Moby Gym, 1980

This bootleg from a Dec. 2, 1980 show at the Moby Gym in Fort Collins, CO, has three really outstanding tracks that make this rather mediocre concert recording worth having. Like many of the 1980 shows, and many from 1981 as well, the band drew heavily from material that was released on “Sheik Yerbouti,” and “You Are What You Is,” with a few songs that appeared on “Tinseltown Rebellion,” which became the release in Zappa’s catalog representing this tour.

The Fort Collins concert opens with the “Panty Rap,” which became feature of this tour. It was also very well-rehearsed, offering little spontaneity, as heard through an explanation by Zappa to the crowd that varied minimally from what was recorded for the “Tinseltown Rebellion” release. This is followed by a decent performance of the title track from “You Are What You Is,” although it’s missing Ray White’s beautiful, sweeping, high-range vocals found on the official release.

We get some decent harmonizing out of Bob Harris for the next song, “Love of My Life,” but again, not quite the stunning falsetto that he delivers on “Tinseltown Rebellion.” Close, but not quite. Not sure who does a fairly decent Bob Dylan on “Flakes, but it’s nothing like Adrian Belew’s impersonation, and I really miss the harmonica that was part of the performance recorded for “Sheik Yerbouti.” When the bridge occurs, launched by the lyric, “I am a moron and this is my wife,” I’m digging the song as it builds, but then it just moves right along into the next segment that begins with the lyric “We are millions and millions” and completely lacks the dramatic build up I was expecting.

But that minor disappointment was quickly dispersed as the band jumps into “Magic Fingers.” Ray White’s vocals on this are great and not for one second was I missing the lack of Howard Kaylan’s screeching vocals normally associated with this song. This is one of the true standouts of this show. So imagine my anticipation as the bands moves into “The Blue Light.” Despite the unfinished and rambling nature of this song, I’ve tended to like it since first hearing it on “Tinseltown Rebellion.” Frank takes a decent jab Colorado’s granola culture, followed by the song’s expected final crescendo with a few more cultural jabs (“Drink that carrot juice”).

With “Tinseltown Rebellion,” Frank takes advantage of the fact that there are three other guitars on stage with a rocking guitar-centered intro to the song, something I wished he would have done with “Flakes.” Musically, I find this song enjoyable. What has always annoyed me about “Tinseltown Rebellion” was Frank’s holier-than-thou attitude regarding music; that only his and a few select others had real “substance.” Well, I’m sorry Frank, but I like all types of music, everything from empty pop and dance music, to complex orchestral pieces and avant-garde jazz. I don’t subscribe to this elitist attitude Zappa apparently held and from which he looked with disdain upon those who did not measure up.

Next comes “Pick Me I’m Clean,” which segues into a stellar guitar “Sex Jam” that is accented with vocalizations of a moaning, orgasmic woman reminiscent of “The Torture Never Stops.” This, however, abruptly stops. Our bootlegger must have run out of tape.

The recording picks up with the sing-songy “The Dangerous Kitchen,” one of the few songs that worked well with this delivery method. The best song performance comes next with “City of Tiny Lights,” an item composed with a lengthy guitar solo in mind, and Frank doesn’t disappoint. This is a real hard rock jam with amazing ambience and feedback. It is jams like this that will always keep me hungry for Zappa bootlegs. Gotta love Ray White’s vocals following the solo as well.


The last two songs, “Ain’t Got No Heart” and “The Torture Never Stops,” the former of which was competently performed, exhibit nothing special about them. Frank, however, delivers again with “Torture.” This trickles away into some rather boring keyboard sonics, except for a bit of tinkling by Bob Harris. This blather really lacks any inspiration and strikes me as very formulaic, but that has often been my criticism of Tommy Mars. Harris, however, manages to bring some character and interest into this final section of the song that would otherwise cause me to get up and leave my seat to beat the crowd exciting the venue. By the time the song returns to “Torture,” it’s lost all connection and the remaining drumming by Vinnie Colaiuta seems like filler, or worse yet, like he’s warming up by simply testing and tuning his drums. It’s the song that should have ended 10 minutes before it did. And even more astounding is the fact that the song fades out! There was even more of that!

Overall, a relatively mediocre bootleg that is saved by the presence of a few outstanding songs and guitar solos.

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




Track listing:

1. Panty Rap/You Are What You Is
2. Love Of My Life
3. Flakes
4. Magic Fingers
5. The Blue Light
6. Tinseltown Rebellion
7. Pick Me I'm Clean
8. The Dangerous Kitchen
9. City Of Tiny Lights
10. Ain't Got No Heart
11. The Torture Never Stops

Personnel:

Frank Zappa (guitar, vocals)
Arthur Barrow (bass)
Vinnie Colaiuta (drums)
Bob Harris (keyboards, vocals)
Tommy Mars (keyboards)
Steve Vai (guitar)
Ray White (guitar, vocals)
Ike Willis (guitar, vocals)

Dallas Convention Center Arena 1980

The 1980 tour could almost be given one of either two monikers: the Tinseltown Rebellion Tour or the Chunga’s Revenge Tour, as both these songs were played at many of these concerts, based on the bootlegs that are out there from the era.

With the Oct. 17, 1980 show at the Dallas Convention Center Arena, we get a blistering guitar solo out of Frank with “Chunga’s Revenge” opening the show. The sound quality of this boot fluctuates a bit throughout the song, and with the next tune, “I Don’t Wanna Get Drafted,” a song Zappa jointly composed with one of his major influences, Johnny Guitar Watson, the audio comes across very compressed, like listening to an AM radio. Incidentally, the song appeared on the album “You Are What You Is” as “Drafted Again.”

We have a decent, but brief, guitar solo, possibly out of Steve Vai, during “Cosmik Debris,” but with this bootleg the solo doesn’t come forward; you really have to listen hard to hear it. Also, this brief solo is nothing like the solo that shows up on the studio release from “Apostrophe(‘).” The band then launches into a frenetically-paced “Keep It Greasey” from “Joe’s Garage.”

The vamp and intro to “Tinseltown Rebellion” is actually pretty cool. I admit that this is not one of my favorite Zappa songs, but this particular performance actually comes pretty close to getting me to like it. And the lapse into the sing-songy presentation style at the end of the song doesn’t bother me like it does when Frank uses the technique during live performances of other songs (such as on the last track on this boot).

When you got four guitar players on stage, you have to expect some guitar-centric work during this show. This boot doesn’t disappoint on that point when “Outside Now” comes along. Deliciously eviscerating.

A primary reason that I enjoy listening to bootlegs, despite their at times substandard sound quality, is the opportunity to hear the wide variety guitar solos that Zappa performs. Another reason is to have the opportunity to hear performances of the many different musicians he played with, particularly those occasions when it was only during a concert solely available via bootleg.

But given the number of shows Zappa performed, hearing how some very standard songs get tweaked a bit for live performance – largely for the band’s benefit, I’m sure, so they wouldn’t get bored with playing it. “Honey Don’t You Want a Man Like Me?” fits into this category with this particular show.


Ah, but the guitar solo returns with the next track “Pick Me I’m Clean,” a funny song I’ve always enjoyed apparently written about a real groupie that wanted to stand out among all the others at a show, so she hollered out, “Pick me! I’m clean!”

Another excellent song that is structured to accommodate a guitar solo is “City of Tiny Lights.” However, in this boot, the song begins well after its start, moving into that guitar solo. I realize that this is a bootleg, but it sure would have been nice to hear the song from the beginning. Nonetheless, the guitar solo here (or solos? Are Vai and Zappa trading licks?) is thrilling. It smoothly transitions into a vamp from Rod Argent’s “She’s Not There” before returning back to “City of Tiny Lights.”

The next song, “Easy Meat,” also has an outstanding extended guitar solo.

Following “Ain’t Got No Heart,” the bootleg closes with “The Torture Never Stops.” Aside from the annoying sing-song segue that was common with live performances of this, we get another great guitar solo. And what is really intriguing about this solo is that you can hear how well orchestrated it is. Sometimes people think of guitar solo as purely extended improvisations, which many are, following a steady beat. The guitar player gets up there and plays what ever comes out of his fingers; when finished, he usually nods to the rest of the band to indicate he’s done, they collect themselves around a few bars to get back into synch, and then return to the song. But listening to this particular solo, you can hear quite plainly the time signature changes, as well as the melodic theme shifts, that occur and which are followed precisely by Vinnie Colaiuta’s expert drumming. Zappa’s playing is followed by a segue led by Arthur Barrow’s bass playing followed by some keyboard playing that could either be Tommy Mars or Bob Harris. But unlike other segues, the band never returns to the main theme of “Torture,” and in fact, the song ends, as does the bootleg.

Overall, not a bad bootleg despite some fluctuations in the sound quality. And while the set list was a common representation of the 1980 tour, the show contains some interesting variations that will keep a true Zappa fanatic pulling it out from time to time for a listen.

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

Track listing:

1. Chunga's Revenge
2. I Don't Wanna Get Drafted
3. Cosmik Debris
4. Keep It Greasey
5. Tinseltown Rebellion
6. Outside Now
7. Honey Don't You Want A Man Like Me?
8. Pick Me I'm Clean
9. City Of Tiny Lights (incl. She's Not There)
10. Easy Meat
11. Ain't Got No Heart
12. The Torture Never Stops

Personnel:

FZ, guitar, vocals
Ike Willis, vocals, guitar
Steve Vai, guitar, vocals
Ray White, vocals, guitar
Arthur Barrow, bass
Vinnie Colaiuta, drums
Tommy Mars, keyboards, vocals
Bob Harris, keyboards, trumpet, high vocals

The Ahoy, Rotterdam, May 24, 1980

This little gem I recently stumbled upon and was delighted at the sound quality, given that it is a bootleg. This was taken from a Dutch FM radio program, and, as it is with many bootlegs, appeared on the market in a variety of forms, often with erroneous information.

This site identifies the variety of bootleg incarnations – “Boot the Beats” being just one – the concert showed up as, including an item that incorrectly lists this concert as occurring on June 24, 1980. Even the “Boot the Beats” item contains misleading information, suggesting it was recorded in New York. Several sites note that the guitar solo during “The Illinois Enema Bandit” was interrupted on many of these boots; however, the one I listened to has a full guitar solo as far as I can tell, because the recording ends with the radio show outtake. After reviewing all these sites and the set lists put together by others, I’ve concluded that the concert recorded for the radio show was from May 24, 1980.

Zappa writes in his autobiography about working in The Ahoy, although not necessarily about this particular concert. He identifies this experience he writes about in “The Real Frank Zappa Book” as his “orchestral stupidity #2.” It was 1980 and he states that he was in Amsterdam at the time when he was propositioned on working with a few Dutch ensembles to perform his orchestral work.

Knowing the complexity of his work, Zappa demurred, saying that he didn’t want to have anything to do with the project unless he would be guaranteed a minimum of three weeks of rehearsal time. He got that commitment, as well as assurances that he wouldn’t have to spend any of his own money to pull it off.

On page 148, Zappa describes The Ahoy as “a charming sort of Dutch indoor bicycle racing arena with a concrete floor and a banked wooden track all around the room.” On page 149 he gives a timeline of the rehearsals, which were mixed in with a rock tour he would plan for the summer throughout Europe to raise money to pay the American musicians involved in the project. The final rehearsals were to occur in the final weeks of May just before the performance.


This site shows that Zappa played in Rotterdam on May 24, 1980, the only identified show in The Netherlands in May that year (note also that on June 24, 1980, he was traveling between shows in Germany, and would have no opportunity to do a live show in New York City as referenced on the boot cover I have posted). That was the rock concert recorded for Dutch radio and which was pressed into boots. The day before he performed in Brussels, Belgium; two days after the gig at The Ahoy, he was in Germany where he gave three concerts for three days in a row in three different locations. He was pretty busy until early July with the rock tour he put together, so it’s difficult to determine precisely when this meeting in Amsterdam occurred (he was very busy touring through the U.S. during April). But all that is moot because the orchestral project completely fell apart and Zappa writes in his autobiography that he pulled the plug on it.

The show at The Ahoy was performed by a relatively small band by Zappa standards, and has some really good guitar solos by the master. That is evident with the concert starting off with the guitar-centric “Chunga’s Revenge.” Zappa’s solo is – using a word frequently cited to describe his playing – blistering. There is a bit of angry energy in it, and given the circumstances outlined above, I must wonder how much of that he transferred into his playing. After some brief introductions, he quickly launches into a couple songs from “Joe’s Garage,” including the dreamy guitar piece “Outside Now.” In fact, not surprisingly, the concert pulls material from several albums released at the time, including “Tinsel Town Rebellion,” to be released the following year, “Sheik Yerbouti,” and “You Are What You Is.” The performance of “City of Tiny Lights” on this boot is just OK to me, except for the guitar solo, which pulls it out of mediocrity. I don’t care much for Tommy Mars’ keyboards on this one; very uninspired. Of course, one must consider the fact that Mars is compensating for the lack of a horn section on this particular tour.


Following a perfunctory performance of “Teenage Wind,” we get the heavy, boogie-ish “Bamboozled by Love,” which had plenty of potential, but again gets marred by Mars’ keyboards. Makes me wonder why the song was included in the set because it would have sounded so much better backed by a strong horn section. Thank god for Zappa’s guitar coming in and re-inserting the heavy rock feel into this. He pulls off a bit of outside, atonal playing that grinds power into the song. Ike Willis, however, sounds a bit anemic. After “Pick Me I’m Clean” comes “Society Pages”, which quickly segues into “I’m A Beautiful Guy,” and then “Beauty Knows No Pain.” This “suite” from “You Are What You Is” is concluded with “Charlie’s Enormous Mouth.”

Zappa goes a bit retro with his next group of songs, reaching slightly into the past with “Cosmik Debris,” (which really suffers from the lack of Ruth Underwood) from “Apostrophe(‘),” but going way back to “Freak Out!” for “You Didn’t Try to Call Me” and “I Ain’t Got No Heart.” Not sure who’s playing the guitar solo on this performance of “Cosmik Debris.” It’s an excellent soaring blues interpretation of the song that lacks Zappa’s signature style, which leads me to think it was either Willis or Ray White. Disc One is completed with “Love of My Life,” from “Cruising with Ruben and the Jets.”

Disc Two returns the show to more contemporary selections from Zappa’s catalog, starting with the title track from “You Are What You Is.” There’s nothing remarkable about this performance; in fact, the musicians sound like they’re just going through the motions. Things perk up when the group launches into “Joe’s Garage.” The concert appears to end after “Why Does It Hurt When I Pee,” but an encore quickly develops with “Dancin’ Fool.” Something to note: When Zappa at the end of the show is re-introducing band members, he repeats Ray White’s name several times as though he was being introduced again and again as different individuals. Was Zappa playing with the fact that the band he was touring with was considerably smaller than what he normally travels with?

With “Dancin Fool,” the band manages to use its small size to its advantage. That song is followed by “Bobby Brown,” also from “Sheik Yerbouti.” In both songs, Zappa delivers well with his vocals. Even “Ms. Pinky” comes off well despite it’s missing the extraordinarily fuzzed and heavy guitar and bass from “Zoot Allures.” This boot also has one of the few pre-release recordings of a live performance of “I Don’t Want To Get Drafted.” The show finishes with “The Illinois Enema Bandit,” in a great performance with Ray White’s vocals and with Zappa’s guitar work. Zappa’s solo is searing in its precision. He gave the crowd at The Ahoy that night a real gift with that solo.

I give this recording four out of five stars. Add your own rating below.



I did some light editing on this post on May 26, 2009.

Frank Zappa: The Ahoy, Rotterdam NL, May 24, 1980

Disc One
01. Chunga's Revenge
02. Keep It Greasey
03. Outside Now
04. City Of Tiny Lights
05. Teenage Wind
06. Bamboozled By Love
07. Pick Me I'm Clean
08. Society Pages
09. I'm A Beautiful Guy
10. Beauty Knows No Pain
11. Charlie's Enormous Mouth
12. Cosmik Debris
13. You Didn't Try To Call Me
14. I Ain't Got No Heart
15. Love Of My Life

Disc Two
01. You Are What You Is
02. Easy Meat
03. Joe's Garage
04. Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?
05. (crowd)
06. Dancin' Fool
07. Bobby Brown
08. Ms. Pinky
09. (crowd)
10. I Don’t Want to Get Drafted
11. The Illinois Enema Bandit
12. (radio outro)

Personnel:

Frank Zappa, lead guitar, vocals
Ike Willis, guitar, vocals
Tommy Mars, keyboards and vocals
Arthur “Tink” Barrow, bass
Ray White, guitar and vocals
David Logeman, drums