Piquantique

Another release in the Beat the Boots box sets, “Piquantique” ostensibly contains material from a single 1973 concert in Stockholm, Sweden. At least, that is what we are led to believe if we go by what is on the cover art. But that appears suspect. There is some question about the fourth track, “T’Mershi Duween.” At the Web site Information Is Not Knowledge, site owner Román García Albertos suggests the recording is from a 1974 show at an unknown venue. Wikipedia suggests that it comes from a December, 1973 show at the Roxy. KillUglyRadio, however, does not confirm that suggestion, going, instead, with the unknown venue. It could very well be from the Roxy, as the lineup on the fourth track is identical to the lineup from the release Roxy & Elsewhere.

Also connected with the songs from the Stockholm show is video from the concert that was shown on Swedish TV. You really need to do yourself a favor and check out this site and the video stills from this show. Frank is wearing a green and white plaid blazer over a burgundy turtle neck. It is total dorkdom.

As with most of the Beat the Boots CDs, the sound quality of this recording is only fair. But the material is really quite good, as we get 40 minutes of some quality avant-garde jazz.

There was a lot more improvisation going on with the original Mothers of Invention during their live shows than what went on with later incarnations of Zappa’s traveling troupe. And while Ian Underwood is the only member of this lineup from the latter incarnation of the Mothers, the playing is definitely more free-form that what you get from later lineups.

The CD opens with “Kung Fu,” a short, but interesting composition that includes the opening theme from “The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue,” which had officially appeared on “Weasels Ripped My Flesh.” Ruth Underwood’s percussion is sweet in this number, but she really brings it on during “Redunzl.” Jean-Luc Ponty also cranks it out during this piece. I wish the recording was just a tad better because Ralph Humphrey’s drumming sounds pretty awesome as well.

Zappa’s guitar solo during “Redunzl” has that characteristic fuzz sound that showed up frequently during the jazzy albums of 1969 through 1972.

Things get funky and out there with “Dupree’s Paradise,” George Duke getting crazy and throwing in some Space Invader types of sounds as the song increasingly takes on a cosmic sort of oeuvre. Zappa interjects a bluesy guitar that seems to bring a bit of sanity to the number. After Zappa chimes in about how cold it is at this outdoor venue, George Duke slips into some basic boogie-woogie piano, which brings some off-beat clapping that Frank makes fun of. It’s a good groove that devolves into Duke’s fingers running all over the keyboard giving it the sound as though he were playing a harp. The band joins in lending a music theme to what previously had initially sounded aimless. Jean-Luc Ponty delivers some searing violin now, killing the crowd with triplets and sixteenth notes.

I think the real treasure of this recording, however, is “T’Mershi Duween,” a really cool number that is delightfully percussive and filled with rhythmic surprises. It’s hard to tell, however, if it is from a Roxy show. Could very well be.

Next is “Farther O’Blivion,” a song that had been included in the Petit Wazoo tour, and a version of which shows up on “Imaginary Diseases.” Again, it’s Jean-Luc Ponty’s playing that sends this song into the realm of gods, and he doesn’t waste time. Right from his opening notes he sets straight for the musical stratosphere. This piece contains a theme from “The Be-Bop Tango,” which gives Ponty something musically different to play around. But wait until Bruce Fowler comes in with his trombone! I bet you didn’t think a trombone could sound like that! And Ian Underwood gets very spooky with his distorted soprano saxophone. Jean-Luc Ponty returns to expand on the ghostly theme while Ralph Humphrey keeps a steady boogie beat going. Ruth Underwood comes in and the boogie section of this piece comes to a slow, fading end. After a brief, sort of avant-garde coda (was this the “fast instrumental arrangement of ‘Cucamonga’”?), Humphrey delivers a drum solo that surely must has hurt his hands tremendously if it indeed was as cold as Zappa had said earlier.

There’s great stuff on this recording, but among all the bootlegs out there, the sound quality is still pretty poor.

I rate this three of five stars. Add your own rating below.




Released as part of Beat the Boots box set, July 7, 1991, Rhino Records.

Track listing:

“Kung Fu” – 2:12 (includes the opening theme from “The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue”)
“Redunzl” – 4:26
“Dupree's Paradise” – 11:25
“T’Mershi Duween” – 1:55
“Farther O’Blivion” – 20:41 (including themes from the “Steno Pool” section of “The Adventures of Greggary Peccary”, “The Be-Bop Tango” and a fast instrumental arrangement of “Cucamonga”.)

Personnel:

Frank Zappa (guitar, vocals)
George Duke (keyboards)
Bruce Fowler (trombone)
Tom Fowler (bass)
Ralph Humphrey (drums)
Jean-Luc Ponty (violin)
Ian Underwood (woodwinds)
Ruth Underwood (percussion)

Personnel on track 4?:

Frank Zappa (guitar, vocals)
Napoleon Murphy Brock (tenor sax, flute)
George Duke (keyboards)
Bruce Fowler (trombone)
Tom Fowler (bass)
Ralph Humphrey (drums)
Jeff Simmons (rhythm guitar)
Chester Thompson (drums)
Ruth Underwood (percussion)

As An Am

The entire Beat the Boots series is an exercise in irony. Zappa had a special dislike for bootleggers, which he shares on the opening track of “As An Am,” the first CD in Volume 1 of the Beat the Boots series.

“The bootleg problem as it applies to the work that I do is very much, uh, out of control, and so the FBI is working on it for us … As far as my material goes, it’s a very big business … They’ve already got the stuff recorded live and in concert before I can even release it on a record, and that makes me mad.”

And yet, the entire Beat the Boots series is nothing more than bootlegs Zappa got a hold of and which he dubbed for his own release. Clinton Heylin writes in his 1995 book, “Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry”: “Beat the Boots I and II consisted of two eight-album boxed-sets that were simply counterfeits of existing bootlegs, dubbed direct from the original versions, complete with pops and crackles and original artwork … The Beat the Boots volumes were not intended to legitimize this part of his oeuvre but to undercut the bootleggers and make Zappa money from the bootleggers’ industry (and make money they did).”

But what makes this irony complete is that with the Beat the Boots series, the listener gets unmodified concert recordings. Despite how crappy the sound is with some of them, you are hearing the real deal. These “boots” are real, raw, live recordings without any studio overdubs or modifications or additional parts added or removed or re-done – the opposite of how every legitimate “live” recording was packaged that Zappa officially released.

“As An Am” is not a single-concert boot. It covers two shows from 1981 and 1982. Both the songs “Young & Monde” and “Sharleena” came from a May 21, 1982 show at Sporthalle in Cologne, Germany. The final three tracts come from the late show from Halloween night, 1981, which I’ve already reviewed. So I am just going to stick with the first two songs.

“Young & Monde” (which is also known as "Let's Move to Cleveland") is a very cool mini suite that explores syncopated rhythms around a relatively secure musical theme. It opens with the syncopation, but switches back and forth with a soaring guitar theme. After a few of these presentations, the song devolves into a whining and groaning guitar solo with some machinegun guttural picking, eloquent feedback pumped by a whammy bar, and several time signature changes that only Chad Wackerman can keep up with. About 6 minutes into the song, Frank pulls out some industrial sounds out of his guitar, then goes into a series of repeated oscillating rhythms punctuated with a return to the song’s central theme. But the feedback keeps going, and then there’s another burst of this industrial like sound, like huge manufacturing machines above which are triplets of high notes that are sheer brilliance. It all abruptly stops as the band then begins to return to the original theme as Frank squeezes out a few more fuzzed up chords. The song concludes with some brief, but excellent, vocals by Ray White.

Quite tasty.

With this version of “Sharleena,” I end up asking myself, why didn’t Frank include this live recording on the YCDTOSA series instead of the one he released on Vol. 3. The interplay on this version between Zappa and Steve Vai is so much more interesting than what was going on between Frank and Dweezil on the other release.

I still cannot find the words to describe the solo as it begins. It varies so quickly from fuzzed up bass to trilling notes and squeaks – it even includes a bit of a march tempo mixed in a Hendrix-like acid rock sound that electrifies my scalp as I listen. There are periods in this solo that my hair is standing on end. But then again, my hair is so short, it’s always standing on end. And when the jamming starts to include Steve Vai, I am in guitar heaven. Stick a fork in me, I’m done.

If you’re a hardcore Zappa fan, then you will want to collect the Beat the Boots series, if you haven’t already. But if you’re only a strident fan or a moderate fan, you might want to pass on the investment. As noted, these are unpolished copies of bootlegs, so you really got to love the music and not be bothered by how sucky the recording is.

I rate this recording three of five stars. Add your own rating below.




Released as part of Beat the Boots box set, July 7, 1991, Rhino Records.


Track listing:

“That Makes Me Mad” – 0:51
“Young & Monde” – 11:24
“Sharleena” – 9:09
“Black Napkins” – 3:58
“Black Page #2” – 7:12
“The Torture Never Stops” – 11:03

Personnel:

FZ--lead guitar/vocal
Ray White--guitar/vocal
Steve Vai--stunt guitar
Tommy Mars--keyboards/vocal
Bobby Martin--keyboards/sax/vocals
Ed Mann--percussion
Scott Thunes--bass
Chad Wackerman--drums

Jones Crusher!

The 1977 Halloween show produced a number of bootlegs, including this one, which erroneously states on the cover that it is from the 1977 show at the Felt Forum. The show was at the Palladium, as documented here and here; Zappa played a Halloween show at the Felt Forum in 1976, which I’ve already reviewed.

Much of this material has appeared on official releases, such as “Baby Snakes,” both on the CD release and the movie release. “Black page #2” and the title track, “Jones Crusher,” appear in both the movie and the CD release of “Baby Snakes,” while “San Ber’dino,” “City of Tiny Lites,” “Camarillo Brillo,” and “Black Napkins” were only on the movie release. “Tryin’ to Grow a Chin,” was released on YCDTOSA Vol. 6.

While most of this material was later officially released, it’s worth noting that with this boot, you’re getting the raw performance. The 1995 CD edition of “Baby Snakes” uses a new master made from the remixed version of the album release, for example.

This boot begins with an intro from “Flakes,” followed by Zappa introducing the band. They launch into “San Ber’dino,” which on this recording sounds a bit thin and pinched, but the playing is really fabulous. The tempo is also much faster than the studio release on “One Size Fits All.” Adrian Belew’s guitar on this is stinging, as are Terry Bozzio’s vocals. Bozzio continues with vocals on “Tryin’ to Grow a Chin,” and he’s just as guttural and frenetic as he is on “Sheik Yerbouti.”

“City of Tiny Lites” has always been one of my favorites, and not just for the guitar solo this song is built around. But when Zappa and Belew start trading licks, it is positively scintillating. A minor disappointment, however, is this performance lacks the typical extended guitar solo normally associated with it.

We do get a solo out of Frank in the next track titled “The Squirm.” This also appears as “Bowling on Charen” from “Trance-Fusion.” Although from the same tour, the version released on “Trance-Fusion” was recorded Oct. 28, 1977. This solo begins similar to other Zappa solos found on his guitar solo albums, but his playing soon transitions into an ethereal quality that literally lifts the listener skyward. It’s even reminiscent of “Watermelon in Easter Hay” in some respects. There are also some musical themes that reach back to “Burnt Weeny Sandwich.” It’s really quite beautifully composed.

After that solo, the band drops into “Big Leg Emma,” or rather devolves into the song. While “Emma” can be a fun song, coming after “The Squirm,” it comes off as odd and jarring.

“Invocations” is an audience participation routine that serendipitously includes allusions to previous material with a couple of women who say their names are Janet the Planet and her friend, Donna Youwanna, who has a bottle of Yoohoo. (Interestingly, in this routine, the word “fuck” is bleeped out, as are other expletives). The routine is another one of Frank’s pointless attempts at mocking Warner Bros. It transitions into “Dance Contest,” which was a common routine in Zappa’s tours. It’s set against “The Black Page #2,” a rhythmically complex song that would be a challenge to any dancer. It must have been a joy to watch the contestants try to find a beat in that number.

The band gets to jamming with the next song, “Jones Crusher,” a song about a woman who has a love so strong that she crushes penises. After all, “she can push, she can shove, until it’s just a nub.”

It becomes obvious with the next song, “Camarillo Brillo,” that the song sequence on this boot bears little resemblance to the actual set list. At the show, the song was followed with “Muffin Man,” as it almost always was. Instead, it is followed with “Black Napkins,” which was, in fact, the last song of the show. But while the boot opens with “San Ber’dino,” that song was played just before “Black Napkins.” The intro at the start was actually followed by “Peaches En Regalia.”

Despite all that, the solo in “Black Napkins” on this boot is really amazing, one of the best solos for this song Zappa ever performed.

I rate this four of five stars. Add your own rating below.






Tracks:

1. San Bernadino
2. Grow Me a Chin
3. Tiny Lights
4. The Squirm
5. Big Leg Emma
6. Invocations
7. Dance Contest
8. Black Page #2
9. Jones Crusher
10. Camarillo Brillo
11. Black Napkins

Personnel:

Frank Zappa: guitar, vocals
Adrian Belew: guitar, vocals
Roy Estrada: guest vocals
Patrick O’Hearn: bass
Terry Bozzio: drums, vocals
Ed Mann: percussion
Tommy Mars: keyboards, vocals
Peter Wolf: keyboards