I am with you on the Wazoo box, there are many concerts outhere from the "Petite Wazoo' lineup , I have this one from 1979 "Brest, France, March 19th 1979", IIRC it is pretty good.
Judging from the available tapes, the Bob Harris lineup seems to have had a small songlist without some of the 1970 staples. If they had played a second show at the Rainbow they might have played it, but..oh well.
They've covered 73 pretty well but early 74 when Jeff Simmons and (in the spring) Walt Fowler and Don Preston were there would be interesting.
Songs played at the Just Another Band from L.A. show (Pauley Pavilion, UCLA, Aug 7, 1971) not played at the Fillmore East: Call Any Vegetable Eddie, Are You Kidding? Magdalena Dog Breath The Divan Suite Lonesome Cowboy Burt 200 Motels Finale
There were a few versions of "Lonesome Cowboy Burt" in 1970 with Flo and Eddie on vocals. After that FZ wisely took the song off that group's live setlist except at the Pauley Pavilion where Jimmy Carl Black was available to sing it. "Eddie," "Magdalena" and "Divan" were apparently composed after the Fillmore 1971 run.
Really enjoying this release! Looks like the following question hasn't been asked yet, and Google is not giving me an answer either: what was actually happening on stage during the Sanzini Brothers routine? There's some stuff to speculate on over here, but maybe someone here at SH actually remembers?
One feeling that this set - with it's five Billy The Mountains - reinforced for me is that although I love most of the final third of that epic piece (from about 'Studebacher Hoch' onward), the first two-thirds have some of the most irritating Flo & Eddie antics of their tenure with the Mothers. It's like they were trying to be as annoying as possible. And all the little motifs such as the Tonight Show theme snippet over and over again just get old fast for me. I much prefer the Mud Shark/groupie sequence, which features some of that stuff too, but it isn't dialed up to eleven like on Billy The Mountain. I definitely warmed to parts of it via this set, but I don't think it's ever going to move up the ranks for me personally. I love long pieces, but not long annoying pieces. However, my appreciation for this general period has increased dramatically because of this box.
I don't understand this response on two levels: a) How vile, gross, weird, inappropriate, aged badly, etc. the routine might be, fact is that it was a part of the show. They did it on stage (multiple times, too). To me that makes it historically interesting to know what it was they exactly did up there. From the audio we can tell a certain excitement was there. b) We're in a Zappa thread! It's not like all Zappa's other stuff is clean and family friendly.
After thoroughly enjoying the cd box and the Fillmore 3 lp set many times since last Friday I picked up the The Sanzini Brothers. (6:24 in . . )
Fantastic footage at any rate (notice how Frank tells the audience they got the money for 200 Motels right after the Sanzini Brothers act), but what is shown here is the Pyramid Trick, not the Sodomy Trick that is included on Mothers 1971, which seems to be a different beast.
They seem to be going in chronological order but I'd really, really love a full Bongo Fury show(s). Zappa and Beefheart were a great team even if they're weren't getting along.
Thanks Joe! After listening to this several times I must say this is one of the best sets I have ever heard. This band was smoking hot. This is perfect. Eight discs that show that the Flo and Eddie period was really special. I can’t wait for what else you might have uncovered. For a needle drop even the single Tears Began To Fall/ The Junier Mintz Boogie both sound great too. If you have the 12 record set on vinyl from the late 60’s please consider a needle drop on that also.
After having had the misfortune to hear Yoko Ono's art for the first time I have to say the songtitle "A small eternity with Yoko Ono" is far too generous.
I don't think I ever could have predicted that the 5 versions of "Billy the Mountain" would be the highlight of this box for me. I've always been more a fan of the "Groupie Routine" but "Billy" is where it's at these days. Flo and Eddie are just hilarious...and there's something about Jim Pons' bass voice that makes me crack up. And then there are the Studebaker Hoch jams...
The band was really filing on all cylinders by the Rainbow Theater show. That King Kong is on fire. I wonder how much longer Zappa would have kept this core together if it wasn't for his accident.
I wanted to gather my thoughts about both the complete digital set and the 3LP Fillmore set all together, but can't resist making a few comments even as there's still things here I haven't heard yet. "Zanti Serenade". My goodness. I love it. I know that a) part of this (only a small part I think) was on Playground Psychotics, but I'm not too familiar with that, and I also know that b) this is to some extent just the band sound-checking their new equipment at the start of the Rainbow show. But wow. I could have taken a disc's worth of that stuff. I'm afraid for me it's still "the less Flo & Eddie the better", so instrumental stuff like this is really worth the price of admission. I feel like this set has allowed me to really hear how incredible this band was when it got to really do its thing. Aynsley Dunbar in particular, I have a whole new appreciation for what he did in this band, thanks to the sound of the shows here. I think the Rainbow show is just really strong. That "Zanti Serenade" sure makes an ominous/portentous intro for it, considering how historic the show would end up becoming. I think the Rainbow set really benefits from the lack of the Groupie Routine and Billy The Mountain. The "Sofa" stuff is great, even though I'm familiar with it from YCDTOSA Vol. 1, it's great to hear in context. The whole "Pound for a Brown" section is also killer. Again, I like Flo & Eddie, I feel they have strong voices and interesting personalities, but their overly shrill (and/or stridently over-the-top) vocal approach at times has detracted from this FZ era for me. But hearing this set, new appreciation for the band itself - F&E aside, I now feel this band was as good as any other he had, though of course I have my other preferences. The instrumental work is great here, and it's easy for me to hear on the Rainbow show in particular that the band and music are evolving in certain places in the direction of the truly musical bands he would generally have throughout the seventies.
