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Audience 8.8 - This is the exact kind of audience tape I love the most. It’s taped from pretty close to the stage, is not overloaded, but it is overloaded with manic energy and intensity. Steve Vai brought out the best in Frank, you can hear it on full display here. A wonderful show (open air), a great tape, a must have. Also there are fewer 1982 shows recorded than you might think. -
SDBRD 9.5 - Excellent comp of extended guitar jamming, from 1978-1980 period. FRANK ZAPPA "Monsters" 01 Persona Non Grata (1978-10-15 Stony Brook) 02 Outside Now (1980-10-31 New York City) 03 City Of Tiny Lites (1980-11-18 St. Paul) 04 Easy Meat (1980-06-24 Geneva) 05 Inca Roads (1979-03-19 Brest) 06 Chunga's Revenge (1980-07-02 Frankfurt) 07 Black Napkins (1978-10-13 Passaic) -
Audience 9.2 - Solid recording with just enough of an atmosphere, I mean, the only thing you might notice is the vocals having a little hall “verb” and thus not having the precision necessary to hear every word clear as a bell…but the overall sound, vibe, the concert recording is excellent and highly recommended. Palace Theatre Albany, NY. August 2nd, 1988 Disc 1- Intro
- The Black Page
- Band Intros
- Packard Goose
- Dickie's Such An Asshole
- When The Lie's So Big
- Planet Of The Baritone Women
- Any Kind Of Pain
- Jesus Thinks You're A Jerk
- Sofa
- Why Don't You Like Me
- The Torture Never Stops
- Presidential Popularity Poll
- Who Needs The Peace Corps
- We're Turning Again
- King Kong
- Stairway To Heaven
- Dancin' Fool
- Whipping Post
- I Am The Walrus
- Strictly Genteel
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Audience 8.7 - You are a little deeper in the audience for this show, but it’s a fun ride because the audience at this show is so into it, they know what they are seeing and hearing and the band responds to it by giving one hell of a performance. A touch thin in the bandwidth but it is clearly captured enough to where you will get drawn into it completely. Guitar sounds cool, the atmosphere lends itself well to Frank’s sound here. Not to be a spoiler, but the guitar work during Stevie’s Spanking…man! Frank Zappa 19-Mar 1988 Memorial Hall, Muhlenburg College Allentown, PA Line-up: fz-guitar/v ike willis-guitar/v mike keneally-guitar/synth/v bobby martin-keyboard/v ed mann-percussion walt fowler-trumpet bruce fowler-trombone paul carman-alto sax albert wing-tenor sax kurt mcgettrick-baritone sax scott thunes-bass chad wackerman-drums Setlist: Disc 1 00 Crowd Noise~Tuning 01 The Black Page 02 We're Turning Again 03 Alien Orifice 04 Find Her Finer 05 Sinister Footwear #2 06 Stevie's Spanking 07 Any Kind Of Pain 08 OCLT Medley Part 1 09 OCLT Medley Part 2 10 Theme From Lumpy Gravy 11 Synclavier Piece (begin intermission) 12 Irish Eyes Intro 13 When Irish Eyes Are Smiling vs.Theme From The Godfather 14 Packard Goose Medley 15 Zomby Woof Disc 2 16 King Kong 17 Mr.Green Genes 18 Florentine Pogen 19 Andy 20 Inca Roads 21 Stairway To Heaven 22 encore break 23 Texas Motel Medley 24 Theme From The Untouchables 24 Strictly Genteel Total Time 143.14 min -
Soundboard? I think it could be because there’s no audience noise here. It’s an OK board if it is, but quality is hovering around 8.6 so it is well worth getting. -
Audience 8.1 - Do not be dismayed by this sound rating, in fact this has been re-mastered and is vastly superior to all other versions out there. The lineage of this recording was the cause of some confusion for decades – it was believed to have been from Rotterdam but is in fact Amsterdam. Why this show has been overlooked by collectors is beyond me, it’s a marathon concert and should be in the collection. Maybe it was the marginal sound quality of previous versions? Oh well, now we have this. -
Audience 8.7 - Very direct sound, as if taper had great seats, but there’s some background hiss that is not too bad, and the sound is not exactly “full bodied” but it’s pretty darn clear. A good one, and 1977 was not a tour where there is an overwhelming amount of recordings for some reason. -
Audience 8.8 - An onstage reel to reel recording as were many others that were done similarly on this tour. A good, strong and present recording capturing all the action clearly. Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention 23-May 1969 Lawrence University Chapel Appleton, WI The Mothers Of Invention, November 1968 - May 1969 FZ, Lowell George, Roy Estrada, Jimmy Carl Black, Art Tripp, Ian Underwood, Don Preston, Bunk Gardner, Motorhead Sherwood, Buzz Gardner. 01 Intro & tune-up 1:45 02 Some Ballet Music 7:43 03 Uncle Meat (incl. Drum Duet) 7:13 04 Eye Of Agamotto 8:12 05 My Guitar preamble 0:50 06 My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama 3:41 07 Clap & Vomit (incl. Prelude to the Afternoon of a Sexually Aroused Gas Mask, Meditation, audience participation) 6:36 08 Kung Fu #1 (aka The Jelly) 2:23 09 Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue (q: Teddy Bears' Picnic, Tea For Two, It Had To Be You, Octandre) 7:41 10 Hungry Freaks, Daddy 3:49 11 'The Duke' preamble 0:58 12 Little House I Used To Live In 5:30 13 Aybe Sea 1:00 14 Transylvania Boogie 2:17 15 Help I'm A Rock (incl. Transylvania Boogie) 4:56 16 King Kong 14:30 17 Igor's Boogie / Little Doo-Wop 2:40 Total time 81.52 min -
Pro Soundboard 9.8 -
Audience 9.6 - Hallelujah! This is just sublime, you get not only a band that sounds completely in lock step with each other (and I mean where even the improvs sound fluid and effortless), but also Frank being on top of his game. His tone, his attack, his feedback, his sound on the tape it’s just a really exceptional capture and performance to elevate this tape to MUST HAVE status. The 88 tour had its share of sleepers, but this is not one of those, by all standards this has to be considered one of the best nights. Frank Zappa 1988-05-08 Wien, Austria Stadthalle Set 1: 01. tuning 00:50 * 02. The Black Page 06:56 03. band introductions 01:15 04. Ain't Got No Heart 01:58 05. Packard Goose medley 07:21 06. Any Kind Of Pain 05:26 07. Cosmik Debris 04:36 08. Inca Roads 08:34 09. Advance Romance 06:39 10. Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue 08:44 11. Bamboozled By Love 05:39 12. Bolero 05:44 ________ 01:03:42 Set 2: 01. Eat That Question 02:08 02. Black Napkins 09:09 03. More Trouble Every Day 05:50 04. Penguin In Bondage 04:56 05. Hot Plate Heaven At The Green Hotel 07:37 06. Peaches En Regalia 02:49 07. Stairway To Heaven 09:18 08. Sharleena 08:24 09. Montana 04:05 10. City Of Tiny Lites 08:23 11. Whipping Post 07:32 ________ 01:10:11 ________ 02:13:53 -
Soundboard 9.2 - There are a couple of cuts throughout but this is pretty darn good, and of course it’s with Steve Vai so there’s plenty of shred. Frank Zappa 1981.11.15 Baltimore, Md The Performers: Frank Zappa - vocals, guitar Steve Vai - guitar, vocals Ray White - guitar, vocals Chad Wackerman - drums Ed Mann - percussion Scott Thunes - bass, vocals Tommy Mars - keyboards Disc 1 (early show)- -Yo Mama
- -Joe's Garage
- -Bobby Brown
- -Love of My Life
- -Zoot Allures
- -You Are What You Is
- -Mudd Club
- -The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
- -Dumb All Over
- -Dumb All Over (cont'd) - Heavenly Bank Account
- -Suicide Chump
- -Jumbo Go Away
- -Envelopes
- -Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch - What's New In Baltimore
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Soundboard 9.5 -
Soundboard 9.2 (late show) -
Audience 9.0 - A wonderfully present, atmospheric tape! I can listen to this all day, it’s a great time for the quirky and symphonic escapades they were launching into with Grand Wazoo. Brilliant! Frank Zappa & The Grand Wazoo Orchestra Deutschlandhalle Berlin (West), Germany 9/15/1972 Disc 1 01 intros [3:38] 02 New Brown Clouds [7:48] 03 Big Swifty [16:38] 04 Approximate [14:57] 05 For Calvin And His Next Two Hitch-hikers [8:03] 06 Think It Over (The Grand Wazoo) [21:19] Disc 2 07 Greggary Peccary Preamble [1:25] 08 The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary Part I [2:59] 09 The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary Part II-III [5:48] 10 Dog Meat [5:33] 11 Improvisations preamble [0:44] 12 Improvisations [1:25] 13 Improvisations [17:37] 14 Blues For A Minute [4:36] 15 Penis Dimension [3:26] 16 Variant Processional March (incl. Regyptian Strut) [3:14] 17 ovations [4:20] 18 tune-up [1:49] 19 Chunga's Revenge [6:04] Total time 131.34 min -
Audience 9.0 -
Soundboard 9.4