Overview:
After 18 months in New York, Frank decided to bring the Mothers back to LA. In April ‘68 he explained to Rolling Stone that “we’re moving because we don’t like New York. I don’t like New York, which is probably the basis for it. It makes me sick to stumble over people dying in the street. It’s a drag. I don’t like it. I don’t like the weather, and so on and so forth and so on and so forth.” At this point they’ve firmly decided they’re done in the east, and the Zappa family returns to California in the first week of May. The Mother’s performances had changed significantly over these 18 Months, and Frank describes it well at the Fillmore East, just a couple weeks before his return to California:
“A year ago, when we uh… A Year Ago Today… when we came to New York and set up our genetic laboratory, the program we would present to you New York folks was a little bit different than the items we do today. Back in those days we were a little bit more oriented to sort of, uh, bullshit, slapstick electric buffoonery on a teenage level. And gee whiz, it was wonderful for you. You could identify with at least 50% of it because you know where you’re at, you electric buffoons you… but things have changed a little bit, and uh we noticed last night that during our performance, which we thought was at least acceptable, that a number of people found, well it was difficult for them to relate to what we were doing. Mainly because our program tends to consist now of more, uh, non-verbal material, in other words we just play a lot.”
Billy Mundi quit the band to join Rhinoceros in February 1968 and Art Tripp became a Mother later in the same month. In the meantime, Jimmy Carl Black reclaimed his spot as primary drummer, and kept this position even after Art joined in (he seemed to specialize in percussion more than Billy or Jim). This nine-piece version of The Mothers only lasted six months before Ray Collins quit for good in August, and though it was relatively short lived, this is a prime era of the Mothers. We have a rhythm section that really, really works well together, all our lead instrumentalists continue to hone their skills, and Ray Collins is in top form. Ray brought so much humor and heart to the band, and The Mothers definitely have a different vibe after he leaves (Still great, but undoubtedly different). Mr. Collins really just wanted to sing beautiful music, and it comes as a bit of a surprise to learn he didn’t enjoy performing with the Mothers very much, since he fits in so damn well. But Frank was constantly moving the band away from the vocal tunes heard on Freak Out into more abstract, instrumental territories, so Ray’s reaction really isn’t too shocking.
These shows had no setlists, the band would appear on stage and Frank would decide the program on the spot every night. Each show has something unique and interesting, and truly anything could happen when the Mothers took the stage. Intricate compositions, rock n roll, dumb doo-wop songs, disturbed improvisations, jazz-rock jams, Stravinsky, Varese, Boulez, Brahms, you name it. The improv can occasionally go on too long, but that’s just part of the risk (and the fun) of playing (and listening to) this kind of music. You just never know what’s going to happen next.
The Band:
Frank Zappa – Guitar, Vocals, Audience Disdain
Ray Collins – Lead Vocals, Harmonica, Flakiness
Jimmy Carl Black – Drums, Indian Of The Group
Roy Estrada – Bass, Asthma
Don Preston – Keyboards, Tarot Cards
Bunk Gardner – Woodwinds, Silver Hair
Ian Underwood – Keyboards, Woodwinds, Wholesome
Motorhead Sherwood – Baritone Sax, Tambourine, All-Purpose Weirdness
Art Tripp – Drums, Percussion, Cheerful Outlook
Recordings Available:
1968 04 20 – Fillmore East, New York, NY (Two Shows – Audience C+ and Audience B-)
click here to listen to the early show
click here to listen to the late show
It’s a bummer about the lousy sound quality, because these shows have everything that makes the original Mothers so wonderful. The recordings aren’t fantastic, but they’re listenable, and offer a great insight into what these late ‘67 and early ‘68 shows were like. These are some of the last shows the Mothers performed in New York before re-relocating in early May (They also played two shows the night before on the 19th). Our taper notes that a picture of Elvis Presley appears on the screen while they The Mothers tune up, and not long after that Frank gives a lengthy intro about how they “don’t play that kind of stuff that you’re accustomed to hearing, and [they] don’t intend to play that kind of stuff that you’re accustomed to hearing.” He lets us know that “Bunky Gardner” will “begin by merely playing”, and the show starts off with some intense free improv. Our silver-haired sax player starts with wailing discordant sax noise, and Ian quickly joins him on a lower register. Eventually Ian begins to play Varese’s Octandre, and we get a nasty, distorted take of the piece. Art joins in with some crazy, out of place marimba riffs, while the rest of the band slowly begins to enter too. After about three and a half minutes Don starts to play some pretty keyboard improv, and Frank comes in with the chords to the ending of Twinkle Tits (also known as Interlude, when played standalone). By six minutes into the show, we have a surprisingly beautiful piece of music (though keep in mind, it’s buried under a fair bit of distortion and tape hiss). Once the improv reaches its peak, Frank plays the opening riff of Trouble Every Day, and we’re thrown into the first real song of the night. Frank rattles off the poignant words (this is a rare performance with all the lyrics), and Ray lays into his harp. Frank then delivers a long, hot guitar solo, before bringing us back into more atonal, feedback-laden improv (I think he maybe quotes Toads Of The Short Forest too?). He then says something I can’t make out (“it’s on this level”?), before launching the band into a great Status Back Baby. The Mothers then take their first rest of the show, and Frank chats with the audience for a bit, giving them an insight into how his “electric bullshit is structured” (“There are certain noise, uh, noise elements, melodic elements, harmonic elements and rhythmic elements. If you consider those like little individual mysterious quantities, which get tossed into a sort of a community pot. After these elements are tossed into the pot and cooked for a while they often emerge as well, they’re sorta like little musical compositions that happen on the spot, you see.”). He calls the average audience stupid right before announcing: ”MEANWHILE KIDS HERE’S A LITTLE DEAD AIR!” and that’s exactly what we get. The crowd laughs, and then gets annoyed with this silence, so Frank instructs the band to “play some concerto shit…”, and Don whips out Brahms’ Lullaby (FZ: “Does this make you tense?, make you feel hostile?, does it bring out all that bad stuff in ya?… now you just sit there and take your Dead Air like a man”). They fuck around for a little bit longer, until Frank declares “Here it is kids, the moment you’ve been waiting for: Louie Louie!”, and the band follows suit. They play the tune for about 30 seconds before Frank says “Here’s the real words to this song” and they switch to Plastic People. After they finish up this teenage-material, Frank signals the start of “the world renowned Mothers Of Invention electric gotta gotta revue”, which means Ray will sing You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’, and Frank will force the captive audience to yell “gotta gotta gotta” and “baby baby baby” after. FZ and the crowd have a heated discussion as the tune tapers out (“The Twist?…. Ramona?”), and once he’s bored he cues the band to play America Drinks. It’s a nice take, but unsurprisingly Ray’s closing comments are very hard to hear (“Louie Louie?… The Marine’s Hymn?… Caravan with a drum solo?”). As the tune ends, a jungle-y vibe emerges and we get launched into an epic, sick, 25+ minute King Kong (“Here he is ladies and gentleman, the hardest working man in show business, Bing-A-Bongo!” [name uncertain]). There’s a short tape cut that takes out the main theme and brings us right into Bunk’s opening solo. Another cut loses the end of his solo, and brings us into Dons. Ian and Frank each solo next (FZ drops a quote from Holst’s Jupiter at the start of his), and after about 15 minutes the whole band just kinda jams. A few more minutes go by and Frank cues some insane drum improv from Jimmy and Art. This morphs into some classic tweaky MOI sax improv, before a sudden return to the main theme (King Kong almost never has an ending theme). Frank simply says “intermission” and this closes out the main set. They return moments later for a final song, “a piece of teenage trivia called ‘those Hungry Freaks Daddy’” (“We realize some of you might be less enthused than others about what we do. We will play this song for the people who like what we do, the rest of you can fuck off”). It’s a quality version of the iconic rock song, and the concert ends with Bill Graham’s announcement for the following late show. This is a very fun show, but it’s not one I return to a lot, mainly because of the tape quality. If you can get over the muffled and distorted sound, this is a great concert worth checking out, but you have to be a pretty hardcore bootleg listener to get past that.
The late show at the Fillmore starts off with “The Mothers tuning up” (as covertly described by the taper), before Bill Graham returns to announce: “Having spent ten minutes trying to think of something clever to say…ladies and gentleman: The Mothers Of Invention”. They immediately dive into improvisation, starting with scant guitar and saxes, and quickly moving into some Stravinsky quotes (both The Rite Of Spring and Petrushka). This rapidly turns into a dumb little 50s Lawrence Welk-esque music parody, which then morphs into a fairly straight performance of Blue Moon (except they’re also playing the bridge to I’m In The Mood For Love in the middle of the tune). Frank shouts out pop singer “Bobby Rydell!”, and then brings the music back to more scary improv, before moving into an early, instrumental version of Absolutely Free! It only lasts for about 40 seconds, but right as they start to dive back in similar improv, Frank starts to slowly play the Duke Of Prunes! Ray then comes in to sing over the beautiful melody, but they only make it through the first verse before Frank cues the ⅝ riff and sends the band back into chaos. This lasts for about a minute before calming down into weirdo piano and percussion improv (this whole section is frequently listed as “Amnesia Vivace”, but it really has nothing to do with the Absolutely Free track). They eventually move into a very long chunk of discordant improvisations, with waves of static, tweaky horns, tweaky keys, and tons of drumming/percussion. Around 11 minutes in, Ray starts his “sucks” bit, and at the end Frank comes in with some solo guitar improv. Honestly this big chunk of improv is way too long and unfocused for me. It has its moments, but I strongly prefer when the chaos is broken up more. They eventually slow to a lull, and Frank cues You Didn’t Try To Call Me, and in turn the rest of the goofy ‘67 medley. The Freak Out tune is followed by Petrushka, The Bristol Stomp, Baby Love and finally Big Leg Emma. It’s a great performance of the medley, and The Mothers pause for a bit (with some strange clanging noises going on while they rest). Frank says some non-sequiturs about fuzz tone and hippies (“his hair is getting good in the back…”), before Don starts to play some mellow lounge-type music. Frank continues with some nonsense (“A few short weeks ago, Lamar Bruster… Lamar used to drive a truck for a florist… Las Vegas here we come….”) and the horns start to play the old standard Easter Parade. It dies down after a couple minutes, and Frank then begins a quality version of Hungry Freaks Daddy. They then make a cool segue into another great King Kong, with long, fiery solos from Bunk, Frank and Ian (Ian comes in and solos along with the end of Bunks jam, then gets his own spot at the end of the tune). As Ian finishes his solo, Frank cues a couple “Yee!”s, a few vomit noises and then declares “Hawaiian Music!”. One of our drummers starts playing a steady, plodding drum beat, and after a few minutes Frank begins playing something the fans have dubbed the “Hula Lick” (a “standard hula turnaround lick” that Frank would occasionally employ throughout his career). He continues to repeat the lick, while Ray wordlessly moans over the pseudo-jam (and sings the theme to the 50s TV show Hawaiian Eye). Frank continues to fuck around with the lick for a few more minutes, creating a really weird tropical hellscape kind of atmosphere, before suddenly delving back into abstraction, and the throwing us into the Junior Walker tune Shotgun! Ray and the boys play a shortened by faithful version of the RnB classic, and Frank throws in the Hawaiian Lick one more time as the tune ends (you can hear the crowd laugh at it too, which I love). Frank then makes a lovely segue into a loose early performance of Holiday In Berlin! It takes a sec for the full band to join in, and it’s fairly shaky when they do, but it’s still really fun to hear. Frank and Ian each play a pleasant solo, and after about eight minutes Frank counts the band into Cruising For Burgers! It’s a solid, instrumental take of the Uncle Meat classic. FZ ends the tune with a final Hula Lick, and says goodnight to the audience. He seems to come back and say something like “I know you’re only kidding because most of you were asleep anyway. I’m sorry we won’t give up by stopping” but there’s no encore captured on our tape. This is an excellent, wildly entertaining concert that makes a great pair with the early show. These aren’t my absolute favorite MOI shows, but they’re some of the most unique gigs we have, and a lot of fun is had on this stage. If you can handle sub-par sound quality, and consider yourself a fan of the early Mothers, check this one out.
1968 04 28 – Grande Ballroom, Detroit, MI (Stage A-)
This is an excellent recording, captured in lovely sound quality, documenting the Mothers at one of their chillest, most pleasant concerts of the year. The vocals are a little low in the mix, but there’s a great clarity between the instruments and that is really rare on these early bootlegs. There were two gigs on this night, but we only have the early show. This tape starts with FZ announcing “a piece of music that is dedicated to a great American, a person who has done a lot to make you what you are today, a person who has done a lot to help Captain Kangaroo on television, a person that, oh he’s so wonderful, and he wears chartreuse… farmers pants! Let’s hear it for Mr. Green Genes!”. It’s a lovely, instrumental take of the tune (much closer to Son Of Mr. Green Genes), with delightful solos from Bunk, Don, Ian, and finally Frank (who sneaks a Petrushka quote right at the end of his solo). After this FZ stops the band to tune up, and the tape cuts to the beginning of Hungry Freaks Daddy. It’s a standard take of the tune, and we get a smooth transition into an equally great America Drinks. Ray’s ramblings are amusing like always, but kinda hard to make out (“check yer cheese?…Thursday we’re going naked, Friday we’re going to jail”). They finish this up and immediately begin “The Adventures Of King Kong, a gorilla by trade.” It’s a shorter take (about 9 minutes), but still loads of fun. Bunk and Frank each take a long solo, with both contestants jamming together in the middle. Bunk messes around with the Gardner Varieties, Frank kinda sorta quotes Little House, and the whole event leads into some crazed free improvisation. We get some classic ‘68 Mothers improv, with random horn noises, and wild conducted percussion. Frank comments on the Marine Corps, then announces “And now a word from the president of the United States”. Ray then proclaims “Fellow Americans….. [Horn honks]…. Detroit sucks… The Mothers suck… You suck… America…” This heads right into a quick ⅝ riff, with an assortment of tweaky keys, puke noises, and high pitched screams (“Hee!”). Don plays solo keys for a little bit, before quickly heading into a beautiful performance of the Handsome Cabin Boy and the Wedding Dress Song. Frank and Don play a very, chill rendition of the first tune, and after about 50 seconds the full band joins in for the latter. They then head into some great improv, starting with a lovely flute solo from Bunk. Ian then comes in on his sax, and part way through his jam, Frank begins to play the theme to Dog Breath on guitar! After a minute or so it morphs into the theme of Little House I Used To Live In! (well actually, this part is referred to as “The Duke Theme C”, see the song entry for more info). The full band actually joins in with Frank on Little House, and this brings the jam to an end. There’s a hard transition, and we’re thrown into a lovely version of Status Back Baby (a rare complete performance, don’t get used to it!). They stop to rest for a second, there’s some inaudible chatter, and Frank announces that they’re going to play “ a tune known to the world as the Orange County Lumber Truck, which is in reality nothing more than an assemblage of instrumental themes from We’re Only In It For The Money and Lumpy Gravy.” We get an absolutely lovely take of the theme, with vocals and solos in Oh No for the first recorded time. Ray sings the lyrics, he kinda bungles them but I’m just happy to hear them at all. Frank plays a fiery solo in Oh No, and both Ian and Bunk solo simultaneously after him. They return to the Orange County Lumber Truck proper, and then Don, Bunk and finally Frank solo. Frank’s final solo is short and mostly unaccompanied, but he manages to sneak a final Dog Breath quote in. After 17 minutes, the monster ends with a fantastic, goofy blues walkdown, and our tape comes to a close. This is one of the best documents of the Mother’s from the first half of 1968, and any self-respecting FZ fan should check this one out!
1968 05 03 – Family Dog, Denver, CO (Stage A-)
This is a great sounding stage tape full of lovely, spirited performances, but it’s unfortunately very fragmented. This was a frequently bootlegged show back in the day, and (a large part of it) was released as Electric Aunt Jemima on Beat the Boots Volume Two (with material from other later ‘68 shows, and a bunch of alternate titles). The recording cuts in on some classic Mothers improv including the ⅝ riff, horn squeaks, and other nonsense. They then transition to a much chiller vamp, and suddenly, Octandre appears! It’s a great performance, led by FZ’s guitar. They switch to a dumb little swing bit, then return to more scary Varese, followed by a long section of tweaky guitar and spacey keys. Ray declares “AMERICA SUCKS”, and we get an insane transition into Louie Louie! Today though it’s staunchly Plastic People. Frank declares that “this is the rock n roll part of the program” before the “We see a neon” bit. They sing “you gotta go” for a little while before Frank brings back Octandre over the Louie Louie vamp. He talks to the band off mic, then the horns come in with the theme to King Kong over the same chords, and as they’re nailing this Frank starts the melody of America Drinks! After a little while, they return to Octandre once again, and just after we settle in to another frightening performance they switch to Wipe Out! (What is happening!) Things quickly settle down, and Frank announces “we’ll be back in a little while”, before our first tape cut of the program. We return a few seconds into the first known standalone take of Little House I Used To Live In. They repeat the theme a few times (apparently known as The Duke Theme C – see song entry for more info), and Frank quotes Dog Breath on guitar right after they finish. This then leads into a quick Art Trip drum solo (on timpani, which can be heard throughout the show, and were most likely rented for this performance, as they were not part of Art’s normal setup). This is followed by a hard jump to a slow horn-led performance of the Dog Breath (“Bongos in the back…”), and a sudden return to the main theme on guitar. There’s a drum and bass break, then Frank plays a chill solo for a few minutes before switching to the 5⁄8 riff eight minutes in. FZ continues to solo, getting tweakier as the tune progresses. The vamp dies away after about ten minutes and we’re led into a barrage of freaky guitar and keys. Frank starts to play the jazz standard Coquette, and the full band joins in until it’s suddenly just Don and he morphs the tune into Tchaikovsky’s 6th. A horn player then immediately starts the Blue Danube, and FZ plays the Hungry Freaks Daddy melody on top of it. The whole thing then becomes a really loose, purposely sloppy, instrumental version of the Freak Out opener, and then Frank starts Funiculì Funiculà as the jam ends, turning this into a weirdo Italian number for a few seconds. There’s another drum break, and we get a nice transition into a rare Go Cry On Somebody Else’s Shoulder. This of course only lasts nine seconds (not exaggerating), before the tape cuts out once again. We return to the middle of a fun jam, right as Bunk is finishing up his solo. He hands it off to Don, who then switches to Frank, then Ian, and then Frank again. At the end a composed theme appears: It’s Khaki Sack! A very obscure FZ composition that only got an official release in 2023 (on the Funky Nothingness box). It’s a fun little number, and once it ends there’s another rough tape cut right into some sax improv over the 5⁄8 riff. After about 15 seconds of this we’re tossed into Status Back Baby, but another damn tape cut takes out the whole middle of the tune. We don’t even make it through the whole rest of the tune before another tape cut, this one throwing us into the tail end of a Trouble Every Day jam. We get to hear the very end of Frank’s solo, before a crash that leads into more guitar and horn improv. It’s dramatic and starts off surprisingly pretty. The horns play bits of The Rite Of Spring and Petrushka, and it leads to three minutes of drum tweakiness, with Ray moaning over sections and some violin-esque bass thrown in (it’s Roy playing with a bow). Suddenly Ray starts to sing a sloppy version of Duke Of Earl, and Frank joins in with his wonderful non-singing (“you’ll be my Duch-ess!”). The Mothers then make an excellent, subtle transition into King Kong. The cymbals start to arise out of Frank and Ray’s dumb singing, and FZ comments something I don’t quite understand (“and then of course there’s a crystal song? swan?”). We get another excellent King Kong, clocking in around 16 minutes. Bunk, Don, Frank, and Ian all get a chance to stretch out. Partway through Ian’s solo, Frank cues most of the band (except for Jimmy) to drop out, but they come back in not too long thereafter. Jimmy and Art then play a simultaneous drum solo, Frank cues a crash and a “yee!”, and the tape cuts out a final time. This tape clearly has its recording flaws, there is still a ton of fantastic music to be found on this recording. Though we lose some of the context with all these annoying cuts, these are still some top tier Moments from the OG Mothers, and well worth a listen (It’s unfortunately some of the best we’ve got).
1968 05 18 – “The Miami Pop Festival” – Gulfstream Race Track, Hallandale, FL (Partial Official Release)
click here to listen to the one available track (from Uncle Meat)
Frank released one track from this historic performance as the finale for Uncle Meat: King Kong Part VI (AKA Live On A Flat Bed Diesel In The Middle Of A Race Track At A Miami Pop Festival… The Underwood Ramifications). The track includes the beginning of King Kong (the drum rolls and main theme) and Ian’s fantastic sax solo. As Ian goes on, Frank joins him on guitar and we get some delicious Zappa soloing, before a hard cut to live drum improvisations, and then some more studio King Kong nonsense to finish the album off. This live show was recorded by Eddie Kramer, soon to be a well known producer and engineer. FZ’s friend Jimi Hendrix performed at this festival, and burned another guitar, which ended up in Frank’s possession. In the late 70s Zappa had this “Hendrix Strat” rebuilt, and used it off and on for the rest of his career. Despite only having a 6-minute fragment of this show available, it’s obvious this was a really important concert, both musically and historically, and I would love an official release of the whole thing.
1968 06 25 – Steve Allen TV Show, Los Angeles (TV Recording C/A-)
“This is a pretty weird program today, right?” – Steve Allen. The Mothers Of Invention were the musical guests on this late 60s episode of the The Steve Allen Show (airdate: 1968 07 24), and Frank was interviewed along with two other guests (comedian Godfrey Cambridge and actor Ed Begley Sr). Steve Allen’s talk shows could run from 60 to 90 minutes in this era (including commercials), but we only have about 25 minutes of audio available from this show. There’s unfortunately no film recording of this program, but we do have two separate audio tapes, each covering a part of the show. The first recording lasts about 5 minutes, and sounds absolutely terrible. It features an abridged performance of Hungry Freaks Daddy, where right when they hit what’s normally the guitar solo section, Frank instead cues 20 seconds of snorks and horn insanity over the ⅝ riff. This then segues right into a shortened King Kong, featuring more chaotic improv, where seemingly every Mother plays whatever they want at the same time (and Bunk throws in the Gardner Varieties for good measure). After about a minute of jamming, Frank cues some drum madness and a big scream from the band ends the performance. This then cuts to the interview section, where FZ recites the lyrics to Hungry Freaks Daddy, and Steve and Frank briefly talk about them (“[It’s] a song about parents who don’t like the way their children look”). As the (nearly unintelligible) conversation starts to get interesting, the first recording cuts out, and we’re thrown into the, actually quite listenable, second recording. This tape is mainly more interview segments from the show, but it unfortunately mainly features our other two guests for the evening. Godfrey Cambridge talks about race relations in America, and Steve tries to get Frank to talk about Hippies (FZ: “I’ll tell you what they need, they need some representation in government” [Steve: “Well that’s true…”]). There’s a commercial break, after which Steve has to bring Frank back on stage (he apparently left for coffee). Frank talks a little about the police (“They haven’t given me personally any trouble, but my day-to-day activities are not the activities of the ordinary person with hair”), and Ed Begley shows up to tell some dated jokes and recite some poetry. There’s another tape cut, and we thrown right into more ⅝ improvisations, that suddenly turn into a fantastic America Drinks. FZ comments “television”, and Ray responds to imaginary requests (“Louie Louie? We’ll get that tomorrow night. Caravan with a drum solo? We got that covered. Check yer cheese?…” ). Then, we get a rapid transition into a frantic, 30 second, slightly unhinged performance of Octandre to end the show (and the recording of course cuts out right before the last note). The musical performances on this show are very fun, but there’s less than 10 minutes available, and the interviews are neat but very low on Frank content. A historically interesting recording, that’s ultimately mainly for completionists.
1968 07 23 – Whisky-A-Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA (Partially Officially Released)
click here to listen (to what’s available)
There’s no available unofficial recording of this concert, but I can tell from the officially released bits and pieces, and the testimony of those in attendance, this show was certainly fantastic. It was advertised as “five full hours of unprecedented merryment [sic]”, and had guest performances from The GTOs, Wild Man Fisher, and even an Elvis impersonator. There was also a strange encounter with a fan named “Della”, who came up to Frank with the sole desire of getting whipped on stage (and as far as I know she got what she wanted). Anyway, FZ chopped this show up and released a couple of snippets, and other pieces have been made available posthumously. Most of what’s available seems to come from larger jams/improvisations. Frank released a bit of a kazoo-led God Bless America on Uncle Meat, and two decades later he released a small bit of tweaky group improvisation as “Meow” on YCDTOSA#5. Two fiery guitar-jam fragments from this show (“Whiskey Wah” and “The Whip”), were slated for an early version of Uncle Meat, but were later released on Meat Light. The most complete portion of the show comes from the official Zappa movie soundtrack. There was some (mildly-mediocre) footage taken during this night’s event, and it was incorporated into Alex Winter’s documentary, and the audio was released on the corresponding soundtrack album. They played lovely versions of Memories Of El Monte (a Zappa/Collins composition originally recorded by the Penguins), Oh! In The Sky and Little House I Used To Live In (“All right, this is a song that— that we’ve been working on in secret for a while now. We’re gonna make an attempt to record it. If we mess it up, we’ll just stop and do it all over again. It doesn’t have a name yet. But, uh, doesn’t really need one.”). These are all great tracks that definitely leave me wanting more. Joe has more or less said that this full show will be released at some point, and frankly I can’t wait. Looking forward to it, Vaultmeister!
1968 08 03 – Central Park, New York, NY (Two Shows – Audience B+ and Stage A-/C+)
click here to listen to the early show
click here to listen to the late show
We have two lovely recordings from this date, which have been painstakingly identified by the Zappa fan community. It’s apparently still up in the air if this is the right location and date, but this is the best guess we’ve got. The early show was captured on a slightly distorted but highly listenable audience tape. Frank walks on stage and tells the crowd: “I’d like to say it’s really wonderful to be back in New York, but…. It’s not. New York is no place for human beings to live in.” He acknowledges “a request for Hang On Sloopy” (“we’ll save that for later when we get to the heavy stuff”) and one for Trouble Every Day, and decides to start with the latter. We get a sick take of the Watts riot song, with a fiery solo from Frank, followed by solid harmonica jam from Ray. Ian blows a modulated sax solo over the ending, which pretty quickly morphs into some classic OG Mothers improv with snorks, screeching sax, and other conducted madness (crashes, that goofy little upbeat swing ditty, the ⅝ riff, etc.). The chaos comes to an end when Frank rips into the intro to Hungry Freaks Daddy. Another fun, standard take, that has a great, cymbal-y transition into a hot King Kong. This is the first known take with Motorhead providing the opening solo! His raw, screeching jam leads into more hot solos from Don, Bunk, Don (again) and Frank. At the very end Frank cues the ⅝ riff for a sec, an we get two minutes of tweaky percussion improvisation from Jimmy and Art (FZ: “Isn’t this really psychedelic now?”). After about a minute and a half FZ comes in with low, droning guitar, then suddenly switches to the theme to Mr. Green Genes and the whole band quickly follows. It’s a great take, with fun solos from Ian, Don, Bunk, and Frank. This leads to their first full stop of the night, where FZ announces “Now we’ll proceed with, uh, some bullshit!” and dives right into the absolutely unhinged My Boyfriend’s Back/I’m Gonna Bust His Head medley (”Aww, son of a gun, the boyfriend is coming home and he’s really pissed off”). This leads directly into Tiny Sick Tears, where Ray sings some made up “gotta gotta, baby baby” lyrics, and instead of heading into the cookie lecture Frank announces “We’ve had a request for Hang On Sloopy [Fan: “Yeah!”], are you the guy that asked for it? Come up here and sing it!” The head Mother brings up “Billy Velvet” to sing Hang On Sloopy, in the key of C (“He’s dynamite isn’t he folks!”) and the band rips into the classic Louie Louie chords (because what is Hang On Sloopy but a low rent version of the Kingsman’s classic). Billy knows the chorus to the song, and like sorta remembers the verses. He croons for a little while (“He’s dynamite folks!”), and Frank comes back in to say: “Okay, that was the imitation white people soul version of Hang On Sloopy, now we’re gonna do the psychedelic version of Hang On Sloopy with Billy Velvet! As you all know, in order to perform psychedelic music, you have to put fuzz tone on everything!” He rips into a wildly entertaining, distorted, stupid version of the tune, and after a little while the jam comes to end, and the crowd freaks out (“You don’t like the psychedelic version of Hang On Sloopy featuring Billy Velvet? What aren’t you teenagers or something?). Frank comments that “Albert Grossman is signing [Billy] tomorrow”, and then fields audience requests for a few minutes (“Do we have a request for Lumpy Gravy!?…. Chapel of Love by the Dixie Cups?… The Bristol Stomp?”). Eventually someone asks for Wipe Out, and of course Frank goes for this. “Okay we offered you something better but here’s Wipe Out, followed by probably a lot of the requests you asked for, the only catch is… let’s say that if he’s playing, uh, one of the songs, and he’s playing another one of the songs, and he’s playing another one of the songs and we play them all at once, theoretically we will have played your requests, the only problem is that it’ll sound like the psychedelic version of Hang On Sloopy… Here’s Wipe Out!”. We get a very faithful version of the surf classic, about a minute long, complete with drum solo, and after this joyous performance, as the audience is dreading hearing eight different songs at once, Frank instead decides to lead into a lovely, straight performance of Go Cry On Somebody Else’s Shoulder (“Go lean on somebody else’s ‘47 Ford pickup”). This ends the main set, but Frank returns and tells us they’re “allowed to play 60 seconds of some other bullshit”, so they’ll perform the “mutilated fuzz tone version” of “a piece of music that was written by a composer named by Edgard Varese”; Octandre (“ just imagine this is Caravan with a drum solo“). We get a regular version of this Mothers Of Invention staple, and this lovely chaos brings the first show to an end (Emcee: “Fantastic, fantastic, my god, music for a Sunday morning here!”). This show may be my favorite Zappa performance from the 60s, and I highly recommend anyone reading to check it out.
The late show recording is a completely different beast. It’s captured on a (usually) solid stage tape that was circulating in four different parts for many years. Eventually it was determined that all the loose fragments came from the same show, and it’s been presented that way ever since. The unfortunate part of this recording is that when the full band joins in, the levels get too high and all we can hear is horribly distorted bass, making the composed themes on this tape frequently hard to listen to (hence the A-/C+ rating). Despite this, there are some really fun performances on this tape. We start off with flute improvisations from Bunk, which Frank describes as “jazz rock heavily Influenced by Al Kooper“. Frank and Bunk chat back and forth for a little, and the silver haired flutist plays bits of Varese’s Density 21.5, the last movement of Boulez’s Le Marteau Sans Maître and Moe Koffman’s Swingin’ Shepherd Blues (FZ: “I know you hippies, you’re all so funky”). Frank then turns his attention to “Jimmy Carl Black, the Indian of the group, with his newly painted fire engine red drum set.” He compares Jimmy to three different golden age film actresses, and cues a segue into Help I’m A Rock (FZShows lists Transylvania Boogie with this performance, but I don’t hear it). He shouts out Art next (“our other boss teenage percussionist”), but when Roy’s bass line comes in the sound quality goes out the window. After an unlistenable minute or two, the levels sorta normalize, and Ray starts to sing the title lyric (FZ: “It’s just like Simon and Garfunkel…”). Frank begins a rocking guitar solo after this, but it’s way too low in the mix, losing most of its power. Don plays a freaky solo next, and Bunk and Ian continue the jam with concurrent solos. FZ comes in with Funiculi Funicula around 11 minutes, right before a tape cut. The recording returns to Ian soloing over the tail end of the jam, followed by a really funny smooth transition into Baby Love of all things. 50 seconds of dumb poppy RnB is followed by FZ penned dumb poppy RnB: Big Leg Emma. Both are really funny, but they also highlight the weird, non-ideal, lopsided mix of this recording (“Sock it to me….”). This leads to our first tuning break of the show. The band chats for a bit, until Frank announces a new tune: “Shortly”, which we all know as Holiday In Berlin (“This is a long complicated instrumental song with a bunch of little units to it. Sometimes we fuck it up.”). Unfortunately, the theme of the piece is wildly distorted and unlistenable to my ears, but once we get to Frank’s solo the levels normalize, and you can actually hear the guitar fairly well at this point. About six minutes in, Bunk (I think…) starts to solo with Frank, and by the last minute of the tune, Frank has finished, but Ian joins in and we get some tasty dual sax improv. Sadly the recording cuts out before the true end of the jam, and we’re thrown into the beginning of a nice Trouble Every Day, with a solid harmonica solo, and a long, jamming guitar solo from the head Mother. This ends the main set, but they return for a final number, a sick Orange County Lumber Truck medley. The main theme is a little distorted, but nowhere near as bad as previous numbers. There’s a cut during the theme to Oh No, taking out a solid chunk of the tune, and sending us right into the solo section. The recording resumes part way through Bunk’s solo (at least I’m pretty sure it’s not Ian…), followed by Don, Roy (surprisingly), and finally a drum jam from Jimmy and Art. Once the jam wraps up, Frank returns with the ending theme of Oh No! Meaning all the improv actually was in said tune. They end tonight’s performance with the Orange County Lumber Truck proper, and instead of heading into more jamming we get a goofy blues walkdown to finish the performance. This is a fun, but seriously flawed recording. The occasional distortion hampers enjoyability, the mix leaves room for improvement, and the cuts are all pretty unfortunate. While there’s some excellent playing scattered through this tape, it still isn’t a bootleg I return to often. Check this one out if you want more OG Mothers, but there are a number of better shows to check out first.
1968 02-08 XX – Unknown Venue and Date (Stage A/A-)
For years this fun little 20 minute tape was known as Ann Arbor: December ‘67, but in 2021 the council of Zappateers noted Art Tripp is on the recording, therefore the earliest date this tape could be from is late February 1968. Additionally, since Ray Collins is present too, it can’t be any later than August ‘68. This gives us a rough time frame for this recording, but not much more than that (though see more on this later…) The tape starts part-way through some classic Mothers improv, with screeching saxes, high pitched mouth noises, and the ⅝ riff. Ray declares (to my ears) that “Anaheim sucks”, Motorhead starts to snork, and Frank yells “theoretically this is music for pigs!”. A few seconds later he announces “more pig music!”, and we’re launched into a great America Drinks. FZ shouts “Welcome to the La Puente Bowl” in the middle of the tune, and Ray says that “Friday we’re going to jail, Saturday we’ll shoot up some cantaloupe…” He scats for a little, and we get a hard transition to an excellent Hungry Freaks Daddy. It’s a regular, energetic performance that makes a smooth transition into the following tune: King Kong. It’s a great, 15+ minute take with hot solos from Don, Bunk and Ian, and two great jams from Frank! It eventually devolves into chaotic screams and scarry keyboards (with the ⅝ riff thrown in for good measure). There is then a sudden transition into Status Back Baby, but we unfortunately only have the first 50 seconds, and the recording ends immediately after this. This tape was originally presented with two additional tracks (a recording of Big Leg Emma and a King Kong fragment), but these were realized to be from a different recording (best guess is 1969 08 08 Framingham). There are no confirmed locations for this recording, but due to Ray’s announcement in the improvisations (and Frank’s “La Puente Bowl” comment in America Drinks), my best guess is that this tape comes from the 1968 06 15 Anaheim, CA show. The setlist is similar to what they play on the Steve Allen show a week and a half later, but this could totally just be a coincidence. Anyway, no matter where the recording originates, this is an excellent sounding tape, and a lovely document of this band. It’s not the single most exciting moment in The Mother’s history, but it’s well worth a listen.
The Songs Played:
Absolutely Free – An early, instrumental version of the We’re Only In It For Money tune arises out of free improvisations at the second Fillmore show. Frank starts by playing a very slow, embellished version of the title line of the tune (“You’ll be absolutely free/Only if you want to be”). He repeats the phrase, and then heads into the chugging instrumental/scat section right before the end of the tune. After this Frank plays a much quicker, more put together take of the title line, which brings the tune to an end (just like on the studio album). Once they finish, they quickly delve back into more improv, and the show continues. A cool little oft-forgotten FZ melody that’s a joy to hear the handful of times it pops up live.
America Drinks – This Zappa classic is essentially performed as America Drink & Goes Home on Absolutely Free, including Bunk’s constant soprano sax and Ray’s improvised, “closing time” end-of-song bar announcements. A lovely tune, and a highlight of Ray’s time with The Mothers.
Baby Love – The Mothers do the Supremes (for about a minute). This song was typically played in a large medley introduced in ‘67, that went You Didn’t Try to Call Me>Petrushka>The Bristol Stomp>Baby Love>Big Leg Emma (though at the Central Park late show they only played the last two tunes). It is a pretty straight parody/tribute to the 1964 hit single. They play the tune way quicker than we’re used to, giving it a chaotic feel, and they sing it in a goofy falsetto, which is the cherry on top. They wrap up most of the lyrics and head right into Frank’s own doo-wop parody: Big Leg Emma.
Big Leg Emma – Frank described this tune as “an attempt to make dumb music to appeal to dumb teenagers”, and I think that’s pretty apt. This song was typically played in a large medley introduced in ‘67, that went You Didn’t Try to Call Me>Petrushka>The Bristol Stomp>Baby Love>Big Leg Emma (though at the Central Park late show they only played the last two tunes). The bulk of the song is there, but it’s a little faster than the studio take, it’s sung by Jim Black, and the lyrics are slightly tweaked. The chorus order on the single take goes “put on weight”, “face broke out” and then ends with a “face broke out” repetition, but the two takes we have from this era have seemingly random chorus orders (At the Fillmore it’s Weight>Face>Weight, and in Central Park it’s Face>Weight>Weight). They end each performance with a blues walkdown, as opposed to the fade out heard on the single (and Absolutely Free CD). Overall, this is one of my favorite purposely-dumb FZ tunes; It’s a great finale to this medley and I love hearing it whenever it pops up.
Bristol Stomp – The Mothers play 40 seconds of this 1961 hit by originally recorded by The Dovells in the middle of a large medley introduced in ‘67, that went You Didn’t Try to Call Me>Petrushka>The Bristol Stomp>Baby Love>Big Leg Emma (though at the Central Park late show they only played the last two tunes). Ray only sings some of the lyrics, and ends it with an amusing little pre-written speech on “woah woah”s (“You show me your woah woah and I’ll show you mine”). They play the tune faster than the Dovells did, and it leads directly into a similar parody of Baby Love. What’s not to like?
Cruising For Burgers – This Uncle Meat tune was played at least once, as a closing number for the second Fillmore show. The song is played as an instrumental (I’m assuming Frank hadn’t written lyrics yet), and the intro is a little different (it’s basically always changing). On the studio album we get that short, synth-y introduction, but at the Fillmore the tune starts off with two bars of steady drumming. Frank plays guitar throughout, and in this specific performance he plays the hula lick to end the tune. A nice little melody, one of my favorites from this period.
Dead Air – This “song” is exactly what it sounds like. Frank talks to the audience for a bit at the first Fillmore show, then loudly announces “DEAD AIR!” before ceasing all on-stage entertainment. This riles the audience up, so Frank eventually tells the band to play some “concerto shit”, which leads Don to start playing a little bit of Brahms’ Lullaby while the rest of The Mothers continue to mess around on stage (I could arguably give this its own entry or include it with improvisations, but It feels like an extension of Dead Air to me). An amusing “performance”, and a classic example of The Mothers fucking with their listeners.
Duke of Earl – The Mother’s break out into a demented version of this 1962 Gene Chandler classic at the Denver show. As they wind down some improvisations, Ray starts to slowly chant the opening of the tune, and Frank comes in to talk-sing a good chunk of the lyrics (“You’ll be my Duch-ess, my Du-chess of Earl!”). The gag performance ends with a marvelous transition into King Kong.
Duke of Prunes – This Absolutely Free tune appears out of some improv at the second Fillmore show. Frank starts by calmly playing the opening chords, and after about 30 seconds Ray comes in to beautifully sing the opening verse. He yells “new cheese!”, and FZ quickly delves the band back into improvisational chaos (This following section is usually listed as Amnesia Vivace, but really it’s just free improv with no relation to the studio track). Overall a nice performance and a fun moment in the show, but I wish we got the full tune.
Go Cry on Somebody Else’s Shoulder – This Freak Out song was only ever played live a handful of times, but it was played at least twice in 1968, in Denver and Central Park (though the Denver performance unfortunately cuts out after about 9 seconds). The arrangement is largely the same as on the studio album, but with a standard handful of differences. The tune is sung by Frank and Ray, with FZ providing dumb low doo-wop vocals. Frank decided to omit the improvised, spoken teenage ending, so the tune ends with a walkdown after “I don’t love you anymore”. FZ also says “I don’t need you, I don’t want you” as the tune finishes, foreshadowing “Little Rubber Girl” 10 years later! Additionally, Frank also changed the fourth line from “And you say you’re back to stay” to “And you say you wanna buy some acid”, which was a regular part of the 60s live arrangement. A very nice tune, showcasing the beauty that Ray brought to the original Mothers.
God Bless America – Frank released a snippet of this tune on Uncle Meat, likely taken from the Whisky-A-Go-Go gig in July. Someone plays the theme on kazoo, and Frank and the band comically sing the first verse. We only have about 30 seconds of this performance, as it quickly edits to some studio nonsense. It’s a fun track though, I hope we get the full version someday.
Handsome Cabin Boy/Wedding Dress Song – These are two traditional songs that Frank worked into a medley and played around with off and on throughout the 60s (a studio version can be heard on The Lost Episodes, but in reverse order). We have one performance of this medley from this era, from the Detroit show. Frank cues the Don to play Handsome Cabin Boy, and the two of them perform a very mellow, beautiful take of the tune. After about 50 seconds the full band comes in as they switch to The Wedding Dress Song (with the melody played primarily on flute and sax). Bunk plays a flute solo immediately following the theme, and Ian whips out a sax solo after him. Meanwhile, Frank starts playing the themes to Dog Breath and (later on) Little House I Used To Live In during Ian’s solo. Eventually the band joins in with the theme to Little House, and this brings the jam to an end. A lovely, beautiful medley, and another major reason to check out the Detroit gig.
Hang On Sloopy – Audience member Billy Velvet requested this 1964 McCoys tune at the Central Park early show. Billy screams for the song early on in the concert, FZ tells him that he can come up and sing it later, and he sticks to his word. The Mothers start Tiny Sick Tears, but partway through Frank remembers that “We’ve had a request for Hang On Sloopy”, and brings Billy on stage to sing it. They kick into Louie Louie (because it’s basically the same song), and we get an absolutely ridiculous performance, with Billy screaming and slurring all the words he can remember. Eventually Frank announces that we’ve just heard “the imitation white people soul version of Hang On Sloopy” and that we’re now gonna hear “the psychedelic version of Hang On Sloopy” (which means FZ turns on the Fuzz tone). The psychedelic version of Hang On Sloopy is a hysterical chaotic mess, and I love everything about it. If you’re a fan of dumb things like me I’d check out the Central Park early show for this moment alone.
Help I’m a Rock – This Freak Out classic is, surprisingly, a regular number in the latter half of 1968, and it first appeared at the late Central Park show. Frank and Ray “sing” the tune, over the simple, creepy beat, and after a couple repetitions of the title phrase (and a Simon and Garfunkel quip) they launch into 10 minutes of fantastic middle-eastern style jamming (with solos from Frank, Don, Bunk and Ian). In the one performance we have from this era, Frank plays a bit of Funiculì, Funiculà over the sax solos (though this was probably a one time event). In all the following 60s performances of Help I’m a Rock, Frank plays around with the lyrics for a while, and Transylvania Boogie is played over the same beat before the long jam, but at this point in time we get a simpler (but still sick) “Help I’m A Rock” experience.
Holiday in Berlin – This beautiful melody from Burnt Weeny Sandwich first appears on this tour, and was originally known by the title Shortly. The tune was played live at least twice, and our earliest performance is from the Fillmore East late show. Frank begins by playing theme B of the piece (click here for a table breaking down the segments), and the rest of the band (or possibly just Ian) joins in to complete the tune. They actually don’t even play what I consider the main theme of the tune (the first 45 seconds of the studio take) or the repeat of theme B. The individual sections of the piece are all spaced apart, like the musicians are unsure what comes next. It’s a slow, shaky, barebones performance, but still enjoyable. Following the theme, Frank plays a lengthy, restrained solo, and Ian follows it up with some beautiful sax playing, and after about 8 minutes FZ counts us off into the next piece. The song reappears at the Central Park late show in a much more confident and complete performance. All the parts are there, but the intro (Theme A1) is a little less embellished and there’s some weird percussion riffs over it too. Also, the repeat of Theme B is played straight, not in an exaggerated RnB style like on the studio album, and in both performances from this era, the final written line is performed much, much quicker (AKA the last line of Theme D, which is actually played twice in its entirety). After the theme, Frank plays a tasty solo over a proto-version of the Inca Roads vamp, and once he finishes Bunk and Ian round out the tune. These are very enjoyable performances of a too infrequently played tune. I think Frank perfected this song with the studio version, but if you’re a fan of that performance, you’ll enjoy these live takes.
Hungry Freaks Daddy – This classic Mothers tune continues to delight in ‘68, and was essentially performed as on Freak Out. The big exception being that the “great midwestern headwear store” verse is played like a swinging lounge tune and the second part of the guitar solo is replaced by an instrumental take of the lounge version verse. Frank replicates the lick in the middle of his solo from the studio take (heard about 1:35 into the song) in every performance. Finally, the live ending is a little more fanfare-y then the album, with three dramatic repetitions of the ending phrase instead of one standard one. A very cool version of one of my favorite of FZ’s more straightforward rock tunes.
Improvisations/Jam – “Improvisations” refers to the weird, creepy and perturbed improv The Mothers could burst into at any moment. “Jam”, typically refers to more structured, but still improvised, jazz-rock jams (for lack of a better word), that aren’t connected to any larger song or composition. The 60s were fantastic years for structured and unstructured improv, with regular calamity occurring in nearly every show, possibly connecting any two songs. There’s often screeching sax noises, tweaky keyboards, snorks, and wild drum rhythms that could change at any moment with hand signals. FZ could also cue a number of different musical ideas with these hand signals at any time, like the ⅝ riff later heard on Didja Get Any Onya off of Weasels Ripped My Flesh, a number of different vocal cues (high pitched peeps, vomit noises, etc.) or that goofy swing ditty frequently heard on these tapes. The Mothers would also frequently reference or quote other tunes in these larger jams/improvisations, most frequently Edgard Varese’s Octandre or Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring (some of FZ’s favorites). These improvisations were often instrumental, though Ray would sometimes start saying ”[Insert city] sucks… America sucks… The Mothers suck…” and on and on to my delight. I’ll break down some of the most interesting free improv moments here. The Fillmore shows are full of wild free improv, and the eerie opening improv from the early show includes a chunk of Octandre, and the chords to the ending of Twinkle Tits (previously known as “Interlude). Then at the following show, they open with a fun little pseudo-jam that starts with quotes of Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring and Petrushka, before moving into a micro-performance of the Rodgers and Hart standard Blue Moon (with the bridge to I’m In The Mood For Love in the middle). Later in the show is a 15+ minute long, crazed, atonal piece of improvisations (that I see listed as a jam frequently for some reason), and a little while after that we get some Mellow Lounge Music, which consists of Frank saying non-sequiturs as they play some (you guessed it), mellow lounge music, and slowly morph into the Irving Berlin song Easter Parade. Not long after this, Frank says “Hawaiian Music” and they start playing something sorta resembling Hawaiian music, kinda. It’s some ethereal, evil, synth-wavey sounding music with a very steady drum beat. Ray then starts to moan and sing a bit of the theme song to the 50s TV show Hawaiian Eye, and FZ starts to repeatedly play what fans have dubbed the “Hula Lick”, a short Hula turnaround lick that Frank used throughout the 60s and 70s (formerly known as the “mystery tune”; this is actually it’s first known appearance in FZ’s work). The Whisky show in July had some fun improv too, from which Frank selected a few sections for release like Meow (a short chunk of classic OG Mothers improv), Whisky Wah, and The Whip (two pieces from fiery guitar jams). The final big notable chunk of improv from this era comes from the Central Park late show, which starts with some long, unaccompanied Bunk Gardner flute improv that FZ dubs “Jazz-Rock Heavily Influenced By Al Kooper”. Frank and Bunk chat throughout the performance, leading to quotes from Varese’s Density 21.5, Boulez’s Le Marteau Sans Maître, and of course the Swingin’ Shepherd Blues. Overall, this is a tremendous tour for improvisations, so much so that it’s easily one of the defining features of this band and era of Frank’s work.
Khaki Sack – This fun, previously unreleased, little RnB instrumental shows up on the Denver tape. This tune was a mystery to fans for a long time, until a studio take from 1970 was finally released on the fantastic Funky Nothingness box set. Frank retitled the piece as Whät when it was released on the Beat the Boots series, but Khaki Sack was the working title for the majority of the tune’s life. The Denver tape cuts in on the middle of a long jam, likely missing the head of the tune, and the beginning of the first solo. Bunk, Don, Ian and Frank all get a chance to stretch out, and they play the main theme (likely again) to finish the jam off. Frank never actually finished the studio version of the tune, so the ending theme to the piece is actually somewhat unique to this live version. Overall, this is a really fun little tune, and it’s a shame Frank never released it in his lifetime (but at least we have a real studio version now, 50+ years later).
King Kong – “The Adventures Of King Kong, a gorilla by trade”. This Uncle Meat classic returns on this tour, and makes a fantastic vehicle for extended jams. The Mothers play the perfectly composed intro and follow it with a long jazz-rock jam where really anything can happen. Various band members solo depending on the performance, with the rhythm section providing a very steady beat and FZ conducting the band along the way [See the solo chart below for a breakdown on the individual takes]. Each performance starts with some fantastic jungle-y percussion (cymbals, big drums, a gong, etc.) before crashing into the iconic main theme. This always creates a fantastic segue from the previous tune and sets the perfect tone for the long jam. There are no secondary themes to King Kong just yet, but Frank will introduce one before their European tour in September. The frantic sax riff from the “Gardner Varieties” can be heard on a couple performances from this era, and will continue to occasionally pop up in King Kong (and other tunes) over the next year and a half. Each performance is uniquely terrific, and this is just one of the many reasons to collect as many tapes as possible from the 60s.
Little House I Used To Live In – This Burnt Weeny Sandwich masterpiece was still very much in progress in 1968. Frank hadn’t named the piece as of the Whiskey gig, but before it got the Little House title (which most likely referred to the opening piano piece), it went by a variety of names including The Duke, The Hunchback Duke, The Return Of The Hunch-Back Duke or The Return Of The Son Of The Hunch-Back Duke. The original Mothers never played the intro piano solo live, but they would play the rock theme(s) on occasion. We have three performances from this year, all with this band, each notably different from the other. At this point in time the piece consisted of the portion from 2:50-5:13 in the Burnt Weeny Sandwich version, but without the reprise of theme B, so just theme C, the bridges and Frank’s guitar solo (you’re gonna need this graph to understand this paragraph, just use the first two columns). The rock theme first appears in a jam arising from The Handsome Cabin Boy/Wedding Dress Song medley. As the saxes jam, Frank starts to play theme C and the bridges of the piece in the background, and after a little while the rest of the band joins him to cap off the jam. At the Denver show a week later we get a full performance of the piece, which still mainly consists of theme C and the bridges, but interestingly enough they play a segment of Dog Breath between repetitions of the composed themes (along with a few drum solos). They then return to the Little House themes, and when Frank has decided they’ve played enough he rips into a long, hot guitar solo with only drum accompaniment. Additionally, Frank plays Dog Breath before Little House in the Detroit Wedding Dress Song jam, so it’s possible he was floating the idea of combining the two (or he just liked and was working on both medleys at the time). After Frank’s solo in Denver they veer into a long improvised jam, which includes chunks of the jazz standard Coquette, The Blue Danube, Hungry Freaks Daddy and micro-performances of Tchaikovsky’s 6th and Funiculì, Funiculà. The next time Little House pops up is at the July Whisky-A-Go-Go gig, in a much more put together form (though this performance is from the Zappa Documentary Soundtrack, and seems edited, so take this with a grain of salt). The piece still consists of just theme C, the bridges and Frank’s sick guitar solo, but it’s much more confident and familiar sounding. And finally, the tune now ends with a corrupted take on theme C. This is a really cool year for Little House, because with these tapes we get to see the early stages of the evolution of the piece. It’s one of my favorite FZ Compositions and I would recommend listening to every available performance.
Louie Louie/Plastic People – “Here it is! The moment you’ve been waiting for!” FZ and The Mothers could (and would) burst into Louie Louie at any moment. Frank (from what I can infer), had a career-long, love-hate relationship with Richard Berry’s famous tune, and every permutation is sorta halfway between a tribute and a parody (The song was a regular request from drunk patrons in the MOI’s early bar-band days, along with Caravan with a drum solo). We have two performances of this tune from this era, each a unique experience. At The Fillmore East, Frank shouts out the title of the tune and the band gets into it. They perform a pretty straight take for less than a minute, before FZ says “Here’s the real words to this song” and switches to the lyrics of Plastic People. It’s important to note that the Absolutely Free version of Plastic People is a completely different beast, that has very little connection to how the tune was normally performed, because the live version of Plastic People is a direct parody of Louie Louie, the only thing distinguishing the two songs are Frank’s lyrics. Anyway, after they finish the lyrics, Frank announces “the world renowned Mothers Of Invention electric gotta gotta revue”, which means we get a goofy parody of 60s pop music, while Frank forces the crowd to chant “gotta gotta gotta” and “baby baby baby”. Ray starts to sing The Righteous Brothers’ 1964 tune You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ over the sturdy Louie Louie vamp, and Don plays an unidentified, possibly improvised RnB keyboard lick while our lead vocalist sings. Eventually this segment devolves into audience requests, and the Fillmore ‘68 Louie Louie event comes to an end. They whip out the tune again two weeks later in Denver, but we get a slightly simpler take here. It’s a pretty straight ahead version of Plastic People (no Louie Louie lyrics this time), but once they finish up the final ‘You gotta go”s, Frank quickly dives into Varese’s Octandre over the regular beat. After that the horns start to play the theme of King Kong, then Frank begins to play America Drinks, which of course brings us back to Octandre. Eventually The Mothers jump into a quick, impromptu Wipe Out, which brings the jam to a close. Louie Louie is an absolute staple of Frank Zappa’s work as a whole, and these 60s shows have some of the best available examples.
Memories of El Monte – A song originally recorded by The Penguins in 1963, but written by Ray Collins and Frank Zappa. We have one known performance of this tune, from the July Whisky-A-Go-Go show (part of which was released on The Zappa Movie Soundtrack). It’s a nice doo-wop number that paints a nostalgic view of a bygone era, with numerous references to classic doo-wop and RnB tunes (including In The Still Of The Night, You Cheated (You Lied), A Thousand Miles Away, Heaven And Paradise, Nite Owl, The Way You Look Tonight, and Why Don’t You Write Me?). This love letter to doo-wop leads directly into Frank’s take-down of doo-wop: Oh, In The Sky.
Mr. Green Genes – Frank announces this tune by its name on Uncle Meat, but in reality these are actually performances of Son of Mr. Green Genes from Hot Rats, as there are no vocals and these takes always contain a long improvised jam in the middle. In Detroit and Central Park, The Mothers play a lively version of the theme, solo for a while, and then return to the theme to close us off. Ian, Don and Bunk (in some order) would solo first, and Frank would finish off the jam with a mean guitar solo. These are always very spirited performances and just might be my favorite live version of this song. Seek these out if you consider yourself a fan of Hot Rats.
My Boyfriend’s Back/I’m Gonna Bust His Head – “And now… some bullshit!” Frank and the boys would play this ridiculously dumb doo-wop parody medley in 1968, and we have one example of this from Central Park. Ray starts by belting out My Boyfriend’s Back (originally released by the Angels in 1963), singing the tune in a hysterical falsetto. He sings the first verse, the chorus, and the fifth verse before the tune completely falls apart and Frank announces “”Aww, son of a gun, the boyfriend is coming home and he’s really pissed off”. They then switch to (what’s most likely) an FZ composition titled I’m Gonna Bust His Head. This second tune starts with Ray slowly singing as the boyfriend, before switching to an uptempo boogie. Finally Ray sings the title phrase, and the tune comes to a raucous conclusion, before segueing into Tiny Sick Tears (which, as far as we know, was always paired with this medley). The lyrics to the second tune are as follows:
Here I am, I hear there’s been some trouble
Since I’ve been away, and here’s what I have to say
I said I’d be home, and here I am
I said I’d be home, and here I am
Tell me some joker been bothering you
I love ya pretty baby I know you’d be true
If something’s going on his scheming days are through
I’m gonna bust his head
He’s gonna wish he were dead
I’m gonna pop his eye
I’m gonna make him cry
I’m gonna jump on his back
I’m gonna give him such a smack
You know I’ve got what I need
C’mon and watch him bleed
Octandre – The “mutilated fuzz tone” version of the Edgard Varese classic. Frank and the boys play the first 16 bars or so of this piece that heavily inspired Frank. After playing the theme the band would usually play variations on the theme at various tempos and/or kinda fall apart, otherwise they would just end the piece. Octandre was frequently quoted in improv and jams by Frank and to a lesser extent the rest of the band. A defining tune from the original Mothers, and one of my favorites.
Oh, In The Sky – Here we have yet another doo-wop parody, but this one is an FZ original, featuring Roy Estrada on lead vocals. The only words to this little ditty are “oh, in the sky” in the first half and “Nite Owl” in the second half (a reference to the 1955 Tony Allen song). Roy screams the lines out over a simplistic doo-wop progression for a couple minutes to the horror of the audience (but to my demented delight). This tune isn’t on any unofficial recording from this era, but the July Whisky-a-Go-Go performance was released on The Zappa Movie Soundtrack. A surreal but hysterical moment whenever it shows up.
The Orange County Lumber Truck Medley – The classic instrumental medley returns in ‘68, popping up at least twice, in Detroit and Central Park. The songs featured in the medley, in order, are Let’s Make The Water Turn Black, Harry, You’re A Beast, The Orange County Lumber Truck, Oh No and The Orange County Lumber Truck again. The horns carry the melody for all four pieces, and Ray sings the first set of Oh No lyrics, but not the “and in your dreams” section, meaning they probably weren’t written yet (Ray sings the lyrics in Detroit, but the Central Park recording is missing most of Oh No, so it’s unknown if it was played with lyrics there). In Detroit, between repetitions of the ending “dreams” section of Oh No, Frank plays a tasty guitar solo and Bunk and Ian solo simultaneously once he finishes. After this they head into a reprise of the Orange County Lumber Truck, and following the reprise the band goes into a long jam with a number of other solos until Frank decides the tune is over. The Central Park performance is a little different though; the Oh No jam just keeps going for about 15 minutes, and after a series of solos they play the repetition of the Oh No ending and the Orange County Lumber Truck proper to finish the tune. Despite the differences, both takes end with a blues walkdown. No matter the performance, this is an excellent arrangement of some of Zappa’s most celebrated compositions, and a treat for years to come.
Petrushka – Frank declares “Petrushka!” and The Mother’s launch into 45 seconds of the Russian Dance from the First Tableau of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet. This song was played in a large medley introduced in ‘67, that went You Didn’t Try to Call Me>Petrushka>The Bristol Stomp>Baby Love>Big Leg Emma (though at the Central Park late show they only played the last two tunes). It’s a straight performance, and it perfectly segues into the ridiculous Bristol Stomp. Excellent!
Shotgun – The Mothers rip into a straight cover of the 1965 Junior Walker song at the second Fillmore show, emerging out of the Hawaiian improvisations. It’s a shortened take (only about 90 seconds), but it’s still a fun little jam. Worth checking out, along with the whole finale of the Fillmore late show.
Status Back Baby – This fun tune is pretty much played as on Absolutely Free, except Frank added this awesome sax riff between lines in the verses. That and the extra energy that comes with live performance make these late sixties versions of this song my absolute favorite. At The Fillmore East, Ray sings along with the end of the regular Petrushka quote, but not on any of the other takes. There are four performances of this song from this era, but unfortunately the Denver and Unknown Venue takes are missing at least half of the tune, and the Fillmore tapes sound pretty cruddy. Because of this the Detroit show has what’s basically the only truly listenable performance of this tune from 1968. A great song, it’s just a bummer most 60s recordings of it are sub-par. (For another cursed song, see Eat That Question in ‘73 and ‘74).
Tiny Sick Tears – “Gimme your love, or at least make me a tuna fish sandwich” This tune is meant to be a parody of 96 Tears by ? & The Mysterians, and “gotta gotta” 60s teen music in general. We’ve got one recording from this year (from Central Park), and as far as we know, this tune was always preceded by My Boyfriend’s Back and I’m Gonna Bust His Head. The Mothers play a very 96 Tears-esque riff, and Ray shouts out a number of cliched rock n roll expressions (“Gotta Gotta Yeah Yeah Yeah”). Most future performances of this song we have include a speech from Frank entitled “The Cookie Jar Lecture” (which is a parody of The End by The Doors; see YCDTOSA#4), but in Central Park Frank asks a fan to come on stage and sing Hang On Sloopy instead. It’s unknown if Frank hadn’t written this monologue yet, or simply decided to skip it for Sloopy. A fun tune, but this take is probably the least interesting one we have (but it leads into Sloopy, so it still gets a point from me).
Trouble Every Day – This Freak Out classic shows up a few times on this tour, basically in the same arrangement as on the album, but with significantly more soloing. Frank sings whatever lyrics he wants, rarely performing the whole thing. At the Fillmore he sings the entire tune, even the “I’m not Black” line (though it’s after the 4th verse, instead of before like in the studio), at the first Central Park show he omits the 4th verse, the “Black” line, and “Blow your harmonica, son!”, and at the late Central Park show he leaves out the 3rd and 4th verse, as well as the “I’m not black” line. The tune was played in Denver, but only the very end of Frank’s guitar solo was recorded. There’s tasty bursts of guitar and/or harmonica after every chorus, and each performance ends with a guitar solo from Frank and a harmonica solo from Ray. If FZ ends the lyrics with “Blow your harmonica, son!”, the solo order goes Ray then Frank, but Frank goes first if he leaves off the exclamation. No matter the performance, this song has exceptional lyrics (some of Frank’s best and most poignant), and always produces a worthwhile blues jam.
You Didn’t Try To Call Me – This Freak Out tune was played as the first song of an insane medley introduced in ‘67, that went You Didn’t Try to Call Me>Petrushka>The Bristol Stomp>Baby Love>Big Leg Emma (though at the Central Park late show they only played the last two tunes). The song has been “changed to a waltz for live performance” (FZ in Stockholm ‘67), and it’s significantly faster than the studio version. It’s definitely based on the Freak Out arrangement too, not the later Ruben and the Jets version (which Frank seemed to prefer once he re-arranged it). The tune stops cold after the “I’m all alone at my place!” line (skipping Frank’s improvised “teen-age thrill” ramblings), FZ says “Well, let’s roll along now…”, the band plays the instrumental introduction to Call Me again, and then heads into Petrushka.
Wipe Out – Yes, on at least two occasions, The Mothers play this classic surf rock song (originally released by The Surfaris in 1963). In Denver the main theme erupts out of the end of the Plastic People jam, and Frank ends the set right after one repetition. In New York, a fan requests the tune, and The Mothers perform a full standalone take, complete with a sick drum solo. They return to the main theme after Jimmy’s jam, and finish the performance straight (somewhat surprisingly). A fun, goofy cover, perfect for this era of the Mothers.
Solo Table:
Life On The Road 