Digging into this box now and had the same exact thought about the first Billy the Mountain. Looks like it’s not gonna get better//more instrumental on repeat performances.
The four Billys from the Fillmore are similar to each other. It may be that they were thinking of getting a good version for the album. Later in 1971 there was more stretching out on the piece, but I am not sure they have good tapes of those shows in the vault.
For kicks ... I just got this, well DL'ing it now ... Anyone ever try to create a best of alternate set to the single lp Fillmore East - June 1971? For example, one version of King Kong, one version of Billy the Mountain, Chungas Revenge, etc?
I think I figured out something dastardly too. The 3lp 50th Anniversary set, has a Billy the Mountain that's a combination of the early June 5th show, and the late June 6th show. Ugh. Billy The Mountain
Billy the Mountain was mentioned ... I have to say, that's one reason why JABFLA is one of my favorite FZ records. (And heck, side 2 is just killer hard rock.) *Before* I got the Mothers 1971 box (and Carnegie Hall) ... I was thinking to myself, naagh, one Billy the Mountain is enough. But now? I can never get tired of listening to it, any and all the different versions, and the differences between them. I even found this version poking around ... I had always thought it was spelled Studebaker Hawk. And the Aunt Jemima syrup, that always kills me ... I'm a half decent Grateful Dead fan, but it was this experience with Billy and the Fillmore box to finally understand the love for all the different versions of ... Dark Star ...
You mean you don't have this? For lyrics, back in the day, there were: and: These days, you go here: IINK
I aways loved that image of Frank yawning in his wheel chair like on Chunga's Revenge cover in reverse here?, and not shouting
I did, but it isn't possible because the alternate parts of the Groupie Routine and Billy The Mountain (and others too) are noticeably inferior to what Zappa chose for the albums. It isn't as though he did a brilliant job picking sections because it was fairly obvious which sections needed to be used. Also, I believe the band members became sick throughout the run, and this is obvious in Billy The Mountain where some of the vocals become noticeably more wretched as the run progresses (the "Jerry Lewis" part is most telling). Listen to Mark Volman's lousy vocals in "Status Back Baby" on Playground Psychotics. He sang it better in the earlier show, but it generally wasn't as good a version. Another issue with creating a "redux" is that the fourth show has mono drums, to make room for John Lennon (why couldn't they just re-assign tracks during the encore break, damnit?). Frank compensated for this by dumbing down the drum mix on the original release, but Joe Travers took full advantage of the stereo spread on the box set (to his credit). So if you're editing from the fourth show to another show, it doesn't work. I wound up making a mix that largely replicated what Zappa had used but took liberties such as re-instating his guitar solo in Billy The Mountain, and I omitted the Groupie Routine entirely because of both reasons I mentioned above. Also made a tight edit of the John & Yoko encore that only includes Well -> Say Please and then morphs into the "good night boys and girls" bit and omits Yoko's free-form at the end (nothing against Yoko at all, the encore is mostly just a slog to listen to in full on everybody's part). Great release though. The Harrisburg/Scranton concert is a joy, the highlight of the set for me. But I could do without the cheesy Eddie Kramer mix of London with the odd editing mistakes (something he is currently known for).
An issue of the Norwegian Zappa fanzine Society Pages (Society Pages (Norway) ) which focused on the lyrics to Billy The Mountain and contains drawings of the various scenes described in the song. The US version of Society Pages, which came later, followed their layout somewhat. My copy of the Billy issue is in a box in the garage somewhere, otherwise I'd give you more details -- it's been a while since I last looked at it. Like many, I assume, I paid for issues of the US version that were never produced!
What do you mean with "wheel chair"? (Chunga was released 14 months before the Rainbow incident.) Or are you referring to somthing else?
It's so interesting how Flo and Eddie are so polarizing! Personally, I think "Billy The Mountain" is one of Zappa's most brilliant pieces. There are so many wonderful melodies in it; the story is great; and Howard is in top form here. He was one of Frank's best singers ever with that range. I've always wanted to hear different versions of it played on that tour from different cities. And see how they'd change it around. I certainly got my wish on this box set- not to mention the entire Fillmore show. I understand that a lot of their "schtick" doesn't wear well nowadays. But a lot of Zappa's lyrics don't wear well nowadays. I don't really think about it. To me it's just something to sing over the melodies a lot of the time.......
In this picture taken from Twitter, you can see Frank with the same clothing as on Chunga's cover... And it is easy to see that he could be yawning on, and not screaming his lungs out
I mixed up pictures of clothing, the clothes are from Waka/Jawaka but i think the same of the cover of Chunga's that he is yawning
