Zappa 71 Complete Fillmore Shows Coming

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by rockin_since_58, Jan 13, 2022.

  1. Andy Wye

    Andy Wye Forum Resident

    Yep in those days in England it was really hard to get to hear any FZ.......I regularly would go up to Mr Branson's brand new Emporium above the shoe Boutique in Oxford Street London and peer through the
    Imports section gazing at the incredible covers on the Zappa/Mothers sealed imports........and when I got to hear them it was a life changing event musically..............
     
  2. pulpo

    pulpo Forum Resident

    Location:
    South America
    I spent some time (too much time probably) trying to do this for every show using Audacity and Musicbee. Here's my best attempt at it setting the start/end times for seamless transition between discs:
    June 5, Show 2: Willie the Pimp ends at 3:34.513 , Do You Like My New Car? starts at 0:00.120
    June 6, Show 1: Mom & Dad ends at 3:51.141 , The Story of Billy the Mountain starts at 0:05.778
    June 6, Show 2: Shove It Right In ends at 6:40.910 , The Story of Billy the Mountain starts at 0:02.952
    Hybrid Concert: Harrisburg/Scranton: Tiny Sick Tears ends at 1:07.405 , Call Any Vegetable starts at 0:03.927
    Rainbow Theatre: Tears Began to Fall ends at 2:33.682 , Shove It Right In starts at 0:02.756

    It's not perfect but I'm quite happy with how it turned out.
     
  3. jay.dee

    jay.dee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    I have finished listening to the whole set and it's a damn fine addition to Frank's live canon, multiplying the wealth officially uncovered by Carnegie Hall '71 released a decade earlier. For me the Carnegie Hall set was a real eye-opener, which showed the actual strength and potential of this lineup and material.

    Given the size and scope of this boxset there are inevitable weak spots, in particular during both early Fillmore shows which begin tentatively and one has to wait for the main course, "Billy the Mountain" and "King Kong" / "Chunga Revenge" to hear the band shift up a gear (partially missing multitrack tapes do not help either). June 5 is arguably the strongest of the two late shows, but the John&Yoko encore from the following night is not to be missed either. I expected to be able to listen to Yoko's howls (and Flo & Eddie's responses) in all their uninhibited glory, but here they are pushed to the background until the closing "Small Eternity". Well, at least they are audible.

    As great as the Complete Fillmore Concerts are, "hybrid" Harrisburg/Scranton and Rainbow show steal the show. Technically inferior in sound quality they make up in the zeal&zest department, especially at the Rainbow where the band deliver a slightly revamped set-list with an incredible punch. Wow!

    One might have contemplated dropping repeated initial songs from the Fillmore shows, but in the result that would have made the box a disc shorter, so it made no sense. All in all, another terrific release in the vault live series.

    IMO "Billy the Mountain" is one of the best oratorio-type epics in the prog-rock canon. I cannot hear any "antics", just carefully scripted avant-garde theatre-leaning vocal sections and true mosaic of music forms underpinning them, whose only fault are "silly" lyrics. I am sure if they were sung in Italian or Kobaïan nobody would bat an eyelid. :)

    I have no problem with these words, perhaps because English is not my native language and I can easily detach myself from any meaning of English songs, so for me "Billy the Mountain" easily rivals the best Magma epics and its five renditions are the highlights of the whole set.

    The hybrid version is a standout for me, heavy on free reeds blowing. At times I have an impression there are two winds in action (alto saxophones?), but there is only one woodwind instrumentalist (Ian Underwood) in the lineup. Is it some sort of synth imitation or was there another band member capable of blowing reeds?
     
  4. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    Pretty sure only Underwood although Volman and Kaylan mentioned that in their audition for Zappa they did some awful sax playing (you can hear them do it a bit in the Road Tapes from Minneapolis 1970).
     
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  5. ATR

    ATR Senior Member

    Location:
    Baystate
    The Fillmore East was a great hall to see and hear music and to record it. I was there the night John Lennon and Yoko Ono joined in the encores. This edition of the Mothers doesn’t get a lot of spins from me anymore but I enjoy the memories and like to see other people digging it too. I’ll see if this set is streaming somewhere.
     
  6. Psychedelic Good Trip

    Psychedelic Good Trip Beautiful Psychedelic Colors Everywhere

    Location:
    New York
    Frank Zappa & The Mothers – The Mothers 1971 (50th Anniversary Edition) (Full Album)
     
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  7. ATR

    ATR Senior Member

    Location:
    Baystate
    Psychedelic Good Trip likes this.
  8. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    Universal has made nearly all Zappa releases available on all streaming sites I know.
     
  9. mcchocchoc

    mcchocchoc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oregon
    After listening to the 76 and the Edinboro show (yet again) earlier today, I'm spending the evening with this set. This has been in current rotation since the day of release. So many amazing releases over the past ten years. What a great time it is and has been (and hopefully will be) to be a Zappa fan. I could never pick a favorite. I really love all of it. Joe (and all involved) have done a stellar job with every release. Cheers to all. I hope the next ten years and beyond are even better.
     
  10. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    So, have the FZ edits/mixes from the LP's wound up on YouTube yet?
     
  11. MrBitey

    MrBitey Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kindom
    The King Kong Solos and Billy The Mountain have... Search for The Pleated Gazelle...
     
    vince likes this.
  12. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    will do
     
  13. mr.steelydan

    mr.steelydan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vienna, Austria
    I, too, as a CD-only-listener was looking forward to hear FZ's version of Billy the Mountain. Thanks to the uploader! I used it as a template to create my own digital version of the the two performances from 5th early and 6th late.
    Is the Pleated Gazelle version representative for the audio quality - especially the 2nd half ? Given that many people on this forum prefer vinyl over CDs I just began to wonder what the vinyl worship is all about ... (I am aware that studio and live recordings are two different beasts, and apparently the FZ master was in bad condition?).

    Anyway, a different thought - I find the following interesting: Originally FZ had the intention to release this combined version (5th early + 6th late + overdubs) and then shifted to the LA version. But when Playground Psychotics came out, he did not use the already existing combination prepared in 1971 but made a new combo of 5th early + 6th early -- omitting the overdubs and that mouth dropping guitar solo from 5th early.

    Actually, all four Studebacker Hoch versions, in their full unedited incarnations, are fantastic and for me the true jewels on this set and reason for buying in the first place. And it baffles me that for 21 years fans were denied any full version.
     
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  14. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    FZ got terribly harsh about his old solos in his last years. He also omitted his solo from "RDNZL" on Lost Episodes (the Ponty-era studio version), and a few cuts from the YCDTOSA series.
     
  15. pulpo

    pulpo Forum Resident

    Location:
    South America
    I've had this release in heavy rotation for a couple months now and I still can't get over how bloody good it is. One of the best live releases of all time in my opinion, more archival releases need to follow this format.

    Also the 16-track Hybrid Concert is legitimately a 5/5 live album in itself, at least for me. Great tracklist, no tracks overstay their welcome, and it's got my favorite BtM solo on it. A shame it doesn't have a full ending but the solo more than makes up for it.
     
  16. mr.steelydan

    mr.steelydan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vienna, Austria
    Lucky for you. Unfortunately, the sound quality of the hybrid concert makes it unlistenable to me.
     
  17. folkfreak

    folkfreak The cold blooded penguin

    Location:
    Germany
    I think the hybrid concert sounds very good.... At least far from unlistenable to me.
     
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  18. Steve Lawrence

    Steve Lawrence Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    And what a great version it was….
     
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  19. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    I got the 3 LP set recently. So far one of the highlights is Aynsley's solo in "King Kong" (even if it goes a bit long - at one point it sounds like he tries to end the solo but FZ and the others aren't ready).
     
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  20. DownInAHole

    DownInAHole Forum Resident

    Very far from "unlistenable!" It isn't perfect but I am always extremely happy to have more live music from Frank!
     
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  21. mr.steelydan

    mr.steelydan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vienna, Austria
    I am not complaining about the inclusion of the hybrid concert. However, the sound quality at certain locations really hurts me (over headphones especially when Flo & Eddie scream; e.g. Billy @ 20:35 - 20:45), that I am not willing to listen to it again.

    If it were a bootleg, maybe I would be happy about this disc. (It reminds me a bit on Saarbrücken 78, which I loved when it came out in 1991. Because back then certain versions (Keep it Greasy, Village, Conehead, Magic Fingers) were only accessible via that release. In the meantime, thanks to Zappatears and the official Chicago release better sounding material is available.)

    Anyway, in the meantime there is so many (official) stuff available, that time is too valuable for me to waste it on quality like this, when there are other great sounding releases that I have not heard a 2nd time (e.g. Roxy performances or Halloween 77).
     
  22. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    The hybrid concert is 4-track, not 16-track. They are the first concerts FZ ever recorded on 4-track. It's a mono soundboard feed supplemented with a stereo stage mic pair. The Harrisburg show is also legendary in FZ folklore because of the flaming hoop event, and nobody knew that it had even been recorded until the box was announced. So it is a most welcome addition to the box.
     
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  23. mcchocchoc

    mcchocchoc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oregon
  24. englishbob

    englishbob has left the SH Forums...19/05/2023

    Location:
    Kent, England
    I've never actually owned the original Mothers Fillmore East - June 1971 album - assume that I can cannibalise a version of it from this boxset?
     
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  25. PIGGIES

    PIGGIES Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    You can, but it’ll be a lot more stress free & less effort to order this :cool:
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fillmore-East-June-Frank-Zappa/dp/B008BYDAA4/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?crid=2YPV0QKWFDT27&keywords=frank+zappa+fillmore+east&qid=1666780610&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjc3IiwicXNhIjoiMC43MiIsInFzcCI6IjEuMDAifQ==&sprefix=zappa+fill,aps,70&sr=8-2
     

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