care of the rest of us (me included!). Frank Zappa Chapiteau Mulhouse (France) July 1, 1980 Disc 1 01 -Watermelon In Easter Hay 02 -Keep It Greasey 03 -Pick Me, I'm Clean 04 -City Of Tiny Lights 05 -Pound For A Brown (Mo & Herb's Vacation, Sheik Yerbouti Tango Coda, Filthy Habits) 06 -Cosmik Debris 07 -You Didn't Try To Call Me 08 -I Ain't Got No Heart Disc 2 09 -Love Of My Life 10 -You Are What You Is 11 -Easy Meat 12 -Mudd Club 13 -The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing 14 -Joe's Garage 15 -Why Does It Hurt When I Pee? 16 -Dancin' Fool 17 -Bobby Brown 18 -Ms. Pinky 19 -In France (incl.La Marseillaise) 20 -In France - Luigi & The Wise Guys 21 -Stick It Out (incl.Looney Tunes) 22 -The Illinois Enema Bandit Line-up: Frank Zappa's Band, March - July 1980 FZ, Ike Willis, Ray White, Arthur Barrow, David Logeman, Tommy Mars -
Soundboard 9.4 -
Soundboard 9.4 - Highly enjoyable, good guitar tone, and good mix! (Early show) This show is also included in the 4CD set from Munich, both Early and Late show (also offered). -
Soundboard 9.4 - (Early and Late Show) - Both sets are predominately 9.4 Soundboards with occasional audience sources patched in for completeness. Both shows are highly enjoyable too. Good guitar tone, and good mix! -
Audience 9.6 - This one is loaded with razor sharp guitar, a gem of a show. -
Audience 9.4 - A real good one this is! Like a sharp dressed man entering a room and commanding attention, this show does the same. Frank sounds great, and I like his guitar tone here. Frank Zappa Cirkus Krone Bau Munich (Muenchen), WG 1984-10-04 Early Show Disc 1 01 -Zoot Allures 02 -Tinsel Town Rebellion 03 -Trouble Every Day 04 -Penguin In Bondage 05 -Hot Plate Heaven At The Green Hotel 06 -The Evil Prince 07 -Cocaine Decisions 08 -Nig Biz 09 -Willie The Pimp 10 -He's So Gay 11 -Bobby Brown Disc 2 12 -Keep It Greasey 13 -Honey Don't You Want A Man Like Me? 14 -Carol You Fool 15 -Chana In De Bushwop 16 -Let's Move To Cleveland 17 -Sharleena 18 -Dinah-Moe Humm 19 -Whipping Post Band: Frank Zappa - Vocals, Guitars, Conducting Ike Willis - Vocals, Guitar Ray White - Vocals, Guitar Scott Thunes - Bass Chad Wackerman - Drums Allan Zavod - Keyboards Bobby Martin - Keyboards, Saxophone, Vocals -
Soundboard 9.1 and Audience 8.5 - Beautifully mixed, with some tiny over-sizzle on crash cymbals at times, which seems to get worked out on the mix, but more problems with vocals getting distorted, mostly is the “ssss’s” which isn’t a deal breaker because the problems are not a large percentage of the music. The second show is an audience recording that sounds a little distant until the guitars begin and then it sounds practically right next to you! Strange. -
Stage Recording 8.7 - These kind of recordings are in a unique category – they are technically “audience” type recordings but the signal is sent straight to the recording deck or into a sub-mixer under the control of an engineer. A “professional audience recording” I suppose. So, you do not always have absolute control over the sound mix but this can be a good thing if you get lucky enough with ideal mic placement and ambience, and other things like that. In this case, well, it’s a fine recording limited perhaps by the mic and tape deck quality or ability to capture in high fidelity. It’s a great reference, a decent recording, and there’s plenty of interesting stuff here to make you want to find out what Zappa does next. -
Audience 8.4 - A somewhat narrow sound field but a thoroughly enjoyable 1973 performance nonetheless. There are one of two tape flips and a little audience conversation (in Norwegian) but that is to be expected. -
Audience / Soundboard / FM - This is a very special Halloween Marathon from 1981, with perfect clarity and sound balance. Another outstanding performance in NYC. -
Audience 7.3 - Hissy, compressed leaning towards bottom end side and vocals are drowned out. Somewhere in the middle is where all the music is and you can actually discern pretty much all of it, mainly bass, keys, and some drums in there too (drums in the stew). -
Audience 8.2 -
Audience 9.2 - Frank only played 4 shows in Japan. This was the second of four and a fine show it is! -
Audience 9.2 - The final performance of the 4 night Halloween Marathon at the Palladium in NYC 1978. Also part of the FZ Halloween Canister, also being offered. -
Audience 9.4 - I love these open-air recordings that really shine, capturing not just the music but the entire vibe of the event…and so realistically! This to me is what collecting is about, basically it is about reliving a musical event from the past. This one does that in spades. Frank Zappa Maples Pavilion Stanford University Stanford, CA 1980 04 03 Disc 1 1. -Mo 'N Herb's Vacation - Opening solo (Pound For A Brown vamp) 2. -Teenage Wind 3. -Harder Than Your Husband 4. -Bamboozled By Love 5. -Pick Me I'm Clean (q: Mo 'N Herb's Vacation) 6. -Society Pages 7. -I'm A Beautiful Guy 8. -Beauty Knows No Pain 9. -Charlie's Enormous Mouth 10. -Any Downers? 11. -Conehead 12. -Easy Meat (q: Thirteen) 13. -Mudd Club Disc 2 14. -The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing 15. -Heavenly Bank Account 16. -Suicide Chump 17. -Jumbo Go Away 18. -If Only She Woulda (q: Mo 'N Herb's Vacation) 19. -I Don't Wanna Get Drafted 20. -Joe's Garage 21. -Why Does It Hurt When I Pee? 22. -Dinah-Moe Humm 23. -Dancin' Fool 24. -Bobby Brown 25. -Black Napkins (q: Mo 'N Herb's Vacation) 26. -Chunga's Revenge (q: The Radio Is Broken) -
Audience 9.1 - Now, we all know how Zappa felt about bootlegs, so it begs the question – how come there are so many fantastic audience recordings from every tour? Well, here’s yet another one, a very well balanced and clear (and bold!) tape. Love it! -
Audience 9.2 (Early show) -
Audience 9.6 - A beautiful, lush and atmospheric document. I love the stereo separation here, it’s a sound field that envelopes you in a way that makes you feel you are sitting in the first row staring up at the band. This is a must have without question! Frank Zappa Leroy Theatre Pawtucket, RI 23 October 1977 Early show Disc 1 01 -Intro 02 -Peaches En Regalia 03 -The Torture Never Stops 04 -Tryin' To Grow A Chin 05 -City Of Tiny Lights 06 -A Pound For A Brown 07 -Bobby Brown 08 -Conehead 09 -Flakes 10 -Big Leg Emma 11 -Envelopes 12 -Disco Boy Disc 2 13 -I Promise Not To Come In Your Mouth 14 -Wild Love 15 -Titties 'n Beer 16 -The Black Page 17 -Jones Crusher 18 -Broken Hearts Are For Assholes 19 -Punky's Whips 20 -Camarillo Brillo 21 -Muffin Man -
Soundboard 9.1 - Love the bass sound here, very defined, and good mix but I think keys could have been up more, but they are there. Guitars sound very present and living room live. -
Audience 8.6 - A lively and loud tape, with great atmosphere, in that you get the hall acoustics without unnecessary boominess or echo, just the right amount to give you that sense of being there. That makes for a unique listening experience because this show does not sound like the next show or the one before, the playing and arrangements are going to be different but so is the venue and acoustics. As long as the recording is good, and this one is pretty darn good, you will enjoy the show. Frank Zappa Spectrum Theater Philadelphia PA Nov 3 1975 Frank Zappa Napoleon Murphy Brock Roy Estrada Andre Lewis Terry Bozzio Norma Bell 111:08 Disc 1 01. Stinkfoot 9:53 02. Dirty Love 3:29 03. How Could I Be Such A Fool? 4:03 04. I Ain't Got No Heart 2:25 05. I'm Not Satisfied 1:53 06. Black Napkins 9:00 07. Advance Romance 10:11 08. Honey Don't You Want A Man Like Me? 3:47 09. The Illinois Enema Bandit 8:24 10. Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy 6:07 11. Lonely Little Girl 2:33 Disc 2 12. Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance 2:02 13. What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body? 1:01 14. Chunga's Revenge 19:59 15. Zoot Allures 7:46 16. Camarillo Brillo 3:45 17. Muffin Man 4:15 18. Any Downers?>rap 7:41 19. San Ber'dino 6:14 -
Audience 8.3 - A tape that desperately cried out for remastering finally got its wish, and man, what a difference! This show really deserved something to help it from what was a painful mid range boominess. It got that and more. A great show and a great set list is now a great addition to your collection thanks to some skilled handiwork in the art of re-mastering. -
Early Show - Audience 8.4 - Not a tape that delivers a lot of dynamic range but is clear and everything on stage is heard. Also, some slight tape hiss present. A good recording maybe slightly above average. Late Show - Audience 8.8 - A lot more dynamic and brighter than the early set, this is a well recorded show. -
Soundboard 8.8 -
Soundboard 8.7 - A tape that is a little hissy, and some of the instruments are low in the mix (vocals) but, on the bright side, the guitar is pumped way up (and sounds killer), and the band is in a GREAT mood! -
Soundboard 9.0 - Clean and tight but no atmosphere present. Rather dry, but mix is fine, quality is awesome. (late show)