Philly '76

The Recording

Liner notes by Gail Zappa

Philadelphia, 29 October 1976. Live at The Spectrum. [...] This is the only 16 track extant of this line-up. [...] FZ transferred (in the Bob Stone-age) the original Record Plant Mobile 2" 16-track analog 30 ips recordings to Sony PCM 3324 Digital on April Fool's, 1987.

 

disc 1

1. The Purple Lagoon

And I'm also sorry that Flo & Eddie couldn't be with us tonight. Flo— For those of you who don't know, their lead guitar player was killed three nights ago in Utah, and they're not— the rest of the band is not feeling too enthusiastic about performance right now.

Pat Buzby, alt.fan.frank-zappa, January 22, 2010

His name was Phil Reed and he fell from a hotel window. (Source is Barry Miles's FZ Visual Documentary.)

Neil Slaven, Electric Don Quixote—The Definitive Story Of Frank Zappa, 2003, p. 237

At Cobo Hall in Detroit on November 19, Flo & Eddie appeared as the opening act and returned to jam with their old boss, along with bass player Ralph Armstrong from the Mahavishnu Orchestra and drummer Don Brewer from Grand Defunct Railroad. Flo & Eddie had auditioned for Frank's latest band and he'd wanted them but their record company, Columbia, wanted them to go on the road with their own group, which included Bruce and Walt Fowler, to promote their new album, Moving Targets. When their guitarist, Phil Reed, fell to his death from a hotel window, Frank agreed to let them join his tour.

 

11. Chrissy Puked Twice

She burned her leg on a tail-pipe then
And yelled, "Shit-a-ree!", and puked again

pbuzby, Zappateers, May 2, 2013

Apparently FZ believed ["shitaree"] was a curse word Nebraskans would use. This might shed some light on the extra Titties & Beer verse.

 

disc 2

2. Advance Romance

 

3. Honey, Don't You Want A Man Like Me

Amlyn, alt.fan.frank-zappa, January 29, 2010

I wonder why "Honey don't you want a man like me" on Phily'76 changes pitch just after "they did the bump together"?

Pat Buzby, alt.fan.frank-zappa, January 29, 2010

In the previous tour they performed this song in G. In fall '76 the key changed to A. It sounds to me like FZ gets disoriented by the "band was tight" bit and slips back into G by mistake on "they did the bump together" on this Philly version.

 

12. Muffin Man

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen, this is the basis of— This is the basis for communication in America today. I'd like to have each and everyone of you stand up and salute the flag. Here it is. This is your American heritage, right here. 200 years and this is all you get. Right there. Maybe in 200 more years you can have these! And, if evolution takes its natural course, in 1000 years you can do it with your feet, if you still got any. [...] Richard Nixon right out there in the— Thanks for coming by, Dick. He's looking good. He's looking better than I've seen him in weeks.

Glenn Leonard (via Charles Ulrich, January 14, 2010)

towards the end of the show fz is talking about saluting the flag & after 200 years, all it comes to is "this". he's giving the finger. around that moment, there was a guy in a nixon mask & classic old-time prison costume on the floor a few rows back in the center. i met him walking into the spectrum. he had a spotlight on him when fz said "he's looking better than ever" or sumtin.

 

 

Research, compilation and maintenance by Román García Albertos
http://www.donlope.net/fz/
This page updated: 2023-12-17