Zappa 'You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore' Series: Opinions & Favourites

I don't have any of these but will be picking up Vol. 4 & Vol. 6 before any of the others as they feature stuff from the 1988 tour, which I love.
Which ones do you have and enjoy listening to?

 

Vol.2 - Compiled from the Helsinki shows from 1974 with the band that included George Duke and Chester Thompson.

I have all of them but enjoy Vol.2 the most.

 

1 is kind of his greatest hits, but versions chosen that are very different arrangements from the better-known recordings. possibly intentionally designed to appeal to both newbies and die-hard fans; at the time it came out most of his back catalog had been OOP for years.
2 is unbearably brilliant. it's an altar upon which one should worship.
3 is the worst of the bunch - primarily stadium rock.
4 offers the most variety. lots of great instrumental avant-garde jazz pieces, but nearly all just short excerpts. that's frustrating.
5 is schizophrenic; disc one is the early Mothers stuff, but light on serious music and heavy on comedy (as FZ sees it) - disc two is the best of the early 80s (his most under-appreciated band). it's not hard to see that what he wanted was to show people that his new stuff was "better" than his old stuff.
6 is anti-climatic. there's some fun stuff there, but it's buried amongst a lot of fairly standard rock and "let's have fun with the audience" stuff that gets tiresome quickly.

 

Great summary, 93curr, thanks.

Now I want VOL.2!

 

Highly recommend Vol 1 & 2. Really enjoy those and the Helsinki show is brilliant. Some fine guitar solos from Frank throughout that album.

 

I think every volume features at least one brilliant moment, for musical, comic or historical reasons. My absolute favorite ones, in order of appearance:

Vol.1:

• "Sofa #1"
• "Babbette"
• "Big Swifty"
• "Be in My Video"
• "Heavenly Bank Account"

Vol. 2:

• "Inca Roads"
• "RDNZL"
• "Room Service"
• "Approximate"
• "Dupree's Paradise"
• "Satumaa"
• "Montana (Whipping Floss)"

Vol.3:

• "Bobby Brown Goes Down"
• "Keep It Greasy"
• "Carol, You Fool"
• "Dickie's Such An ***hole"
• "Nig Biz"
• "King Kong"

Vol.4:

• "Brown Moses"
• "The Evil Prince"
• "Pound for a Brown (Solos, 1978)"
• "Florentine Pogen"

Vol.5:

• "The Downtown Talent Scout"
• "Charles Ives"
• "Here Lies Love"
• "Mozart Ballet"
• "Run Home Slow"
• "The Little March"
• "Underground Freak-Out Music"
• "Shall We Take Ourselves Seriously?"
• "What's New In Baltimore"
• "Moggio"
• "City of Tiny Lites"

Vol.6:

• "The M.O.I Anti-Smut Loyalty Oath"
• "Wind Up Workin' in a Gas Station"
• "Thirteen"
• "We're Turning Again"
• "Alien Orifice"
• "Lonesome Cowboy Nando"
• "200 Motels Finale"
• "Strictly Genteel"

 

Same here. Vol. 1 is really impressive. Well I'm largely taken over by the posthumous catalogue, so I ignore if the "impressiveness" I find in Vol. 1 (as well as in other, dispersed parts of the collection) is still relevant today or not, given the possible availability of as-good or better material in other more recently released live sets.

 

I know it's cliche to say they're all good, but hey...if just for conceptional continuity alone.

 

Almost never listen to any but 2 end to end. But they all provide essential ingredients for the home made FZ compilations that are my favorite ways to consume his material.

Glad to have the set in the road case

 

93curr sums them up brilliantly. It's Vol 2 for me every time.

 

It's a great window in the World of Frank. Almost all of the different eras and bands are represented. Find the ones you like and dig further.

 

All of them are essential, IMO, but 93curr summed it up the best.

One of the great things about the YCDTOSA series is that all the versions (original Ryko, original Zappa Records, 1995 Ryko, and 2012 Zappa/UMe) are the same. You don't have to go seek out a specific pressing. The sound is the same. They all have the same inserts (with minor variations). The older pressings are in fatboy cases (instead of slimlines) and the graphics on the CDs are different, but that's it. Mix and match as you choose.

On Vol. 2 Helsinki, a number of the Roxy songs are played faster, if you can believe that. "Approximate" is the definitive CD version given that the KCET performance was not included on The Dub Room Special soundtrack (but is on the DVD).

Vol. 3 is, in fact, the lesser of the bunch given that it is heavy on the 1984 band, but there are still fantastic moments. It seems odd that the definitive "Dickie's Such An ***hole" from the Roxy is on this, but it is and you need it.

On Vol. 5, there is one studio track. "My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama" is actually an shorter edit of the single version.

 

It's been a while since I listened to it, BUT...
I think the "Sampler" has a different "Dickie's..." on it!

 

I sure he was quite sick, by the time #5&6 were being prepared for release....
Perhaps, his imminant situation might've prevented these from being more cohesive......maybe.

 

As far as we know Frank did not sequence and produce any more of this, did he? In a way I prefer them to the whole show recordings, just because he had more of a hand in selecting songs and performances.

 

Wait.... you don't include "Dumb All Over"??
It's the definitive version of it... to me!

 

Yes, it's great, but it annoys me a bit that Frank decided to cut off his solo (something he would do quite often back then!).

 

I don't have "The Torture Never Stops" DVD...is it all on there?

 

Yes, it is! Great video release

 

I was going to avoid mentioning the non-CD releases, but since you brought it up.

You are correct. The version of "Dickie's Such An ***hole" is a remix on the Sampler. In addition, "Cosmik Debris" has a different ending. "You Call That Music?", "Nanook Rubs It", and "King Kong" are shorter edits of what is already on the CDs. "King Kong" takes two sections and edits them together.

Sampler was only released on LP and cassette, despite rumors to the contrary. (It has the same color scheme as Vol. 1 and was released at roughly the same time.)

The only other vinyl release in this series was the 3-LP box for Vol. 2. They had to break up "Dupree's Paradise" to fit it onto the LP sides, but the album is complete, to the best of my knowledge.

Cassettes were released for Vols. 2 and 4, but they have no unique material. Nobody needs to own them.

 

I KNEW I kept that 'Sampler' LP for a reason!

 

Not under this title (The liner notes promised a videocassette serious to match, but that became real) but there's no good reason not to consider 'Playground Psychotics' to be the seventh volume.

 

Generally the entire series is very good, but - as often with FZ-compiled live discs - there's a little too many spoken word segments, especially towards the end of the series. That's why I like FZ releases with complete shows more: better music-to-talking ratio.

 

Vol. 2 is like air and water; Vol. 1 is like dessert. The rest are of no interest to me.

 

Partly different.