Today, we hit the halfway point of our year-long examination of
\nFrank Zappa’s monumental collection
\nYou Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore<\/i>, the ultimate live set \/
\nbest-of \/ box set that encompasses almost every aspect of Zappa’s
\ncareer.<\/p>\n
\nYou Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Volume 3<\/i> (future
\nreferences:
\nYCDTOSA3<\/i>) spends a good portion of time examining the 1984
\nedition of Zappa’s band, and it also is one of the loosest of the
\ncollections, featuring moments that could never have been scripted
\ninto live shows. From the outbreaks of spontaneous laughter to the
\nshock of hearing tear gas grenades being fired into audiences, this
\nparticular volume covers almost the whole range of things that can
\nhappen onstage.<\/p>\n
Disc one of
\nYCDTOSA3<\/i> exclusively features the 1984 band, including the
\nfirst time Zappa appeared onstage with his son Dweezil
\n(“Sharleena”). The song selection of this disc includes many
\nnumbers that even occasional fans will recognize, such as “Bobby
\nBrown Goes Down,” “Keep It Greasey” and “Joe’s Garage”.<\/p>\n
It is during “Bobby Brown Goes Down” that the uncontrollable
\nlaughter starts. Apparently triggered by Ray White’s goading of
\nZappa with “Heigh-O Silver,” I don’t think there was a single band
\nmember left by the end of “Keep It Greasey” that hadn’t been able
\nto keep singing because they were laughing so hard. And let’s face
\nit, only Zappa would put such a scene on disc, showing that even
\nthe musicians were human, and weren’t immune from the “giggles”.
\nIt’s a wonderful selection.<\/p>\n
Of the songs on the first disc of
\nYCDTOSA3<\/i>, cuts like “Advance Romance,” “In France” and
\n“Drowning Witch” prove themselves to be songs that are worth future
\nexamination from those who are just becoming indoctrinated to
\nZappa. The only “mistake” on this particular disc is the inclusion
\nof “Chana In De Bushwop,” a song I just can’t stand, no matter how
\nmany chances I give it.<\/p>\n
Disc two still pulls some material from the 1984 band (“Cosmik
\nDebris” is the end of the “laughter” songs, this time including
\nLenny Bruce references to the
\nThank You, Masked Man<\/i> routine), but dares to dip back into
\nthe infamous 1971 show where Zappa was pushed off the stage during
\n“King Kong” and nearly killed. (Zappa says in the liner notes that
\nhad the tape not run out prior to the incident, he would have
\nincluded it in this volume.)<\/p>\n
Many of the songs on this portion of
\nYCDTOSA3<\/i> prove themselves to be worthy of more
\ninvestigation. “Charlie’s Enormous Mouth” makes me want to go back
\nto the circa 1981 edition of Zappa to re-discover these tracks,
\nwhile older numbers like “Dickie’s Such An Asshole” and “Zoot
\nAllures” show me why they’ve become modern classics.<\/p>\n
A scary moment in the set comes in the middle of “Cocaine
\nDecisions,” where Zappa edits to the start of a riot that happened
\nin Palermo during a 1982 concert. You can hear the tear gas
\ngrenades being launched, and Zappa pleading with the crowd to
\nsettle down so they could finish the show. (Apparently the band
\nstarted to be overcome by the tear gas as well, as Zappa states in
\nthe liner notes.) If you’re not paying attention, the crack of the
\ngrenades being fired will send a jolt through you.<\/p>\n
Worthy of note on this volume is the appearance of drummer Terry
\nBozzio, whose backstage dialogue leads into a powerful drum solo,
\n“Hands With A Hammer”. Bozzio demonstrates why he could well have
\nbeen the best drummer that Zappa ever featured in his band.<\/p>\n
\nYou Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Volume 3<\/i> is made of such
\nhigh quality selections, just like the previous two volumes, that
\none wonders where Zappa kept finding the great material. Instead of
\nwondering, we should be glad that they not only existed, but that
\nZappa had the intelligence to put them out for us to enjoy.<\/p>\n
The series would stumble a bit in the second half, but we’ll
\ntalk about
\nVolume 4<\/i> in August.<\/p>\n
1998 Christopher Thelen and “The Daily Vault”. All rights
\nreserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without
\nwritten permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of
\nRykodisc Records and Zappa Family Trust, and is used for reference
\npurposes only.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5625],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-35950","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-frank-zappa","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35950"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35950"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}