(Frank Zappa, 2CD, Zappa Records/UME ZR3894, December 18, 2012)
Compilation & Title by FZ
Engineers: FZ, Kerry McNabb, Paramount Recording Studios, LA, CA
Original 1/4" DBX 187 encoded analog master tapes—dated June 25, 1972
Vaultmeisterment & Tape Transfers by Joe Travers at UMRK, March 28, 2007
Mastered by Stephen Marcussen, Marcussen Mastering, Hollywood, April 2007
Contextual excursions by gz
Liner notes & cover art by American artist Bill Miller
'Finer Moments'—Reclaimed vintage linoleum assemblage (32" x 48"), 2011
Photography by Ed Caraeff & John Williams
Design layout & art photography by Michael Mesker
Production manager by Melanie Starks
Royal Albert Hall, London, UK
June 6, 1969
FZ—voice
FZ:
Hello, boys and girls.
Now, during this part of our program—
Audience member:
Louder! We can't hear you.
FZ:
During this part of our program, we are going to perform for you various chamber music pieces—and also some zany Mothers Of Invention bullshit. You remember The Mothers Of Invention, that zany group.
We have the assistance of a famous pop star to help us tonight during our renowned ballet sequence.
And later on in the program, we're going to have our road manager, Dick Barber, come out and strangle a rubber chicken and make some funny noises for ya. And, as if that weren't enough, we're going to do our version of the birth of Frankenstein, live on stage, including a spark generator and a smoke bomb and a convulsing monster, which we construct out of Motorhead. And, let's see, what else are we gonna do?
That's about it.
Royal Albert Hall, London, UK
June 6, 1969
FZ—guitar
Roy Estrada—bass
Don Preston—keyboards
Ian Underwood—woodwinds, acoustic piano
Buzz Gardner—trumpet
Bunk Gardner—woodwinds
Motorhead Sherwood—baritone sax
Jimmy Carl Black—drums
Arthur Dyer Tripp III—drums, percussion
Royal Albert Hall, London, UK
June 6, 1969
FZ—conductor, vocal, guitar
Roy Estrada—bass
Don Preston—keyboards
Ian Underwood—woodwinds, acoustic piano
Buzz Gardner—trumpet
Bunk Gardner—woodwinds
Motorhead Sherwood—baritone sax
Jimmy Carl Black—drums
Arthur Dyer Tripp III—drums, percussion
+
Noel Redding—special dance stylings
Dick Barber—rubber chicken strangulation [uncredited]
Kanzus J. Kanzus—biological masterpiece [uncredited]
FZ: Okay, now, the entertaining part of this . . . section. While the well-disciplined Ian Underwood plays selected fragments from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Piano Sonata In B-flat" and we make electric noises, some members of our rocking teen combo will hop around on stage in a grotesque parody of the art of ballet dancing—which some of you may find amusing.
Hey . . . double path!
. . . Double path
You get a double?
[...]
Oh you have to carry him . . .
Carry him?
You have to carry him
Come on over, you told to her, I mean . . .
He looks fat!
God, oh m' God!
Where's the chicken?
Bock! Bock! Be-REHH
Bock! Be-REHH
ACTION!
Bock bock, be-REHH
Boy, do I hate chickens!
Bock bock, be-REHH
Bock bock, be . . . SNORK
SNORK . . . SNORRRRK . . .
FZ: Put him in the middle of the stage and we can all dance around him and bring him back to life.
Kansas: Will he come out of it?!!
Roy?: Yes . . .
JCB: Far Out!!!
He's looking better, Kanzus.
Kansas: Anybody got a smoke for him?
Bunk: I think she's pregnant [...].
Kansas: Safe to say it's going to deliver us from something. Build a fish, a biological masterpiece.
FZ: During this part of our extremely zany ballet, Don Preston disguised as a mad scientist will convert the unwilling Motorhead Sherwood into a walking zombie.
Bock . . . bock, bock . . . bock . . . BOCK!
No, let him get his smock on!
Royal Albert Hall, London, UK
June 6, 1969
FZ—conductor, vocal, guitar
Roy Estrada—bass
Don Preston—keyboards
Buzz Gardner—trumpet
Ian Underwood—woodwinds, acoustic piano
Bunk Gardner—woodwinds
Motorhead Sherwood—baritone sax
Jimmy Carl Black—drums
Arthur Dyer Tripp III—drums, percussion
Carnegie Hall, NYC, NY
October 11, 1971
FZ—guitar
Ian Underwood—keyboards
Don Preston—keyboards, Minimoog
Jim Pons—bass
Aynsley Dunbar—drums
He came on a Saturday afternoon from Manchester, and said to meet him at the railway station. He was an unusually large man that no . . . He also wore a black jacket and pin-striped trousers and carried a gladstone bag.
Hands up!
Although he did call [...], he stopped [...]. In fact, though you would expect an [...], he was a sensitive man, who could only sleep when [...] pillows had been forced into one pillowcase. My father was Wesleyan chapel steward and engaged him every second year to recite [...] people who had bought programs. If you called them tickets, they became liable to excise [...]. My father was a supporter of Wick Tyler. This minstrel used to deliver pocket versions of the classic books, such as Silas Marner and The Old Curiosity Shop.
May 21, 1971
Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
FZ—guitar
Mark Volman & Howard Kaylan—tambourines, cowbell
Jim Pons—bass
Bob Harris—keyboards
Ian Underwood—alto sax
Aynsley Dunbar—drums
FZ: You have just heard a make-believe record scratch. End side one.
includes Oh! Susanna (Foster), The Sailor's Hornpipe (Trad.), and Ach du lieber Augustine (Trad.)
Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida
c. February 1-7, 1969
FZ—guitar
Lowell George—guitar
Roy Estrada—bass
Don Preston—keyboards
Ian Underwood—woodwinds, keyboards
Buzz Gardner—trumpet
Bunk Gardner—woodwinds
Motorhead Sherwood—baritone sax
Jimmy Carl Black—drums
Arthur Dyer Tripp III—drums, percussion
Play the harmonica . . .
Chíngale a tu madre
Ba-bada ba-bada
Chíngale a tu madre
Ba-bada ba-ba
Chíngale a tu madre
Ba-bada ba-bada
Chíngale a tu madre
Ba-bada ba-ba
includes Uncle Meat, Baked-Bean Boogie, Piano/Drum Duet and a quotation from The Gumbo Variations
The Ark, Boston, MA
July 8, 1969
FZ—conductor, guitar
Roy Estrada—bass
Don Preston—keyboards
Buzz Gardner—trumpet
Ian Underwood—woodwinds, piano
Bunk Gardner—woodwinds
Motorhead Sherwood—baritone sax
Jimmy Carl Black—drums
Arthur Dyer Tripp III—drums, percussion
FZ: Thank you. Steve, it's a good place for a reel change.
includes celeste, snorks & coughs from Lumpy Gravy Part One
Mayfair Studios, NYC
July-September 1967
Dick Barber—snorks
FZ—all instruments
Sunset Sound, LA
September 1968 [c. March-April 1968?]
Engineer: Jerry Hansen
FZ—conductor, performer
Arthur Dyer Tripp III—percussion
McMillin Theater, Columbia University, NYC
February 14, 1969
Engineer: Dick Kunc
FZ—guitar
Lowell George—guitar
Roy Estrada—bass
Don Preston—keyboards
Ian Underwood—clarinet
Buzz Gardner—trumpet
Bunk Gardner—tenor sax
Motorhead Sherwood—baritone sax
Jimmy Carl Black—drums
Arthur Dyer Tripp III—drums, percussion
Unknown guest soloist on vibes
The Ballroom, Stratford, Connecticut
February 16, 1969
and
Thee Image, Miami Beach, Florida
February 7-9, 1969
Engineer: Dick Kunc
FZ—conductor
Lowell George—guitar
Roy Estrada—bass, vocal
Don Preston—keyboards
Ian Underwood—clarinet
Buzz Gardner—trumpet
Bunk Gardner—tenor sax
Motorhead Sherwood—baritone sax
Jimmy Carl Black—drums
Arthur Dyer Tripp III—drums, percussion
Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh, Oh, Oh
Little right there, little right there, oh, a little right there!
Right there, oh-oh!
Right there, oh! Ah! Ah! . . . Ah-h-h-h . . .
More, more, more, more, more,
More, more, more, more, more,
More, more, more, more, more,
More, more, more, more, more . . . Oh . . . oh, God!
More, more, mo-mo-mo-mo-more, mo-mo-more!
He's had enough, he's had enough!
Bwah-hah-ha-hah, gettin' off, gettin' off!
Bwah-hah-ha-hah, gettin' off, gettin' off!
Bwoh-hoh-ha-hah, more!
Oh God, oh God, oh more . . . more . . .
Oh, God, oh, God!
Touch it! Touch it! Touch it! Touch it!
Skweezit! Skweezit!
(What, what we're gonna do, "All Night Long"?)
FZ: Thank you!
(We do "All Night Long" now?)
includes solos from Pound For A Brown and King Kong
Carnegie Hall, NYC, NY
October 11, 1971
FZ—guitar
Ian Underwood—keyboards
Don Preston—keyboards, Minimoog
Jim Pons—bass
Aynsley Dunbar—drums
FZ: Thank you.
All compositions by Frank Zappa except as noted