Frank Zappa - 1981 Toxic Shock Trilogy (3 discs)

Toxic Shock

Assault on New York - The Toxic Shock Trilogy (3-LP box)
Drowning Witch (Toxic Shock Part I) (LP)
Standing Room Only ... Arf! (Toxic Shock Part II) (LP)
Clownz on Velvet (Toxic Shock Part III) (LP)

* The Palladium, New York, 31-Oct-1981 (late show)
* The Ritz, New York, 17-Nov-1981

Issued as a 3-LP box and three separate records (Standing Room Only ... Arf! issued in two variant covers - some subtitled plainly "Standing Room Only"). Drowning Witch re-issued with 'Tis the Season to be Jelly as Thigh.

Length: 3x~45 min?
Sound quality: FM radio A-
Label: Magpie Records MGP 3001-3003

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Ray White, Steve Vai, Tommy Mars, Bobby Martin, Ed Mann, Scott Thunes, Chad Wackerman and special guest Al DiMeola

1. Bamboozled by Love
2. Stevie's Spanking [DUB ROOM SPECIAL version]
3. Cocaine Decisions [different edit of the DUB ROOM SPECIAL version]
4. Nig Biz [DUB ROOM SPECIAL version]

5. Drowning Witch [listed as "The Drowning Witch"]
6. What's New in Baltimore? [not listed]
7. Moggio [not listed]

8. Easy Meat
9. The Mudd Club
10. The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
11. Dumb All Over [part 1, not listed]

12. Dumb All Over [part 2, not listed]
13. Heavenly Bank Account
14. Suicide Chump
15. Jumbo, Go Away

16. "While I Tune My Guitar"
17. Zoot Allures
18. Clownz on Velvet [with Al DiMeola]

19 Strictly Genteel
20. This is My Story [Forrest/Levy]
21. Whipping Post [Allman] [reggae version]
22. Watermelon in Easter Hay

According to the cover, side 1 is from the Palladium, and sides 2-6 are from the Ritz. (When Guitar Player Magazine conducted a poll in the early 1990s, the Ritz concert was voted "BEST CONCERT BY ANYONE, ANYWHERE, EVER".) A more comprehensive Ritz concert issue was Zappa in New York 81.

* Tracks 2-4 have been officially released on the DUB ROOM SPECIAL video, with track 3 slightly edited. Between tracks 1-2 on this album you can hear the beginning and end of the second movement of "Sinister Footwear", which was played but edited out, and after track 4 you can hear the start of "Doreen".
* The entire first guitar solo in "Drowning Witch" on Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch is taken from this recording, but this is a different, edited version.
* Tracks 11 and 12 are not listed on the album cover, which instead lists track 10 as being split over the side break, but the listing above is correct.
* Track 20 was originally recorded by Gene & Eunice, with Johnny's Combo (Johnny was Johnny Otis, inspiration for Zappa's moustache) on the Alladin label (3282) on 17-Feb-1955, and peaked at #8 on the R&B chart on 21-May-1955.
* Tracks 20-21 also appear on Apocrypha.
* Track 16 is a short solo by Tommy Mars, while Zappa tunes his guitar.
* Special guest Al DiMeola plays a solo on "Clownz on Velvet". (Zappa didn't play with him, because they couldn't hook up enough guitars.) Some people refuse to believe that it's the real Al DiMeola, but it is.

Drowning Witch (Toxic Shock Part I) has a yellow xerox paper glued to a white cardboard cover. It is simply a pretty ugly drawing of Zappa, backed by the letters ZAPPA, plus title, track list, venues and dates. The record labels say "Magpie Records & Ozz-Good Productions present: THE RAMBLERS".

Many of the boxes included a bonus 7" single containing:

Side 1. Envelopes [17-Nov-1981]
Side 2. Black Napkins [31-Oct-1981]

Also, the 3 LPs have been issued in one single sleeve with a xerox insert. The insert has pictures of the three album covers and an overview of the set (written by a non-bootlegger).