Frank Zappa - 1970 [1991] "Freaks & Motherfu#@%!"

Its hard to believe that Zappa is actually gone... The visionary genius, composer, satirist, performance artist...
As a new generation of listeners embraces his music, many people are probably forgetting about the whole Mothers scene - - It was a band you went to see (forget hearing them on the radio... in fact, many record stores didnt even carry their records !) For years, people like myself would do what we had to do to get our hands on those bootleg tapes. Zappas stage antics were legendary and fortunately they are captured for posterity and available in his catalogue, however, a true Zappa fan can never get enough. Therefore, I was elated when almost a decade back, Barking Pumpkin began cleaning up and issuing all those underground bootlegs.
This particular one is great... its a perfect cross between early Mothers and Flo & Eddie (200 Motels era) material and antic, and Zappas funky Jazz Rock. The band is tight (George Duke, Ian Underwood, Ansley Dunbar...) and the routines are great (Penis Dimension, Whino Man with a Dr. John take off...) some great soloing. The sound quality is also pretty good (ahhhhhhh... I used to hate the annoying hissing on those old tapes !)

This CD is currently the only way to hear `Wino Man' (aka `Wonderful Wino') in its original form - with Flo and Eddie (Mark and Howard) providing backup vocals behind Jeff Simmons's lead vocal. And what a singer he was! His performance makes this `Wino' arguably the best version ever.
The editing on this album is questionable - Sides 1 & 2 appear to be in reverse, `Concentration Moon' is lacking a verse (consult the PLAYGROUND PSYCHOTICS album to hear it done properly), we have `Happy Together' (and its introductory remark) but not the rest of the Groupie Opera...and `Call Any Vegetable' (which is terrific) has a fake ending.
The sound quality is particularly galling to those who know about the long-since-deleted `BEAT THE BOOTS VOLUME 2', which reprised some of this material in superior sound. But, one way or another, you need to hear the vocal version of `Holiday in Berlin', as much for Zappa's wonderful guitar solo (bookended by foretastes of `Inca Roads' and `Easy Meat') as Howard's equally wonderful lead vocal. That and the aforementioned `Wino Man' make this disc necessary for Zappa collectors.

"Recorded; New York, New York on May 11, 1970".

Track Listings

  1. Happy Together
  2. Wino Man-With Dr. John Routine
  3. Concentration Moon
  4. Pallidan Routine
  5. Call Any Vegetable
  6. Little House I Used To Live In
  7. Mudshark Variations
  8. Holiday In Berlin
  9. Sleeping In A Jar
  10. Cruising For Burgers

Personnel:

FZ—guitar, vocals
Mark Volman—vocals
Howard Kaylan—vocals
Jeff Simmons—bass, vocals
George Duke—keyboards, trombone
Ian Underwood—keyboards
Aynsley Dunbar—drums