Frank Zappa - The History and Collected Improvisations

The History and Collected Improvisations

Booklet

Disc 1 - Ultra-Modern Stringbean - (dark blue label)

Length: ~45 min

Sound quality: Audience B+

LP label: ZX 3651

CD label: RXZ Records 301

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Jean-Luc Ponty, George Duke, Ian Underwood, Ruth Underwood, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Ralph Humphrey and Sal Marquez

1. Uncle Meat (Main Theme) / Uncle Meat Variations ["Excercise 4"?]

2. Dog Breath

3. Uncle Meat (Main Theme)

4. Montana 

5. Fifty-Fifty [instrumental version, not listed]

6. Mudshark

7. Farther Oblivion [listed as "Father O'Blivion"]

The track list on the album is quite wrong; the above should be correct. Track 7 is NOT "Father O'Blivion" but "Farther Oblivion", an officially unreleased number including themes from "Cucamonga" and "The Adventures of Greggary Peccary" as well as the entire "Be-Bop Tango" theme. The Mudshark and Live in Melbourne CDs have another sequencing: they flip the vinyl sides around (and get the track order 6-7-1-2-3-4-5), and the cover track list on Live in Melbourne is half wrong. The Mudshark and Tiny Nightmares covers have five superimposed pictures of Zappa playing guitar (the same picture has also been used on the Shogun Records boots Brest and Thigh); Live in Melbourne has Zappa in funny glasses, making a face.

Nifty (LP/CD)

Disc 2 - Nifty - (Sky blue label)

Length: ~45 min

LP label: ZX 3652

CD label: RXZ Records 302

New Jersey musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, George Duke, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Ralph Humphrey, Chester Thompson, Napoleon Murphy Brock and special guest Irma Coffee

Sydney musicians: Frank Zappa, Jean-Luc Ponty, Ruth Underwood, Ian Underwood, George Duke, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Ralph Humphrey and Sal Marquez

1974 musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, Ian Underwood, George Duke, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler and Ralph Humphrey

1. Be-Bop Tango Preamble

2. Pygmy Twylyte / Dummy Up

3. "Dupree's Paradise" Stories [listed as "Room Service (variant version)"]

4. Be-Bop Tango

5. Dog Breath (0:37)

6. Uncle Meat

7. Father O'Blivion [Stage #6 version]

8. Don't Eat the Yellow Snow

9. Nanook Rubs It

10. Saint Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast

11. Mar-juh-rene [edit]

12. Penguin in Bondage

13. T'Mershi Duween

Track 1 is live at the William Patterson College, Wayne, New Jersey, 11-Nov-1973 (late show).

Track 2 is live at the William Patterson College, Wayne, New Jersey, 11-Nov-1973 (early show), with Irma Coffee on guest vocals.

Track 3 is Zappa's "Dupree's Paradise" stories from the Avery Fisher Hall, New York, 22-Nov-1973 (late show).

Track 4 is live, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 18-Nov 1973 (from a radio broadcast).

Tracks 5-6 might be from Sydney, or even from the Roxy of Roxy & Elsewhere fame.

Tracks 7-11 are live at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, 24-Jun-1973; track 11 is Zappa improvising around the letters MAR-JUH-RENE.

Tracks 12-13 are unknown live 1974 bonus tracks.

The track list on the cover is quite wrong; the above should be correct. Side 2 has also been issued on Cuccurrullo Brillo Brullo (with complete "Mar-juh-rene"), tracks 4-7 are also issued on The Rondo Hatton Band, and track 13 is also inserted into Piquantique. Tracks 2 and 3 appear as filler tracks on No Bacon for Breakfast Part 2. The takes are from a radio broadcast (the WXRT "Un-Concert" 8-Nov-1974), mixed and edited by Zappa himself.

Disc 3 - Ein Monster In Der Musikhalle - (Orange label)

Length: ~45 min

Sound quality: Audience B

LP label: ZX 3653

CD label: RXZ Records 303

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, George Duke, Chester Thompson, Tom Fowler and Napoleon Murphy Brock

1. Tush Tush Tush (A Token of My Extreme)

2. A jam type thing / The Hook / The-Boogerman-type jamming / Ach Du Lieber Augustin [?] / Louie Louie [Richard Berry]

3. Dupree's Paradise

4. I'm the Slime [Listed as "I'm in the Slime" :)]

5. Pygmy Twylyte

6. Room Service [not listed]

The cover track list is very peculiar, and the above has been suggested to me instead. Side 1 is really listed as "Intro", "The Hook", "My Little Augustine", "Dixie" and "Dupree's Paradise". "The Hook" is a little snippet you can hear on Stage #4, introducing the Archie Shepp cut - it was also vowen into "The Be-Bop Tango" - and here it introduces a jamming number quoting "Ach Du Lieber Augustin", "Louie Louie" and maybe a song called "Dixie".

Disc 4 - If You Have a Haedache - (pink label)

Length: ~45 min

Sound quality: Audience B+ (Boston)

LP label: ZX 3654

CD label: RXZ Records 304

Saint Louis musicians: Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, George Duke, Terry Bozzio, Tom Fowler, Bruce Fowler and Napoleon Murphy Brock

Boston musicians: Frank Zappa, Roy Estrada, Terry Bozzio, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Andre Lewis and Norma Bell

The cover track list is wrong. This should be correct:

1. Intro

1. Apostrophe (')

2. Stinkfoot

3. I'm Not Satisfied

4. Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy

5. You Can Swallow My Pride

6. Any Downers? 

7. Packard Goose [listed as "The Mothers Go Cosmic" and "Love Is Where It's At"]

8. Camarillo Brillo

9. Muffin Man

Side 1 is live at the Kiel Auditiorium, Saint Louis, 13-May-1975.

Side 2 is live in Boston 23-Oct-1975.

"Packard Goose" is only the first lines recited over a "Black Napkins" vamp. "Any Downers?" is also in a very rudimentary state. "You Can Swallow My Pride" is an unreleased Zappa song.

Disc 5 - Frank Zappa vs. the Tooth Fairy - (red label)

Length: ~45 min

Sound quality: Audience C-

LP label: ZX 3655

CD label: RXZ Records 305

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, George Duke, Tom Fowler, Chester Thompson and Napoleon Murphy Brock

1. Gloria [story about Ruth Underwood]

2. Inca Roads

3. Pygmy Twylyte

4. The Idiot Bastard Son

5. Cheepnis

6. Clear Version of "Cheepnis"

Side 1 is live 21-Jul-1974.

Side 2 live 19-Jul-1974.

After "Cheepnis", Zappa complains about the sub-standard PA system, and instructs George Duke to play "romantic Holiday-Inn-type background music" and reads the "Cheepnis" lyrics on top of that, in case the audience didn't hear everything the first time. This is the clear version of "Cheepnis", which may not be listed on some copies.

Disc 6 - A Token of My Extreme - (Silver label)

Length: ~45 min

Sound quality: Audience B+ (particularily hissy)

LP label: ZX 3656

CD label: RXZ Records 306

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Denny Walley, George Duke, Tom Fowler, Terry Bozzio and Napoleon Murphy Brock

1. A Token of My Extreme

2. Stinkfoot

3. Sleeping in a Jar

4. Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead

5. Debra Kadabra [listed as "Abra Kadabra"]

6. Florentine Pogen [listed as "Chester's Gorilla"]

7. Why Doesn't Someone Get Him a Pepsi? ["The Torture Never Stops", original version]

Track 7 is the world premiere of "The Torture Never Stops" - the original 1975 version like on Stage #4. Zappa introduced this number saying "Why doesn't someone get him a Pepsi?". The sound on "Debra Kadabra" is especially poor. This bootleg should not be confused with A Token of HIS Extreme. According to some sources, only 100 copeis were pressed.

Disc 7 - I Was a Teenage Maltshop - (pale yellow label)

Length: ~45 min
LP label: ZX 3657
CD label: RXZ Records 307

Live musicians: Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Denny Walley, George Duke, Tom Fowler, Terry Bozzio and Napoleon Murphy Brock

1. I Was a Teenage Maltshop / Status Back Baby / Ned the Mumbler / Ned Has a Brainstorm / Toads of the Short Forest
2. Excerpt from the Uncle Frankie Show [Mystery Disc version]
3. Charva [The Lost Episodes version]
4. Band Introductions from the Fillmore West [not listed] [Mystery Disc version]
5. Plastic People [Berry/Zappa] / Solo [Mystery Disc version of something]
6. Bobby Jameson: Gotta Find My Roogalator
7. Baby Ray & the Ferns: How's Your Bird
8. Baby Ray & the Ferns: The World's Greatest Sinner
9. The Penguins: Memories of El Monte [Zappa/Collins]

10. Camarillo Brillo
11. Muffin Man
12. Let's Make the Water Turn Black
13. Willie the Pimp

Some of this stuff comes from a radio show on KWST radio, 1-Nov-1975, where Zappa played oldies and oddities. The cover track list is wrong, but the above should be correct.

• Tracks 2-5 have been officially released on The Lost Episodes and Mystery Disc.
• Track 1 is from the "rock opera" recorded in 1963 (the first part has been issued on the Mystery Disc). The same recording can be found on Apocrypha.
• Tracks 6-9 are old single tracks from way before Zappa hit it big time: see Zappa's singles discography for more info. They have been officially re-released on several albums, which you can read about here.
• Side 2 is identified as "live in Boston, Massachusettes, 11-Sep-1975". There was no such show; it could be live in Boston 27-Apr-1975 or somewhere else on the tour. 

Disc 8 - Petrouska - (bright yellow label)

Length: ~45 min

Sound quality: Soundboard B (Stockholm)

LP label: ZX 3658

CD label: RXZ Records 308

1967 musicians: Frank Zappa, Jimmy Carl Black, Ian Underwood, Bunk Gardner, Don Preston, Jim Sherwood, Roy Estrada, Ray Collins and Billy Mundi

1974 musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Tom Fowler, Chester Thompson and George Duke

1. You Didn't Try to Call Me

2. Petrouska [Stravinsky]

3. Bristol Stomp [Appel/Mann]

4. Baby Love [Supremes]

5. Big Leg Emma

6. King Kong [edit]

7. It Can't Happen Here [edit]

8. No Matter What You Do (interpolating Tchaikovsky's 6th)

9. Pygmy Twylyte

10. Room Service

Side 1 is live in Stockholm 9/13/30-Sep-1967.

Side 2 is live at the Long Beach Arena 31-Dec-1974.

Tracks 6 and 7 are much shorter than on 'Tis the Season to Be Jelly: "King Kong" is the 5:20-14:10 section and "It Can't Happen Here" the first 50 seconds. Track 1 has a longer spoken intro section.

Disc 9 - Zurkon Music - (cream label)

Length: ~45 min

Sound quality: FM/soundboard A-

Zurkon Music LP label: ZX 3659

Zurkon Music CD label: RXZ Records 309

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Adrian Belew, Patrick O'Hearn, Tommy Mars, Peter Wolf, Ed Mann and Terry Bozzio

1. Intro [from "Flakes"]

2. San Ber'dino [BABY SNAKES video version]

3. Tryin' to Grow a Chin [Stage #6 version]

4. City of Tiny Lites [BABY SNAKES video version]

5. The Squirm [guitar solo]

6. Big Leg Emma

7. Audience Participation [BABY SNAKES video version]

8. The Black Page #2 [BABY SNAKES video & Baby Snakes album version]

9. Jones Crusher [BABY SNAKES video & Baby Snakes album version]

10. Camarillo Brillo [BABY SNAKES video version]

11. Black Napkins [BABY SNAKES video version]

Some cover track lists are quite wrong; the above should be correct. This is the Baby Snakes concert: tracks 2 & 4 and the entire side 2 appear in the BABY SNAKES video; tracks 8-9 even made it to the Baby Snakes album. "Donna U Wanna" is an approximation of the name of a character in the BABY SNAKES movie.

Disc 10 - Back on the Straight and Narrow - (green label)

Length: ~45 min

Sound quality: Audience B

LP label: ZX 3660

CD label: RXZ Records 310

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Andre Lewis, Terry Bozzio and Roy Estrada

1. The Illinois Enema Bandit

2. Wind up Working in a Gas Station

3. Tryin' to Grow a Chin

4. The Torture Never Stops

5. How Could I Be Such a Fool?

6. I Ain't Got No Heart

7. I'm Not Satisfied

8. Black Napkins

9. Honey, Don't You Want a Man like Me

The History & Collected Improvisations of Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention flips the sides around, and lists only three tracks on side 2: "The Illinois Enema Bandit", "Show Me Your Thumb" and "The Torture Never Stops". Tracks 1, 3 and 4 also appear on Live Downunda.