Overview:
Mother Mary and Josef this tour is just so much fun! Every show is filled to the brim with hysterical band antics and mesmerizing, ear melting music. This core band has been touring together for the last 18 months with Chester and Napoleon joining almost a year prior, and they are just so ungodly tight. Jeff Simmons toured with this group for about a week before quitting The Mothers for a final time. I love Jeff, but they continue without him so smoothly that he clearly wasn’t a key member in this band. So many classic songs are reaching their definitive versions (Inca Roads, RDNZL, Approximate, Dupree’s Paradise, More Trouble Every Day and Son of Orange County) and the setlists are fantastic, balanced between improvisational madness and compositional brilliance. On top of all this each show is filled with hysterical in-jokes and band life stories. Lyrical mutations about Booger Bears (“A Booger Bear is a girl who looks like she came from your nose”), Ralph stuffing his shoes, road manager Marty Perellis and his sexual exploits with or without Great Danes and of course the endless teasing of Ruth (My favorite being “Ruth has been thinking…When can I go back to the hotel…And eat some Fritos?”). There’s even some tremendous guest performers, Lance Loud in Dupree’s Paradise in St. Petersburg and the Hurricane Brass Band in Apostrophe in Chalmette. Every show from this tour is worth a listen for at least one of the above reasons. It’s hard to think of downsides for this tour, hell it’s the only one where Apostrophe is regularly played. This band is already fantastic, and they only improve as the year continues.
The Band:
Frank Zappa – Guitar, Vocals, Marty Perellis
Napoleon Murphy Brock – Tenor Sax, Flute, Lead Vocals, Booger Bears
Tom Fowler – Bass, Begging
George Duke – Keyboards, Vocals, Rashid
Ruth Underwood – Percussion, Brian-poo
Chester Thompson – Drum Set, Cowbells, Gorillas
Jeff Simmons – Guitar, Vocals, Harmonica, Flakiness (Quits July 3rd – Not On Any Recording)
Recordings Available:
1974 07 05 – Ambassador Theater, St. Louis, MO (Audience C+)
Yet another entertaining show captured with terrible sound quality, but this one at least won’t hurt your ears. Frank talks alot but is always hard to make out. There were two shows played on this date, it’s unsure if it’s the early or the late. The recording opens with the now regular intro Cosmik Debris with the fun mutation “You could make more money at the Whiskey-A-Gogo”. A delightful Inca Roads follows, the earliest known version without the static cowbell riff, and after that is the earliest RDNZL with Ruth’s composed solo. Both great takes. The Village suite has been constantly increasing in speed and tonight is no different. Frank says to put “Frequency shifter on the drums” during Wash That Thing which is mildly amusing if nothing else and it leads into a tight Penguin medley. Here’s where the show gets really interesting though. After Dog Meat FZ decides they’ll make something up once again and we get 20+ minutes of fantastic free improvisations. It starts off with Tom, there’s a lot of percussion, and after a while it morphs into a fiery guitar jam. Once they settle down again Frank rips into the opening of Camarillo Brillo and this fun performance ends the main set. For an encore we get a very rickety Mr. Green Genes, the first in many months, and the show comes to a close. A solid show, Worth a listen for the improv, but the rest of the tunes can be found in better quality elsewhere. One other thing of note is that after these shows in St. Louis, road manager Marty Perellis had his faithful encounter with a Great Dane.
1974 07 06 – Robinson Memorial Auditorium, Little Rock, AR (Audience B-/C+)
The Mothers embark on their first tour of the south and this is the first recording we have. Subpar sound, a little better than the St. Louis Show but still far from great. Frank lets us know “I’ve never thought that I would be in this town in my life” and begins the show with a tasty Inca Roads. Montana is the fun little number it always is, and it leads into a truly excellent Dupree’s Paradise. Duke tells some Booger tales, Frank sings a bit of “Pushing Too Hard”, drops a “Get Down Simmons” and tells a story about Simmons Mattresses. He then continues to explain what a Booger Bear is, tells a story of George’s and Marty’s night in St. Louis, and reveals Mr. Duke’s method to pick up women: ask them “what’s your sign?”. The main tune is tasty too. Tom quotes the Rite Of Spring in his solo, a good chunk of Frank’s solo is sadly missing (though we do get to hear a cool lick he’d later use in Time Is Money) and the ending theme is played very fast. Cosmik Debris comes next and FZ stops the tune briefly during the solo section for some unintelligible reason. The Pygmy suite is still kicking around and fun as ever (in Cheepnis FZ says: “The booger bear, named Frenchie”) and it’s followed by the timeless Penguin medley. Frank then decides to play some selections from the last tour’s oldies medley and quizzes the audience on the lyrics of Brown Shoes Don’t Make It. They play How Could I Be Such A Fool, Wowie Zowie and Let’s Make The Water Turn Black. They’re largely the same as on the previous tour, but Ruth’s wild percussion really adds a lot. Wowie Zowie surprisingly has the most interesting moment of the night because the tune turns into a proto-version of I Don’t Even Care! It’s only about a minute but it’s still really cool to hear. Let’s Make The Water Turn Black has a new arrangement too, way funkier with an awesome guitar solo, an excellent hidden gem. RDNZL (with a moment of appreciation for Ruth) and Village end the main set. The Orange-Trouble medley is a wonderful encore and brings this night to a close. Despite the muddled sound this is a really fun show and worth a listen.
1974 07 12 – Jai Alai Fronton , Miami, FL (Audience B+)
At last, a nice show with really nice sound. The show starts off with Frank getting handed a plastic Mudshark from someone in the Audience and he proceeds to reference it in the intros. The show starts with an excellent Pygmy medley and a lively Cosmik Debris, followed by another mesmerizing Inca Roads. While tuning up for the next event, someone in the crowd yells for Dinah-Moe Humm, so Frank berates him a little and in response to someone else yelling “Boogie!”, he starts playing the riff that will end up as San Ber’dino! This leads into a fun Montana (“I might be movin’ to Miami soon”) and an even better Dupree’s. George’s intro is supremely funky, and Frank ends up talking about The Mother’s great time in the south, Booger Bears and Nixon’s friend Bebe Rebozo. The tune proper is fun, and after a drum solo Frank starts playing the Van Morrison classic Gloria! Nappy doesn’t seem to know the lyrics at all, so he ends up scatting and singing about someone named “Sherry”. Frank takes a fun solo over the rocking vamp and then smoothly transitions into Dinah-Moe Humm (interestingly enough, Frank skips right to the “Bovine pussperation” line). They proceed with a long and loose take of the tune, with audience participation and the return of the imitation Mudshark. This transitions into a fantastic Apostrophe (The earliest known live take) and a pleasant Camarillo ends the main set. They return for the encore, Frank quickly plays the Eat That Question riff, and then lets the crowd choose between Orange County-Trouble and Penguin-T’Mershi-Dog/Meat. They somewhat unfortunately pick the later medley, but Frank drops a nice Oh No quote in his Penguin solo. Overall a very entertaining show, well worth a listen.
1974 07 13 – Bayfront Center Arena, St. Petersburg, FL (Audience B)
Still deep in the American south, we get another fantastically joyous show, captured on a decent recording. Frank lets us know right off the bat that later “A special guest from television” will come out and join them. The night starts with a solid take of the Penguin medley. After this we get a lovely-as-usual Montana with some special lyrical mutations (“every other wrangler would say: good god ain’t it funky now” and “Ride, like a homunculus”). George’s Duprees intro is delicious and Frank brings the band down behind him and introduces “The first television manufactured queer in America”, Lance Loud. Lance was well known for starring in one of the first reality TV programs ever: a PBS show that took the 70s by storm called An American Family. Lance comes on stage, gives a really weird monologue and then he starts to sing/scream Nite Owl. Not the most musically pleasant experience, but still a blast to hear. Lance and The Mothers improvise for a while, then Lance and Frank chat for a bit (they start to sing Pushing Too Hard) and eventually FZ ushers in the theme to Dupree’s. Nice solos all around, Frank takes a nice long solo (and plays Gloria/Sherry for a while during it) but sadly the beginning and ends are both missing. Very nice takes of the Pygmy medley and a nice Cosmik Debris (“it’ll cure your necrophilia too”) follow this up, and then Frank surprises us all by playing, and more importantly singing, Willie The Pimp! Frank says he’s never sung it before in his life, but he still manages to pull off a nice performance. He delivers an excellent solo and plays the San Ber’dino riff during said jam. It morphs into a drum solo, Frank comes back in and the show comes to a close. For an encore we get a lovely performance of Camarillo Brillo that leads right into Apostrophe, but the latter tune sadly cuts after about 90 seconds. Overall this is a very nice show, not the best recording but still well worth checking out.
1974 07 15 – St. Bernard Civic Auditorium, Chalmette, LA (Audience B/B-)
Another excellent show from the deep south; the sound can be a little boomy and the speech can be a little muffled, but it’s usually not too bad. FZ starts the show off with a Cosmik Debris dedicated to the Warner Brother’s promotion man John’s dog. Up next is a standard but always fun Pygmy medley, and a quality Montana that morphs into an excellent Dupree’s. George starts us off like usual with some funky beats, Frank starts the nightly Booger Report but pretty quickly gets distracted by George’s keyboard noises and starts to tell the story of a robot named “Ratchet the mechanical narc”. FZ mentions Holiday Inns and you can hear a fan start chanting “Howard Johnsons” a la Billy the Mountain. Frank continues telling a story about “a cocktail lounge in a holiday inn of the future” and this morphs into the somewhat regular “unemployed musicians love a jam session” Dupree’s story. Frank namedrops Whipping Post (well before the Helsinki shows), then has the group play Bye Bye Blackbird followed by Sweet Leilani. FZ then talks about the blues for a little while before challenging Ruth to play the blues on marimba (“Get down Ruth!”). He then tells her to play Jewish music and we get a quick take of Hava Nagila that leads into the theme of Dupree’s. The main tune itself is nice as always, and Frank lets forth a nice long jam. The Penguin medley is next and enjoyable like always. The end moves directly into RDNZL, and I imagine Ruth wasn’t ready for this because she misses the opening and during her normal spotlight Frank says “now just imagine that during this part of the song that Ruth is playing a fantastic solo” while the band vamps away. Nice solos from Frank and George, a smooth transition into Village of the Sun and then a ricketier transition from that into Oh No. Son of Orange County is next, providing a fantastic guitar jam and some hysterical lyrical mutations. The end of Oh No becomes “I just can’t believe… that Ralph stuffs his shoes”, one of the first appearances of what would become a regular inside joke for this band. Frank ends the main set after this, but quickly returns for an encore of More Trouble Every Day (with an unknown quote at the end of Frank’s solo), Camarillo Brillo and Apostrophe. The two vocal songs have more humorous references to Ralph and his overfull shoes and the final tune has a special surprise. It’s a hot take (I wish Apostrophe was played more regularly), with Frank, Chester and Tom all going wild and after the bulk of the tune goes by we hear some horns come in and it’s the Hurricane Brass Band! There’s a fun trumpet solo (on Apostrophe!) and the show ends with a fun, explosive Louisiana jazz outro from the Hurricane Brass Band. This is yet another really fun show from the Mothers in the deep south and it gets a recommendation for this reviewer despite the muffled sound.
1974 07 17 – Celebrity Theater, Phoenix, AZ (Soundboard B+)
This is the only soundboard recording circulating in bootleg groups from this tour. It’s a solid recording (though hissy) and it captures a fantastic show. Frank opens the show with RDNZL (“A number so hot that Ruth has to play a solo in it”) and we get one of the best takes of this version of the tune. This segues into a lovely performance of the Village medley (only the 2nd of the tour) and in Wash That Thing Ruth has been thinking “gee whiz… How long will it be…. before Marty Parelis can stroke me off again?” and that starts off a hysterical trend throughout the whole show. Cosmik Debris emerges from the closing drum solo and has completely mutated to be about Ruth and Marty’s strokin’ exploits, with a few mentions of other crew members. Interestingly enough, Cosmik ends and George’s pre-Dupree’s improv begins, skipping the usual Montana. This intro improv, in the typical fashion, goes totally off the rails. They try to get Ruth to “testify” so she plays the jazz classic The Stripper. Then Frank tells them to play Battle Hymn of the Republic and he tells the legendary story of their road manager Marty Perelis. He talks about their former manager Steve Alsberg, who carried a tambourine in a leather briefcase, he makes fun of Sal, Ian and Jean-Luc from the last band and proceeds to tell us what led to Marty groping Ruth on an airplane. The story keeps going, but the recording sadly cuts right before Frank can finish the story. We return moments before the theme of the tune, and proceed to get another hot Dupree’s Paradise. Camarillo Brillo immediately follows, and is still infected by Marty and Ruth (“and every cricket who had chorus, by the bush in Ruthie’s room”), that is until the “Ralph stuffs his shoes” nonsense comes back from the last show. This goes into a fun T’Mershi/Dog Meat (Skipping Penguin in Bondage), which brings the main set to an enjoyable end. Frank and the gang return and he announces that they’ll do something he’s always wanted to do for an encore, just “play a blues ladies and gentlemen”. Frank sings the first part of Road Ladies over this simple vamp, mentions Marty some more, jams and then picks on Marty even more. Sadly the tape ends before the end of the music, but even with a couple of unfortunate cuts this is one of the most fun shows this band put on, and that’s really saying something.
1974 07 19 – Circle Star Theatre, San Carlos, CA (Audience A-/B+)
This excellent recording is from the first of three shows about half an hour south of San Francisco. The Mothers are playing on a circular, rotating stage and perform three of the best shows of the entire year. Frank announces the band (possibly walking on over the Dragnet theme, but just the last second or two is captured on the recording) and tells us during the intros “many of you will remember Tom from when he used to beg on the street corners playing bluegrass music”. They start with a fun Cosmik Debris and follow it with the always funky Pygmy medley. Nappy starts to chant “Trudging through the tundra… mile after mile” in the middle of Cheepnis, and after that Frank notes that the audience probably couldn’t make out the words to the last tune and decided to recite the lyrics to the whole tune over a slow funny little keyboard vamp. Pretty amusing, he even mentions the parts only on the studio version. They try to make a smooth segue into Montana, but they botch it pretty hard. Up next is a riotous Dupree’s with an intro featuring more Perellis/Dog stories (including a few “the poodle bites… the poodle chews it”) and numerous mentions of Rashid Duke, George’s newborn son (a surprisingly cute secret word!). They dedicate the rest of the tune to Marty (“to simulate an evening with Marty Perellis, the dog and the two booger bears”), finish off the nsfw tale and let the crowd engage in some audience participation by pretending to sound like Marty. The solos in the main section of the tune are excellent as always, and like usual FZ brings the whole event to a close. Someone suggests “Whipping Post!” after Dupree’s and Frank makes a quick comment on it. The Penguin medley comes next, is excellent as always, Frank takes another cheeky jab at Ruth and the main set ends with the wonderful RDNZL-Village of the Sun combo. They return for an excellent standalone performance of More Trouble Every Day and leave the stage for about 20 more hours. This is an awesome show and a great sign of things to come.
1974 07 20 – Circle Star Theatre, San Carlos, CA (Audience A-/B+)
“Welcome to the rotating Mothers of Invention program”. It’s day two in San Carlos and we get another fantastic concert. It opens and Frank is clearly in a good mood, announcing each member of the band with their middle initial and telling us “Ruth is so moist tonight”. Frank teases Ruth for being “extremely hot” throughout the entire show, which only adds to the listener’s enjoyment. The show begins with an amazing Inca Roads, and afterwards we get the live premiere of Stink-Foot! Frank says that they’ve never played the tune before, but that they’ll make up an arrangement on the spot. He walks us and the band through a simplified version of the entire tune, kind of like a mix between the studio version and the later 74 takes. The song of course drifts off in the middle when Frank starts to tell some Booger Bear stories involving Marty and a certain infamous dog. This transitions nicely into a fun Cosmik Debris, and after this they play a lively Dyna-Moe Humm complete with imitation orgasm audience participation. Before the next song someone in the crowd shouts for Ruth and Frank lets us know “Ruth! They want you Ruth!”. An excellent Pygmy melody is next with another politically rearranged Idiot Bastard Son (That Arrogant Dick Nixon) and a Cheepnis with even more Nixon refs (“Go to the white house my baby my baby!”). The timeless classic Penguin in Bondage medley comes next and is followed by an excellent Montana that slowly mutates into “Moving to Modesto soon” (possibly my favorite Montana mutation). The following improv is tweaky and pretty quickly devolves once Frank comes in into a slow take of the Echidna’s Arf ending! This goes into Wash That Thing like normal, and after a regular lively performance they transition into a blues and Nappy starts singing Anything You Wanna Do like the ending of The Be-Bop Tango at the Roxy! It’s a really fun performance and a great end to the main set. They return to the stage for an excellent encore consisting of Oh No/Son of Orange County and More Trouble Every Day. FZ says they’re gonna auction Ruth off during this part of the show and proceeds with an excellent encore. During Orange County they eventually start singing “I just can’t believe… that Marty pumps a dog” leading to many laughs. Again this is a fantastic show, and I strongly recommend it along with the other two San Carlos shows.
1974 07 21 – Circle Star Theatre, San Carlos, CA (Audience A-/B+)
The third and final show in San Carlos is just as exciting as the last two. Frank walks on to the Dragnet march again and dedicates the program to “Linda Wineman” at the request of someone in the audience. Also Nappy’s kid is in attendance and he gets a shout out at the beginning too. Frank then begins the program with Approximate, a song they’ve “opened up with once or twice in a decade”. They play through it once normally, they dance it once and they sing it once before moving into Cosmik Debris. We get a normal Cosmik until the end of the tune where Frank has his engineer turn the frequency shifter on for his vocals. After this turn, someone asks for Louie Louie, but Frank and the crowd turn it down and Frank spontaneously opts to play Gloria instead. Nappy sings a handful of quick lyrics about George’s son Rashid and then Frank starts a story about Ruth and the daily Booger Report. During said report Frank tells us “One of the girls in the band…who shall go nameless… was found in the hallway of the Belmont Holiday Inn last night squatting against the wall eating a bag of Fritos”, and this sets a bit of a theme for the rest of the show. Frank mentions the future film they’ll be shooting in a few weeks, Nappy shouts out a few more “Rashid”s and the tune comes to an end. Inca Roads is next (“George sings so high only Rashid can hear him”) and blows me away like it always does. Frank points out that there’s a quote of Approximate in said tune during the early meltdown sequence. A rare Andy appears next, mostly the same as the previous live versions but I believe this one has a unique vamp during the guitar solo that really inspires Frank. After this FZ’s amplifier breaks so we get some short, tweaky keyboard-heavy “Special Amplifier Fixing Music” while this goes down. It moves into a fantastic Montana, once again reworked to become “Modesto”. A riotous version, one of my personal favorites, and it goes into an excellent Dupree’s intro with no dog stories or booger reports, just two mind blowing solos from George and Frank. They move into a shortened Dupree’s Paradise proper where after Tom’s solo the tune morphs into a slow take of the end of Echidna’s Arf and into an excellent Wash That Thing (Where “Ruth has been thinking when can I go back to the hotel and eat some Fritos”). The ending drum solo turns into the beginning chords of Dog/Meat. There’s some conducted improv at the end of the main set before a return to the stage for a surprise performance of Caravan! A fan requested it and we get an actual rehearsed version of the tune, super fun to hear and the only known time they played it. It goes directly into a fantastic Stink-Foot, more put together than the last night but still not yet at its usual live arrangement. This brings this show and the three-day residency to an end. These are a truly fantastic set of shows, both in playing and sound quality, and should be heard by any Zappa fan around. They’d be a great candidate for an official release.
1974 08 11 – Golden Hall, San Diego, CA (Audience B-)
This strange, noisy recording starts part way through a performance of Uncle Meat. Frank announces that they’ll start the show soon, indicating the beginning of the show is a soundcheck, though with the audience in attendence (Frank says it’s their chance to see “rock ‘n’ roll from the ground up”). What happened (according to fans in the audience) is that the Mothers were having equipment problems and were forced to continue to soundcheck while the audience filtered in. FZ talks a little more and then the tape cuts to the first performance of the new, slowed down Pygmy Twylyte, but it sadly stops before Frank gets a chance to solo, again because they’re still testing all the equipment. After this, only to confuse me more, Frank then introduces the band, there’s another cut and we’re now listening to Cosmik Debris. After this there’s another cut and they’re playing Help I’m A Rock! Yes it’s still 1974! This tune still rocks, and Frank starts to ramble on about Richard Nixon for a while (He resigned amidst the Watergate scandal just a few days earlier). Once this wraps up Frank jams for a long while and the tape cuts again. At this point they finish the soundcheck, leave the stage and let Tom Waits perform his opening set, before returning for the show proper. The Mothers come back and FZ decides to bring Mr. Waits back on stage! They are going to start to play his tune Ol’ 55 and Tom is going to tell a joke about the “12 inch man”, but the taper must not care because the recording immediately cuts. We return for Montana, and by this point it feels like the show has truly begun. This leads into long, excellent Dupree’s Paradise, with no mention of Marty, no dogs, no booger report, just half an hour of fantastic instrumental music. The classic Penguin medley comes next (meaning Uncle Meat appears twice on this recording) and Frank follows it, by popular demand, with The Mud Shark. This is the only known performance of this “song” from this year and it’s the angriest take of the tune ever (“really I don’t understand why anyone would want to hear this piece of shit”). He tells the story of how the tune came to be, and then tells the story itself. The highlight of the whole event though is Frank cuing the Hook when he’s describing the parts of a fishing pole. Frank says “alright we got a song that’s better than that” and proceeds to whip out a fantastic Inca Roads with a wonderful quote from Big Swifty. After this they start a fun little blues jam. Frank sings a bit (“you’re probably wondering why we’re playing the blues…”), announces the show is coming to a close and jams for the rest of the set. They return for a lovely encore of Camarillo Brillo and Apostrophe; These two songs should have stayed paired together. Despite the mediocre sound and all the disappointing cuts, this show has enough highlights to warrant a pretty strong recommendation.
1974 08 27 – KCET-TV Studio, Los Angeles, CA (Official Release)
click here to listen (I rearranged the available tracks to make what I think is a more accurate set order)
Frank filmed the two shows performed on this date and edited them together as a movie titled A Token Of His Extreme. This was re-released in the 21st century along with a soundtrack album. Fantastic takes of many of this tour’s regular tunes, and a few that would come to be regular over the rest of the year. Dog/Meat, Inca Roads, Montana (with Duke Improv), Oh No/Son Of Orange County and More Trouble Every Day all show up in excellent form. Additionally this is the first known show with full reworked versions of Stink-Foot, Florentine Pogen, and Pygmy Twylyte as well as the debut of new tunes Tush Tush Tush and Room Service. Frank also used some additional footage from these shows for his film The Dub Room Special, unearthing footage of Approximate and Cosmik Debris (Also Joe Travers included an intro performance of Tush Tush Tush on the Dub Room Special soundtrack). Frank used the performances of Inca Roads and Florentine Pogen as backing tracks for the official releases on One Size Fits All. The phrases “Why didn’t you sharpen it then?” and “Mother Mary and Josef” heard on the seminal album are actually, in a way, the secret words from these shows. Very fun, high spirited performances. My only complaint is that the full shows aren’t released.
The Songs Played:
Andy – This fantastic One Size Fits All tune appears one time on this tour, at the final San Carlos show. The main bulk of the tune is there, but it’s Frank so of course there are a few differences. Napoleon sings the first verse in a weird, very staccato way, before eventually transitioning to the more familiar style. George plays a very cool, majestic keyboard riff over the first chunk of the tune, the guitar solo vamp is looser and funkier (unique to this version) and most notably, there’s no mention of the titular Andy Devine. At this point in time the tune was introduced “Is There Anything Good Inside Of You”. Basically any mention of Andy is replaced with other lyrics from the tune. Frank plays a hot solo in the middle of the regular place, and the end of the tune features a scat/guitar battle between Nappy and Frank. These are really cool performances, and I love that there are performances of this tune live from the 74 band, but really every other version of this song (except maybe the 79 takes) are more musically enjoyable than these ones. This tour’s version possibly has a unique guitar solo vamp, different from earlier in the year.
Anything You Wanna Do – This tune appears once on this tour, At the second San Carlos show. It’s a really fun, simple little blues rock jam, probably written by Frank and Napoleon. It emerges from the closing madness in Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing and just like at the Roxy it provides a fantastic end to the night’s main set.
Approximate – This weirdo number returns near the end of the tour. The 1974 versions of this tune were played significantly faster than the Grand Wazoo era takes. Frank lets us know on a previous tour that “the rhythm of what they play is indicated but the pitches are their own choice” which of course leads to some enjoyable madness. George and Frank boogie for a while in the middle and are occasionally interrupted with small “composed” sections of the tune. The fifth and final written chunk of the tune, heard in the 1972 takes, was dropped from this version. After the tune is performed “normally”, Frank has the band sing their parts and then dance the melody of the tune. Ridiculously stupid but wildly entertaining. The LA full-band take only features the composed section, sadly lacking any improv (it was probably just left on the editing room floor). This is one of Frank’s most experimental and “out-there” tunes, and I’m really glad he decided to bring it back in 1974.
Apostrophe – This fantastic instrumental appears a few times on this tour, always to my delight. Nappy plays along on sax with some of the more prominent guitar parts of the tune, sometimes repeating them while Frank solos. Tom plays a cool bass solo and Frank follows it with pure fire. In Chalmette the Hurricane Brass Band comes out and plays on the end of this tune! Always paired with Camarillo Brillo and usually played as a final encore, except in Miami where it emerges from a Dinah-Moe Humm audience participation moment. This is the only tour where this tune is regularly played and it’s a shame because it’s one of Frank’s best.
Camarillo Brillo – This Over-Nite Sensation classic appears frequently on this tour, often as an encore. It’s a nice, funky version of the tune and features some wonderful jamming from George and/or Frank over the closing chords. Frank slightly rearranged the tune in the middle of the year, adding more instrumental bits between verses, including a partial quote of the Dragnet theme after the first “like a shadow from the tomb” line and a partial quote from The Hook after “laid out naked by the door”. A very nice take of one of FZ’s most pleasant tunes.
Caravan – At the final San Carlos show, during the encore a fan requests this tune, complete with a drum solo. Miraculously Frank says they actually will play the tune and they emerge with a fully put together take! It’s led by George and Ruth, lasts about a minute and Nappy and George sing “Yes people that was Caravan!” over the closing line. A totally pleasant surprise, and yet another reason to grab the San Carlos shows.
Cheepnis – This Roxy classic reappears on this tour, finally (mostly) complete. They still skip the “Here comes that poodle dog!” and “Here Fido…” sections, but the “great big hairy thing” section has been added to the tune. Nappy improvises some monster movie lyrics over this part, and it’s just always so much fun. This song was originally written as part of the musical Hunchentoot in 1972 while Frank was recovering from his attack at the Rainbow Theater. Cheepnis was always played as the final song in a medley with Pygmy Twylyte and The Idiot Bastard Son. These are always really energetic performances and Nappy does a fantastic job with the vocals, another highlight of his time with the Mothers. Boogers infected this tune at the end of the “10 years” tour, so now George says something about boogers after the first three “little more cheepnis please” lines instead of laughing. At the first San Carlos show, Frank assumes the audience couldn’t make out the lyrics during the normal performance of this tune, so he goes through the whole song again in a “clear”, slowed-down, simplified version.
Cosmik Debris – This tune appears pretty much as it does on Apostrophe, but with more solos. The regular performance features solos from Nappy (on sax), George and Frank. I personally prefer when Frank gets the only solo spot in this tune, but these are still some nice, funky, bluesy takes.
Dinah-Moe Humm – The (in)famous Over-Nite Sensation tune makes its live debut on this tour. It’s looser and funkier live and Frank includes an audience participation section in the middle where the crowd is commanded to “cum” and all make sex noises. Nappy and/or George sing the Ike-ettes’ parts from the record, and the “I can’t get into it unless I get out of it” section is way, way slower, giving it a totally different vibe. The Miami recording (one of two) emerges out of Dupree’s Paradise/Gloria when Frank starts singing the tune partway through.
Dog/Meat – This amazing medley of The Dog Breath Variations and Uncle Meat is one of the best pieces from this ensemble. It’s beautifully arranged for this unique orchestration, and always comes out fantastic. These performances are instrumental and lack all the studio madness from the album versions, that is until August when Frank has Nappy sing lyric-less vocals over part of Uncle Meat. Frank clearly loved these songs, bringing them back here and 19 years later for his final tour with the Yellow Shark. Almost always played as the final segment in the “Penguin medley” after Penguin in Bondage and T’Mershi Duween.
Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing? – This Roxy classic sounds great on yet another tour. It’s played faster than on Roxy and Elsewhere, and Frank takes a solo in Bruce’s spot. FZ then tells us what Ruth has been thinking in the middle of the tune (“when can I go back to the hotel… and eat some Fritos?”), George plays a wonderful solo like always in the second improv spot, and Chester plays a drum solo at the end. The ending guitar solo on Roxy and Elsewhere was, unfortunately, a one-time only performance. The composed outro was dropped a couple tours ago, and here the tune either cold ends or segues into another tune after the drum solo. On the Fall ’73 tour, Frank would make the band members do some kind of timed act during the breaks of silence in the repeat of the theme, like spinning in a circle or pretending to comb their hair and it’s possible he still had them do that here. Always played after Echidna’s Arf and usually at the end of the Village medley. I love this tune, and like a number of songs on this tour, is a favorite of mine in FZ’s catalog.
Dupree’s Paradise – Another classic of the 1973 and 1974 bands. This tune would become a true monster improv song by the end of this year, and it’s almost there. This is another great tour for this tune. In a regular performance we get a jazzy, funky and/or soulful piano introduction from Mr. George Duke, often with conducted improv and a story from Frank, before George takes us into the beauty that is the theme of Dupree’s Paradise. Following this we get inspired solos from Napoleon (typically on flute), Tom, George again, occasionally Chester and finally Frank over a spacey, jazzy vamp (A different one compared to the 1973 takes). The main tune itself is still in a pretty standard structure, but really anything can happen in George’s intros including frequent booger bear reports, Marty stories, dog stories, Nixon commentary and of course Ruth teasing. Lance Loud of An American Family fame came on stage in St. Petersburg to sing, talk to Frank, Tell his story and sing Nite Owl. In Miami The tune turns into Gloria and Frank solos over that instead. He plays Gloria a bit again during his solo the next night in St. Petersburg. On the final night in San Carlos Frank ends the tune early by playing Echidna’s Arf. Frank, like in most songs on this tour, would cue many hand signals in this song, always leading to a good time. Always played following Montana and connected to it by The Hook. Parts of the introductory keyboard-bass-percussion licks could (and would) be cued by Frank at any time with hand signals. George’s intro, when especially booger-fueled, can sometimes be known as The Booger Man. Overall this is an excellent tour for this monster song, and this tune only gets better as time goes on.
Echidna’s Arf – This song is always welcome to my ears. It’s a little faster than the Roxy take on this tour and it has a cold start with the opening guitar riff, unlike on the album. Not played incredibly often, and two of the four performances (Both in San Carlos) emerge partway through out of improv. This tune never really changed much, but I believe it to be one of Frank’s most timeless and perfect compositions, so I don’t think it ever needed to. Always leads into Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing and frequently preceded by Village of the Sun.
Florentine Pogen – This tune re-appears fully complete in late August and is played like on One Size Fits All. In fact, the OFSA take comes from the LA/Token show. The album version is shortened though; every live performance features a fantastic guitar jam right after the official release fades out. It ends with a cool unique riff, more jamming and finally Ruth blows “Chester’s Gorilla” on the kazoo (duck call?). This is always a fun tune and the long tasty guitar solo really adds to the event.
Gloria – Frank launches into the Van Morrison classic for some reason a few times on this tour. In Miami and at the final San Carlos show the band plays full versions of the tune and Frank goes into it for a little during his Dupree’s solo in St. Petersburg. Nappy doesn’t even attempt to sing anything like the lyrics (I assume he doesn’t know them) and either sings about “Sherry” (in Florida) or “Rashid” (In San Carlos). In the longer two performances Frank ends up telling some Booger Bear reports in the middle of the tune and then jamming for a while after (more so in Miami then San Carlos, Miami is mostly jamming). Overall a very fun surprise alternative to Louie Louie for just this one tour. I wonder what put this tune in Frank’s brain?
Help I’m A Rock – During the weird pseudo-soundcheck intro to the San Diego show, the tape cuts out and then back in on a surprise version of this 60s classic! Frank sings it like he did five years prior, and it quickly turns into a commentary on Nixon’s recent resignation (Help, I’m a crook!). After a few minutes of rightful presidential bashing, Frank bursts into a long, excellent middle eastern-y solo. After a little while Frank hands it over to George for another inspired solo and finally Chester brings us home with a drum solo. Frank decides to bring Tom Waits on stage and takes another hot solo before the tune dwindles off into Ol’ 55. A wonderful rare treat, I wish there was a better version of the San Diego show available because it’s truly an excellent night.
How Could I Be Such A Fool? – A holdover from the last tour, played one time in Little Rock during a shortened take of the oldies medley. This performance is based on the Cruising With Ruben and the Jets version, with Nappy once again performing the vocal duties. I love the slow ramp up in energy throughout the tune.
The Hook – This is a very short section of music culled from the Be-Bop Tango (just 12 notes) and frequently cued by Frank. It’s a regular part of the transition between Montana and Dupree’s Paradise, and a clear favorite of FZ’s. It’s such a dumb, ugly melody and I absolutely love it. It’s arguable that after a certain point Frank considered George’s improv as a part of The Hook and not an intro to Dupree’s, but I’m going to continue including it as such for simplicity’s sake.
The Idiot Bastard Son – This 60s tune is beautifully performed on this tour. Napoleon brings a great flair to the vocals and Ruth’s performance of the melody is always lovely. Always played in a medley between Pygmy Twylyte and Cheepnis. Fans always give a big cheer when this song comes up, which kinda surprises me. Who’d think this tune is a crowd pleaser? At the second San Carlos show, Nappy sings a rewritten version of the tune titled That Arrogant Dick Nixon. This is a total riot, my favorite line having to be “Try and imagine his office recording machine”.
Improvisations/Jams/Blues – This is a solid tour for free improv for the Mothers of Invention. Tom starts off their earliest attempt to “make something up”, which they do in spades for over 20 minutes on the first recording of the tour in St. Louis and there’s some tweaky keyboard-lead improv in Final San Carlos show aptly titled “Special Amplifier-Fixing Music”. Frank has a desire to play the blues late in the tour, and does so in Phoenix and San Diego. He even sings a bit of Road Ladies over the jam in Phoenix. Beyond total free improv, there are fantastic loose jams in Dupree’s Paradise (both the intro and the main tune, with the intro sometimes referred to as “Improvisations” “Duke Improvisations” or “The Booger Man”) and surprisingly in the two performances of Gloria. And just cause I have nowhere else to mention this, Frank offhand plays the San Ber’dino riff and the Eat That Question riff between songs in Miami.
Inca Roads – The tune that may be Frank’s rock magnum opus is nearly fully completed on this tour. Everything is there: George’s fantastic vocals, the iconic intro, the lyrical mutations, the beautifully spacey and free solo vamp and even the “On Ruth!” closing sting. The one small difference is that the solo vamp is played significantly quicker on this tour, but Frank slows it down to the familiar speed by the LA show in late August. Overall though, this tune is played pretty much as on One Size Fits All and every performance is its own masterpiece. A highlight of this tour, this band and Frank’s work in general.
Let’s Make The Water Turn Black – This tune returns from the last tour but with a new arrangement. Played one time in Little Rock; this time around it’s taken a little slower and when Nappy finishes the tune he sings “Ronny, Kenny” a few times and they switch to a new vamp that Frank just destroys with his guitar. Overall a very very cool arrangement of the tune, one that would get shelved early in the tour until getting further reworked early next year for the Bongo Fury line-up. Montana – This classic about a dental floss farmer is in top form on this tour. It’s played pretty much as on Overnite Sensation, with Napoleon and George in place of the Ikettes. Frank’s solos are always hot, delectable and funky. Almost always followed by The Hook and Dupree’s Paradise.
Montana – This classic about a dental floss farmer is in top form on this tour. It’s played pretty much as on Overnite Sensation, with Napoleon and George in place of the Ikettes. Frank’s solos are always hot, delectable and funky. Always followed by The Hook and Dupree’s Paradise.
More Trouble Every Day – Played as on Roxy and Elsewhere, but with fewer horns and more percussion. Typically played in a medley following Oh No/Son of Orange County. A deliciously funky reworking of the timeless Freak Out tune, one of Frank’s best. Each performance contains a wonderful long guitar jam from Frank. After the fade out heard on the album version, Frank would usually jam for a little more and then bring the show to a close.
The Mud Shark – Played due to popular request (like every performance of this tune after 1971) one time in San Diego. Frank of course has to tell the band how to play it and we get a nice, shuffling Mud Shark. Frank tells the classic story, and is clearly very unhappy to do so (“really i don’t understand why anybody would want to hear this piece of shit”), which makes the tune so much funnier. The best part of the whole performance is when FZ describes a fishing pole and cues The Hook! Always gets me to laugh. Frank attempts to use an imitation Mud Shark on Ruth, the crowd cheers and Frank ends the tune. “Let’s go on to something else shall we. Alright we got another song that’s better than that”.
Nite Owl – When Lance Loud from the PBS documentary An American Family shows up in St. Petersburg during the intro to Dupree’s Paradise, he talks for a little and then croons/screams this doo-wop classic with the Mothers accompanying. Pretty faithful performance, and when Frank ends it, Lance yells “Don’t bring me up into the 70s when I’m back in the 50s!”
Oh No – This Weasels classic re-appears as a holdover from the last tour’s oldies medley, and is beautifully sung by Napoleon. They play the main body of the tune and then transition into Son of Orange County, a reworking of the “in your dreams” section and a little bit of The Orange County Lumber Truck. Always nice to hear.Ol’ 55 – In San Diego Frank invites Tom Waits to come on stage and tell a story, and while he does the band transitions into this Tom Waits tune. Unfortunately, the taper clearly does not like Tom Waits because the recording cuts as soon as he comes on stage. Fortunately, they do the same thing four months later in Boston and you can hear it on that fantastic recording.
Penguin In Bondage – This classic Roxy tune has finally reached a state of completion at the end of 1973, and we get what appears on the album, but with a small exception. The Roxy and Elsewhere version is edited and is missing the minute long instrumental takes of the “little penguin, dirty little bird” section heard before the solo on the releases of this song from the 84 and 88 tours. This section was played with the tune on every known live performance, and I assume it was removed from the Roxy and Elsewhere version to make the transition between two sources sound better. I think it adds to the song, and I’m glad Frank kept it for future performances. This tune always features a hot and tasty solo from Frank, and is almost always played at the beginning of a medley with T’Mershi Duween and Dog/Meat.
Pygmy Twylyte (incl. Dummy Up) – This wonderful little Roxy and Elsewhere tune is always excellent and this tour is no exception. In every performance until August Nappy would sing some improvised anti-drug lyrics between the written verses in a segment known as Dummy Up. Pygmy Twylyte (with Dummy Up) was always played (again, until August) as the start of a medley featuring The Idiot Bastard Son and Cheepnis. The Dummy Up section always features music later used as part of the intro to the song/skit Room Service. Starting in August Frank dropped Dummy Up in favor of a very reworked version of the tune, named Room Service. Frank also totally rearranged Pygmy Twylyte, drastically slowing it down, adding new segments for Nappy to improv over and giving it a long, majestic guitar solo and new ending. They play half of the new version (pre-solo) in the weird soundcheck/intro in San Diego, and the whole thing in LA. This is a really fun tune, no matter the version, and a highlight of Nappy’s tenure in the Mothers.
RDNZL – “The notes go by so fast that Ruth’s wrists catch fire”. This tune, after about 18 months, is very very nearly complete. Everything is there including for the first time Ruth’s fantastic solo, but unlike on Studio Tan, Ruth plays it at a tempo matching the beginning composed section, meaning it’s way, way faster (there’s also no keyboard breaks between the marimba lines). Frank and George each play an amazing solo, like on the album, and the section before George’s has him and Nappy singing! They both sing “We can share a love” a few times over the pseudo-doowop riff. The tune always ends with a musical quote from Dupree’s Paradise. Oddly enough, in Chalmette Ruth isn’t ready for her big moment or something so Frank tells the audience to imagine she’s playing a “fantastic solo”. These takes are absolutely insane, and it’s a travesty there isn’t an official release of one.
Room Service – This tune emerges in August, first appearing in LA, and is kind of like the evolution of Dummy Up. It’s always preceded by the slowed-down, reworked Pygmy Twylyte and features a lot of the same musical cues as Dummy Up. Nappy improvises some lyrics based on Pygmy Twylyte, there’s some unique music and then Frank and him improvise a comedy skit about Room Service at a hotel. Frank plays himself and Nappy plays a chef sending orders to Frank. Frank gives an order and Nappy chants the name of the waiter who will send him his food. First order never gets there and Nappy chants another, better waiter’s name. The name of the waiters was frequently a band or crew member and changed from night to night. Always fun and a regular item of the next two tours.
Son of Orange County – This reworking of The Orange County Lumber Truck and the end of Oh No returns as a remnant of the last tour’s oldies medley. It sounds just as it does on Roxy and Elsewhere except with fewer horns and more percussion. Each take contains a fantastic guitar solo, and often some Nixon references. This is another one of Frank’s all time best rearrangements, wonderfully sung by George and Nappy. Always played after Oh No and before More Trouble Every Day. The line “I just can’t believe you are such a fool” frequently mutated to the show’s theme, some favorites being “I just can’t believe Ralphie stuffs his shoes” and “I just can’t believe Marty pumps a dog.”
Stink-Foot – “We have never, never before played Stink-Foot for a live audience” Frank basically builds the live arrangement on stage in the moment at the second San Carlos show. The Mothers performs the entire studio version (over a similar sounding but completely different riff) and includes a fitting extra speech about imaginary diseases and a long booger bear report featuring Marty and the dog. Frank makes a cool reference to conceptual continuity and booger bear reports after a sick guitar solo and the event ends with a repeating “The crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe” and a smooth transition into Cosmik Debris. At the final San Carlos show Frank repeats the extravaganza with a longer imaginary disease rap, no Marty stories or post-guitar solo section and has an overall more structured feel. Both performances are really fantastic both musically and historically. By the time of the third known performance in LA in late August, Frank had refined the tune to its regular live arrangement (more or less) for the next three-ish years. This version is the studio portion of the tune up to the guitar solo, over the new riff from San Carlos. This arrangement is chiefly used as a show opener and Frank would introduce the band and/or the next song over the end of Stink-Foot. FZ would also frequently change the location at the end of the first verse (“right around the corner”) from night to night, for example the LA version became “over by Tom Wait’s restaurant.” All these performances are fantastic and it’s really cool to see the tune develop live on the road.
T’Mershi Duween – This fantastic “bongo number” is in top form on this tour. The Mothers execute the tune perfectly and the percussion is absolutely mesmerizing. It’s just a short little weirdo melody, but it’s one of my favorite pieces from this period in Frank’s career. Pretty much always played between Penguin in Bondage and Dog/Meat.
Tush Tush Tush (A Token Of My Extreme) – First appearing at the Token of His Extreme show in LA, this Joe’s Garage tune was used as the opening and closing tunes each night for the rest of the year. During the opening performances, George and Nappy would talk to each other about recent events on the road and sing “tush tush tush” between the instrumental verses. The closing performances typically were more instrumental and featured Frank ending the show. The LA intro features a spoken introduction of Frank by Napoleon that was dropped from all future performances of the tune.
Village Of The Sun – This tune is now nearly unrecognizable compared to the Roxy performance. It’s way way faster, has a unique chugging intro, a bunch of quotes from Approximate, lyrical mutations (the second “even Johnny Franklin too”’ becomes “In your thermal underwear”), Nappy gets a little sax solo in the middle of the song and there’s a different, hyper ending where they usually say “what’s you gon do… Brian-poo”, a reference to soundman Brian Krokus. It’s a very different experience from the 1973 versions and portrays a totally different emotion. I probably wouldn’t say this is my favorite version of this tune, but it’s still highly enjoyable and fills a different niche. Either played following RDNZL or played as the first part of a medley with Echidna’s Arf and Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing?
Willie the Pimp – “I have never sung Willie The Pimp before in my life”. Well Frank decides to give it a try in St. Petersburg and we get a unique and rockin’ Willie. FZ does a fine job with the lyrics and proceeds to whip us into a frenzy with his guitar. After a few minutes he starts to play the San Ber’dino riff and from that point on they’re kinda playing a mix of the two tunes. They segue into a drum solo and then Frank ends the concert. A really cool, rare Willie experience.
Wowie Zowie (incl. I Don’t Even Care) – Basically played as on Freak Out, but much quicker, until the last verse where they musically crash and slow way down to a cocktail kinda vibe. The last line (right before Sherry on the album) is stretched out to “I don’t even care if your dad’s the heat, I don’t even care if your dad’s the hurt, I don’t even care if your dad’s the shirt”. Also they throw in a few “Yo Mama”s between the two “dream” verses. This version is special though because right when they would normally switch to the regular Sherry ending to the tune they begin a proto-version of I Don’t Even Care, 10 years before it would get a proper release! It’s about 45 seconds of them singing the title, and then a second unique verse ending the tune with a back and forth dialog from George and Nappy. Not too musically intense but still really cool!
Dupree’s Paradise Solo Table:
Life On The Road 