Concert Bootlegs List
1971-1975

These are bootlegs with material from only one or two shows or from the same band. Bootlegs with material from several different concerts and from different bands are dealt with in the Live Compilations section (widespread use of "bonus" and "filler" tracks makes the line hard to draw). The order is as chronologic as possible. Here is a link back to 1967-1970.

1971 Tour

1972 Wazoo

1973

1974

1975

A Vegetable by Any Other Name (CD)

  • KB-hallen, Copenhagen, 21-Nov-1971 (early show)

Sound quality: "mono, good to excellent"
Label: Tristar TR006

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Mark Volman, Howard Kaylan, Don Preston, Aynsley Dunbar, Jim Pons & Ian Underwood

1. Call Any Vegetable
2. Anyway the Wind Blows
3. Magdalena [Kaylan/Zappa]
4. Dog Breath
5. Sofa
6. Sleeping in a Jar
7. Wino Man ["Wonderful Wino" (Zappa/Simmons)]

Japanese issue. This was previously thought to be from the late show, and misleadingly labelled as early, but one reader has reported that he's been in touch with the original tape supplier, and that it's definitely the early show after all. (In late 1999, when this came out, no tapes of the early show were in circulation among collectors.)

Look Out, Plastic People (LP)

  • KB-hallen, Copenhagen, 21-Nov-1971 (late show)

Sound quality: Audience B
Length: ~45 min
Label: F-211

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Mark Volman, Howard Kaylan, Don Preston, Aynsley Dunbar, Jim Pons & Ian Underwood

1. Peaches en Regalia
2. Tears Began to Fall
3. She Painted Up Her Face
4. Half a Dozen Provocative Squats
5. Shove It Right In

6. Call Any Vegetable
7. Anyway the Wind Blows
8. Magdalena [Kaylan/Zappa]
9. Dog Breath

200 copies issued with posters.

In Europe (LP)
Poot Face Booogie (LP)
Live in Holland 1971 [?] (LP)
The Dream Machine (LP)
Live in Amsterdam 1971 (LP)

  • The Ahoy, Rotterdam, 27-Nov-1971
  • bonus tracks
  • Originally issued in the Netherlands as In Europe by WorldWhite Productions (WWA 13), with two variant covers
  • Re-issued in the US, with bonus tracks, as Poot Face Booogie by The Amazing Kornyphone Record Label (TAKRL 1909)
  • Re-issued slightly differently as Live in Amsterdam 1971 by Winds Records (ZPP 1A/B), with better sound on the Rotterdam tracks than Poot-Face Booogie
  • One of the above variants re-issued as The Dream Machine on clear vinyl (mmm), with two variant covers
  • Poot Face Booogie re-issued with Safe Muffinz on Singer's Original Double Disks, SODD as No Commercial Potential (2 LP)
  • Poot Face Booogie re-issued with Safe Muffinz as Vitamin Deficiency (2 LP)
  • Perhaps identical to the "GH-111 metal acetate" (?) known (?) as Live in Holland 1971

On this recording, the Mothers sing the Dutch lines "Geef mij wat vloerbedekking / Onder deze vette zwevende sofa" instead of the usual German. This is why Zappa says "vloerbedekking" before "Theme from Lumpy Gravy" on Make a Jazz Noise Here, recorded at the same venue in 1988.

Rotterdam musicians: Frank Zappa, Mark Volman, Howard Kaylan, Jim Pons, Aynsley Dunbar, Don Preston and Ian Underwood

In Europe

Sound quality: Audience B
Label: WorldWhite Productions WWA 13

1. Peaches en Regalia
2. Tears Began to Fall
3. She Painted Up Her Face / Half a Dozen Provocative Squats
4. Shove It Right In

5. [The Sofa Suite]

Side 2 is the Sofa suite as performed live in 1971, including "Once Upon a Time", "Sofa" and "Stick It Out". This is the original bootleg, released in the Netherlands some time between Novemeber 1971 and September 1972. It was one of the very first Zappa bootlegs. It has an old Amsterdam phone number on the sleeve, and says "All rights paid".

Poot Face Booogie

Sound quality: Audience B (worse than Live in Amsterdam 1971)
Label: The Amazing Kornyphone Record Label TAKRL 1909

1. Peaches en Regalia
2. Tears Began to Fall
3. She Painted up Her Face / Half a Dozen Provocative Squats / Shove it Right In [tracks 1-3 amount to 12:13]
4. Who Are the Brain Police? [06:34]
5. My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama [03:03 or 01:53] / Interview [01:10]
6. Dog Breath, in the Year of the Plague [02:51]

7. Once Upon a Time / Sofa
8. Stick It Out
9. Divan / Interview [00:25] [tracks 7-9 amount to 21:04 or 21:29]
10. The Factory: Lightning-Rod Man [02:51] [Lightning-Rod Man version]

(Note: the printed track list doesn't exactly look like the above; the above is corrected and more detailed.) Tracks 5 and 6 are the 1969 single versions (a different edit of track 5 has been released on Stage #5), and tracks 9 & 5 include interview segments of some sort. Track 10 is a 1966 recording of Lowell George & the Factory, produced by and featuring Frank Zappa, officially released on the album Lightning-Rod Man in 1993.

In his book The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play, Ben Watson calls Poot-Face Booogie "an illegal issue of such antiquity (1974) that its cover consisted of inserts in the shrink wrap. It was bought under the impression that it was official." There were issues with black & white paper inserts as well as others in colour covers with various colour inserts and stuff. One such back cover had a reprint of an interview where Zappa talked about how he was framed with making a pornographic audio tape - conspiracy to commit pornography - in the early 1960s. From The Real Frank Zappa Book, page 57:

By then my Dad had been able to hire a lawyer, who said my only hope was to plead nolo contendere (no contest - or "I'm so broke I can't even buy justice in Cucamonga, so I'll just give a thousand bucks to this lawyer here and keep my fucking mouth shut, hoping you don't give me the death penalty").

From Biffy the Elephant Shrew:

I recall an interview (reprinted on the back of the Poot Face Booogie bootleg) in which whoever transcribed the interview evidently didn't understand the Latin term and just left it out, so they had Zappa saying, "I pleaded, which means ..."

The/a back cover also had a picture of Mona Lisa with a Zappa moustache.

Live in Amsterdam 1971 (LP)

Sound quality: better than Poot-Face Booogie
Length: 41:50 (according to the cover)
Label: Winds Records ZPP 1A/B

This track list was confirmed in March 1999:

1. Peaches en Regalia (03:21)
2. Tears Began to Fall (02:45)
3. She Painted Up Her Face (06:41) [including "Half a Dozen Provocative Squats" and "Shove It Right In"]
4. Who Are the Brain Police? (06:45)

5. Sofa (11:28) [including "Once Upon a Time", with the line "Geef mij wat vloerbedekking onder deze vette zwevende sofa" in Dutch]
6. Stick It Out (10:22) [early version]

The labels are white; the front cover shows Zappa with his guitar; the back has two pictures of band members: one from a train or bus, one possibly from backstage. The address given to Winds Records is "Winds Records, Kentish Town Road, S5 7UF Yorkshire, Sheffield". The track list on the cover is not correct, running "Peaches en Regalia", "Tears Began to Fall", "She Painted Up Her Face", "Who Are the Brain Police?", "Presentation", "'Geef mij wat vloerbedekking onder deze vette zwevende sofa'", "Sofa (Dutch Version)", "Streck Ihn Aus / Stick It Out (Early Version)" and "Medley Unrealize".

Informants: Kerschgens et al

No Commercial Potential (2 LP)
Vitamin Deficiency (2 LP)

  • The Ahoy, Rotterdam, 27-Nov-1971
  • Santa Monica Civic Center, 21-Aug-1970
  • Studio
  • Rotterdam musicians: Frank Zappa, Mark Volman, Howard Kaylan, Don Preston, Aynsley Dunbar, Jim Pons, Ian Underwood
  • Santa Monica musicians: Frank Zappa, Mark Volman, Howard Kaylan, Jeff Simmons, Aynsley Dunbar, Ian Underwood and George Duke

Length: ~90 min
Sound quality: Audience B
Label: Singer's Original Double Disks SODD 003

Disc 1: Poot Face Booogie
Disc 2: Safe Muffinz

The Phoenix Records version has a deluxe colour cover. There are altogether 3 or 4 variant covers. A version in a plain white cover with plain white labels has also been reported, as well as white labels with printed side numbers and recording info written in pen. One informant described one cover version as a "black and white cover, with blank labels on the record. The cover consists of Frank's face on the front in sketch style and Frank holding a torn umbrella in front of a bulldozer, it looks a little rough in the printing side of things."

  • DO NOT see also: There is also a UK promo CD called No Commercial Potential, from Ryko, 1995, and it seems that there is a vinyl counterfeit of that CD, too.

Swiss Cheese (LP/CD)
Fire! (LP/CD)
Smoke on the Water (2 CD)
Tears Began to Fall (CD)

  • The Casino, Montreux, 04-Dec-1971
  • Illicitly issued as two separate records.
  • Coupled for licit release in the Beat the Boots II set.
  • Swiss Cheese re-issued on CD and LP on Chamelion Records (CHAM 890050-1).
  • Fire! re-issued on CD and LP on Chamelion Records (CHAM 890050-2).
  • Re-issued on double CD as Smoke on the Water.
  • Swiss Cheese re-issued on CD with a part of Fire! and a bonus track from The Ark as Tears Began to Fall (Alegra CD 9023), in some country outside the USA.
  • Most of Swiss Cheese also issued on The Real Thing with side one of 'Tis the Season to be Jelly

Length: 2x~45 min
Sound quality: VERY good audience

the smoke and fire: the Casino burning downMusicians: Frank Zappa, Mark Volman, Howard Kaylan, Don Preston, Aynsley Dunbar, Jim Pons & Ian Underwood

Swiss Cheese

1. Intro (14:21)
2. Peaches en Regalia (03:27)
3. Tears Began to Fall / She Painted up Her Face / [Half a Dozen] Provocative Squats (05:59)
4. Call Any Vegetable (09:55)
5. Any Way the Wind Blows (03:44)

Fire!

6. Magdalena [Kaylan/Zappa] / Dog Breath (09:49)
7. Once Upon a Time / Sofa / Stick It Out / Divan (18:06)
8. A Pound for a Brown on the Bus (07:07)
9. Wonderful Wino [Zappa/Simmons] / Sharleena / Cruisin' for Burgers (12:37)
10. King Kong (01:24)
11. Fire! (01:55)

(The cover track lists don't exactly match the above, but the above should be more correct.)

This is the infamous concert where the Casino caught fire and burned down (the very fire mentioned in "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple) so most of the Mothers' equipment was destroyed. Track 1 contains Feedback, Attempted French Monologue, Tuning of the Instruments, Hard-Rock Combo and Hard-Rock Guitar Solo; track 7 is listed as "Give Me Some Floor Covering Under This Fat Floating Sofa" and includes the complete "Sofa" suite as performed live in 1971.

The Swiss Cheese cover shows Zappa amidst green plants wearing nothing but a red scarf, striped stockings and leopard tangas (the picture can be seen on page 79 of Miles' book A Visual Documentary). Fire! is similar, but here he wears a white tropic outfit (helmet, pants and shirt). Rubber Slices and Canada 1973 have similar covers. Fire! has been issued on black, white and multi-coloured vinyl and as a picture disc. Swiss Cheese has been pressed on black, green, multi-coloured and picture vinyl. Both were first released, in Europe, in 1985.

Tears Began to Fall

Label: Alegra CD 9023 (non-US)

1. Intro
2. Peaches en Regalia
3. Tears Began to Fall
4. She Painted Up Her Face
5. Call Any Vegetable
6. Sharleena
7. Anyway the Wind Blows
8. Magdalena [Kaylan/Zappa] /Dog Breath
9. Big Leg Emma [bonus track]

  • Tracks 1-7 are Swiss Cheese ("Half a Dozen Provocative Squats" is presumably included in track 4).
  • Track 8 is from Fire!.
  • Track 9 is a bonus track from The Ark, Boston, 08-Jul-1969 (often confused as 1968).

Confusion

From Tommy Ojanperä:

Last summer I bought a CD version of the bootleg Swiss Cheese - not the Rhino re-release, but an original, illegal release. It was released by something called Chamelion Records, CHAM 890050-2. According to the cover it was "made in EEC", and the obviously non-legal copyright information on the disc itself is written in Italian. [Not so fast - Italian copyright law hasn't always been up to speed, and it may well have been legal in Italy when it was released - Ed.] Okay, thus far there's nothing strange about this CD - except for the fact that it isn't Swiss Cheese,  it's FIRE! Not only are the covers wrong, but the printing on the disc itself is wrong.

From Geir Corneliussen:

Excactly like mine, Chamelion, right. Wrong titles, printings, yes. I bought both Swiss Cheese and Fire! at the same time in germany some 10-12 years ago [written in 1999]. I just changed the covers.

From Dr István Fekete:

What you wrote is almost correct. I have both Swiss Cheese and Fire! on Chamelion, and both discs are actually Fire!, although they are printed correctly (except for the catalog number). So it's not the cover and the printing which is wrong, but the disc itself ... the catalogue numbers are mixed up like hell.

  Swiss Cheese Fire!
Spine CHAM 890050-2 CHAM 890050-1
Page 4 of booklet CHAM 890050-2 CHAM 890050-1
Back CHAM 890050-1 CHAM 890050-1
Disc (printed) CHAM 890050-2 CHAM 890050-2
Disc (etched) CHAM 890050-2 CHAM 890050-2

This tells me that Swiss Cheese should have received the correct catalog number CHAM 890050-1 and Fire! CHAM 890050-2 (as the disks have). The bootleggers fucked up here a bit. (By the way, it happened to me three times that a CD case contained a correctly printed but wrong disc. I had two of them replaced but what do you do with a bootleg?)

Beyond the Fringe of Audience Comprehension (LP)

  • Live/studio 1970/1971
  • Various studio

Featured as record 3 of the Mystery Box.

Length: 46 min
Label: Nifty, Tough & Bitchen Records

Musicians: various/uncertain

1. What Will This Morning Bring Me This Evening?
2. Watering Holes
3. What Kind of Girl Do You Think We Are?
4. Bwana Dik
5. Latex Solar Beef
6. Daddy Daddy Daddy
7. Do You Like My New Car?
8. Magic Fingers.
9. What Will This Evening Bring Me This Morning?

10. Interview (Part 1)
11. The Final Solution
12. Interview (Part 2)
13. Penis Dimension
14. Time Is Money
15. Flambay
16. Spider of Destiny
17. Space Boy

The Mystery Box version has these liner notes: "Tracks 1-4 [of side 2] are from the film 200 motels. Tracks 5-7 are from Hunchentoot." "'Space Boy' is the rarest track in this entire box. It was recorded for the Curtis Harrington film, Queen of Blood. Words, music and vocals by Florence Marley. Orchestration and additional instruments by FZ. Sound effects by Ackerman & Cole." Tracks 14-16 have been said to be the remixed Sleep Dirt versions. The suite on side 1 (often called "The Groupie Opera") has been circulated as either "unknown live 1970/1971" and "Butte, Montana 1970/1971" (they do sing "this is the swingingest place in Butte, Montana"), but sounds more like a studio job without an audible live audience. The title is from one of Zappa's catch-phrases: "Some of us live beyond the fringe of audience comprehension. The air is better here."

The Grand Wazoo Orchestra (LP/CD)

  • Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, 10-Sep-1972 

Featured as record 6 in the Twenty Years of Frank Zappa box (re-issued on CD).

Length: ~45 min
Sound quality: Audience C+ :(
LP label: Mud Shark MZ4806
CD label: RXZ Records 318A

Musicians (the Grand Wazoo band): Frank Zappa, Tony Duran, Jerry Kessler, Dave Parlato, Jim Gordon, Tom Raney, Ruth Underwood, Ian Underwood, Bruce Fowler, Malcolm McNabb, Tom Malone, Earl Dumler, Glen Ferris, Sal Marquez, Ken Shroyer, Mike Altschul, Joanne McNabb, Jay Migliori, Ray Reed and Charles Owens

1. New Brown Clouds
2. Big Swifty
3. For Calvin (and His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)

4. Think It Over
5. Approximate

Grand Wazoo Comic Book Extravaganza (2 LP/CD)

  • Felt Forum, New York, 23-Sep-1972 

Length: ~90 min
Sound quality: Audience C+
Label: Mushroom Records FZ 0972

Musicians (the Grand Wazoo band): Frank Zappa, Tony Duran, Jerry Kessler, Dave Parlato, Jim Gordon, Tom Raney, Ruth Underwood, Ian Underwood, Bruce Fowler, Malcolm McNabb, Tom Malone, Earl Dumler, Glen Ferris, Sal Marquez, Ken Shroyer, Mike Altschul, Joanne McNabb, Jay Migliori, Ray Reed & Charles Owens

1. Lohengrin Act 3 [Wagner]
2. Think It Over
3. The Grand Wazoo
4. Approximate
5. The Grand Wazoo
6. Arooh, Who Did It? Acts 1-3
7. Fraudulents
8. Dog Breath
9. Uncle Meat Variations
10. Big Swifty
11. Penis Dimension
12. New Brown Clouds

Some sources list "New Brown Clouds" as "New Brown Clouds (Regyptian Strut)". Track 6 is the Grand Wazoo Comic Book Extravaganza: Zappa conducts the audience in yelling comic-book sound effects, while the band reads from comic books. Charles Ulrich's Planet of My Dreams page has a transcription of it.

The first LP is red, and the second one is white (or possibly the other way around). They may contain tracks 1-5 and 6-12, respectively, but this is speculation. The artwork is yet unknown, but they were colour covers. Released in 1984.

(Gellborn Records, on Sveavägen in Stockholm, Sweden, once bought 25 copies of this bootleg, and were as of November 1999 still trying to sell them for 375 Swedish crowns a piece. At least one of their copies was defective - the red vinyl had been blended with lesser-quality material, which had oxidised badly. The same store also bought 25 copies of one of the Bolzano 1982 picture discs, which they managed to sell (all of them) much more quicky.)

In 2002, a 3-LP version was auctioned away on E-Bay. It seems there were simply two copies of the white disc, because the track list was given as roughly the same ("Lohengrin Act III", "Think It Over", "Comical Time", "The Grand Wazoo Comic Soundbook Starring Lots of Ugly Notes", "The Grand Wazoo Comic Book Extravaganza", "Arooh, Who did it? Acts I-III", "Dog Breath / The Uncle Meat Variations", "Big Swifty", "Penis Dimension", "New Brown Clouds"), there were two white discs and one red disc, and the set was unplayed.

Dupree's Paradise (2 LP)
Pygmy Pony (LP)

  • Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 24-Feb-1973

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

Dupree's Paradise

Length: 88:20
Sound quality: Audience B
Label: Impossible Recordworks IMP 2.24, Toasted ReCS. 2S902

1. RDNZL [listed as "Redunzel"] [06:16]
2. Dog Breath Variations [listed as "Dog Breath"] [03:09] / Uncle Meat [02:43]
3. Fifty-Fifty [instrumental] [07:01]

4. Inca Roads [instrumental] [07:04]
5. Warts & Mice [an improvisation]
6. Improvisation [16:15 (together with "Warts & Mice")]

7. Montana [06:48]
8. Dupree's Paradise [09:15]
9. I'm the Slime [04:14]

10. Don't You Ever Wash That Thing? [listed as "The Nancy & Mary Music"] [20:37]
11. Cosmik Debris [05:58]

Tracks 5-6 are 16 minutes of radiant improvisation. Deluxe black & white cover. Released in 1979.

Pygmy Pony

Sound quality: Audience B
Label: Spindizzle/Flat FW 8228 / SD 841

1. RDNZL
2. Dog Breath Variations [listed] / Uncle Meat [not listed]
3. Fifty-Fifty [instrumental]
4. Inca Roads [instrumental, listed as "Son of the Clap"]

5. The Nancy & Mary Music Part 1
6. The Nancy & Mary Music Part 2
7. The Nancy & Mary Music Part 3
8. Montana

"The Nancy & Mary Music" is derived from the improvisation that is tracks 5-6 on Dupree's Paradise. The cover has a very bad xerox picture on orange paper of a probably real pony outdoors, glued to a white cardboard cover, and says 1974 and not 1973. The cover is labeled FW 8228 but the records are labeled SD 841. The records list the artist as "BRUCE DILLON" and completely different track titles ("How Many More", "Connie's Song", "Tough Luck", "Talkin' Malibu Blues" and "Wishin' You Were Here" on side 1, and "For Ann","Why Me","Landau Go Home","Back to Basics","Masking Tape" and "Burned Out" on side 2). Released in 1979.

Zut Alors (LP)

  • Arlington, Texas, 11-Mar-1973
  • various

Featured as record 4 of the Mystery Box.

Length: 44 min
Label: Nifty, Tough & Bitchen Records

1973 musicians: Frank Zappa, Jean-Luc Ponty, George Duke, Ian Underwood, Ruth Underwood, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler & Ralph Humphrey

1. Mr. Green Genes
2. King Kong
3. Chunga's Revenge

  • Side 1 is  live in Arlington, Texas, 11-Mar-1973.

4. Sink Trap
5. Ship Ahoy [Shut Up & Play Yer Guitar version + extra material]
6. Munchkin Tits
7. Drum Solo [shorter edit of "Hands with a Hammer" on Stage #3]
8. T'Mershi Duween
9. Black Napkins

  • Track 4 is probably from the 1975 UCLA Royce Hall concert (the same concert as on Orchestral Favorites). The same recordingalso appears on Apocrypha, where it's listed as "Gypsy Airs". (The piece was originally recorded in 1967 for an unreleased single, which was planned for release on Capitol Records together with the all-orchestral original version of Lumpy Gravy, which was only released on 8-track.)
  • Track 5 is a longer edit of the Shut Up & Play Yer Guitar version (Osaka 3-Feb-1976). Longer, but still edited; perhaps a tape edited by Zappa himself somehow found its way here.
  • Track 6 is a guitar solo from "More Trouble Every Day". Track 7 is a different edit of "Hands with a Hammer" on Stage #3 (Osaka 3-Feb-1976). Those two are also what is listed as "Guitar Improvisation" on the Wanna Buy Some Acid? bootleg.
  • Track 8 is live in Vancouver 1-Oct-1975.
  • Track 9 is a version with the Mike Douglas band (from a 1976 TV show) backing Frank Zappa (also released on Apocrypha).

According to the liner notes on the Mystery Box version, "Tracks 1-4 [on side 2] are the entire side 3 of the unreleased double album version of Zoot Allures". This may not be not correct, but there were serious plans for a double album version of Zoot Allures, which you can read about here. From Milhouse481:

The sound quality and the nature of the segues of [tracks 5-7] definitely makes me think this was something Zappa assembled himself, and perhaps intended to release someday in some form. Obviously, it's not a side of Night of the Iron Sausage, but the bootlegger's claim that it is kind of encourages me to keep thinking the song called "Night of the Iron Sausage" (which we've never gotten a positive ID on) might actually be "Ship Ahoy" (or some form thereof), a theory I've posted on alt.fan.frank-zappa before.

More from Milhouse:

"Ship Ahoy": The first 01:13 is from a completely different recording/show/performance than "Ship Ahoy". It consists of Zappa playing a series of pretty chords I don't recognize from anywhere else in his works. I don't know what it is or where and when it came from. It does not sound like an audience tape. It sounds like something Frank recorded and edited himself for release. It segues flawlessly into "Ship Ahoy" as we know it. This "Ship Ahoy" is - as far as I can tell - the same edit as on Shut Up & Play Yer Guitar. The only difference is the single snare hit at the end is not there. Instead, it segues right into "Munchkin Tits", almost undoubtedly edited by Zappa himself.

"Drum Solo": This is the same as "Hands with a Hammer" on Stage #3, with the following differences: The first 20 seconds of the Stage version are edited out, and it fades out and reaches silence at 02:56 on the Stage version. Basically, "Hands with a Hammer" is 03:10, and "Drum Solo" is 02:36, with 20 seconds missing from the beginning and 14 seconds missing from the end. Other than that, they are edited identically. Yes, I listened really, really close this time =)

This last bit pertains to the fabled "Night of the Iron Sausage" Zoot Allures double-LP version:

Jon Naurin theorized that the song "Night of the Iron Sausage" might be the "Inca Roads" solo that Zappa had O'Hearn overdub a bass part on (and that bass part was eventually used on "Rubber Shirt"), with the bass overdub on it. He was incorrect about that solo being "Munchkin Tits" from Zut Alors, though. "Munchkin Tits" 1) is definitely a solo from "More Trouble Every Day" and 2) definitely does not have an O'Hearn bass overdub on it. "Night of the Iron Sausage" very well could be the "Inca Roads" solo with O'Hearn's bass part on it, but it can't be "Munchkin Tits" from Zut Alors.

FZ Uncle Penguin (LP)

  • RATW (Rock Around The World) New Jersey radio broadcast - "Un-Concert" material

Sound quality: "on the cover, it says 'excellent quality', ha ha"
Label: Barking Penguin Records [YES! YES!] BPR 21789-5

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

The cover track list:

1. Intro
2. Pygmy Twylyte
3. Dupree's Paradise
4. "Uncle Penguin" [?]

5. Dog Breath
6. Penguin in Bondage
3. Nanook Rubs It
4. Saint Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast

See the "Un-Concert" for details.

The front cover has a penguin with a picture of Zappa, and the words "music is the best". The back cover has a hand-drawn of the Barking Pumpkin Records logo: a penguin has replaced the cat, saying "Shut Up" to the pumpkin. "Uncle Penguin" and "Barking Penguin" are my favourite bootleg title and label!

On Uncle Penguin's Brain, "Dog Breath Variations / Uncle Meat" is listed between "Dupree's Paradise" and "Penguin in Bondage", not any "Uncle Penguin". Tracks 4-5, "Uncle Penguin" and "Dog Breath", are surely "Dog Breath Variations" and "Uncle Meat" in some way and order.

Cheap Shot (2CD)

  • 09-Nov 1974, The Orpheum, Boston, both shows

Sound quality: soundboard A- (early show) and B+ (late show)
Label: Pontiac Records [no number]

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

1. Tush Tush Tush (A Token of My Extreme)
2. Stink-Foot
3. REDNZL ["RDNZL"]
4. Village of the Sun
5. Drums ["Echidna's Arf (of You)?"]
6. Po-Jama People
7. I'm Not Satisfied
8. Penguin in Bondage
9. The Dog Breath Variations
10. Uncle Meat

11. Don't Eat the Yellow Snow
12. St Alphonso's Pancake Breakfast
13. Father O'Blivion
14. Camarillo Brillo
15. Oh No
16. Intro
17. Cosmik Debris
18. Montana
19. The Booger Man [Duke/Brock/Zappa]
20. Ol' 55 [Tom Waits]
21. Drums

Tracks 1-14 are from the early show, and tracks 16-21 are from the late show. Track 15 may be from early or late show. Tom Waits - an opening act - guests on track 20. Tracks 5 and 21 are mysterious: they're listed as "drums", but "Echidna's Arf (of You)" was played before "Po-Jama People", and "Dupree's Paradise" after "Ol' 55". Colour cover and inners.

Ultra-Modern Stringbean (LP/CD)
Mudshark (CD)
Live in Melbourne (CD)
Tiny Nightmares (2 LP)

  • Festival Hall, Melbourne, 29-Jun-1973

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)

  • Various 1973
  • 1974 bonus tracks

Featured as record 2 (sky blue label) of The History & Collected Improvisations of Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention (re-issued on CD).

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.

Around the World (CD)

Label: All of Us Records (Italy) AS 46
Bar code: 8 016108 093464

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

The CD is tracked like this (maybe with index numbers):

1. Pygmy Twylyte / Dummy Up [instrumental, listed as "The Tango"] / Dupree's Paradise Story [listed as "Dupree's Paradise Lounge"] (18:13)
2. Penguin in Bondage / T'Mershi Duween / Dog Breath Variations / Uncle Meat (11:13)
3. Father O'Blivion [Stage #6 version] / Don't Eat the Yellow Snow / Nanook Rubs It / St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast (15:24)
4. Guitar Event (04:40)
5. "Beebop and Tango Dance Contest" / Tango Variations (12:47)

  • "Pygmy Twylyte / Dummy Up" live in Wayne, New Jersey, 11-Nov-1973 (early show) with Irma Coffee on guest vocals.
  • "Dupree's Paradise" live at the Avery Hall in New York, 22-Nov-1973.
  • Track 2 live in Los Angeles, or at the Roxy (of Roxy & Elsewhere fame) in December 1973.
  • Track 3 live at the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, Australia, 24-Jun-1973. "Father O'Blivion" has been officially released on Stage #6.
  • Track 4 live at the Boston music hall, 08-May-1973.
  • Track 5 (maybe not all of it) is live, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 18-Nov-1973.
     
  • See: the "Un-Concert"

Canada 1973 (LP)

Label: Zappa-Dong Records
Sound quality: audience B-

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Ian Underwood, Ruth Underwood (credited with "percussion and first lady of the Mothers"), George Duke, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Jean-Luc Ponty and Ralph Humphrey

The track list on the insert cover is only for side A, and wrong (it lists "Dupree's Paradise" between "The Be-Bop Tango" and "Inca Roads"). This should be more correct:

1. The Be-Bop Tango (09:10)
2. Inca Roads (12:30)

3. Be-Bop Tango Preamble
4. Pygmy Twylyte [drug-pusher routine]
5. "Dupree's Paradise" Stories [listed as "Room Service (variant version)"]
6. Be-Bop Tango
7. Dog Breath (02:19)

  • Track 1 live in Waterloo, Canada, 18-Nov-1973 (see Around the World)
  • Track 2 is an unknown live 1973 version (in slightly worse sound quality than track 1).
  • Tracks 3-7 (the entire B side) is from Nifty (originally from the so-called "Un-Concert"), but "Dog Breath" is only 37 seconds on Nifty, before it goes into "Uncle Meat" - here it's a lot longer. The overall sound of these tracks is a little better than on Nifty, where the tape may be slowed down a bit. 

This album came with white labels, in a white cover, with two inserts on bright sky blue paper (actually, there were several colour variants), one big and one small (obviously intended to stick on both cover sides). The big (cover-sized) insert has a xeroxed photo of Zappa dressed in a scarf, striped stockings and leopard tangas, being carried by eight half-dressed women among green plants (photos from the same session were used on the Fire! and Swiss Cheese covers, and on Rubber Slices.) The small insert (A4 letter size) has the erroneous track list for side A, musician credits (omitting Frank Zappa), as well as the following Zappa block quote:

I'm interested in melodies and it's the one thing I find lacking in most of the music today. The construction of a melody is a specialized art form. I know a lot of people who can write and arrange but don't pay to much attention to where the melody is. It's a big challange to write a melody. That's why people who can improvise well against chord changes are so unique because that's a challenge met instantaneously. When all you're presented with is the harmonics skeleton, your challenge is to create a personalized melody against that set of chord changes, it's a very impressive feat.

There's only one person in the group who doesn't really improvise and that's Ruth. That's because she has a mental block against it. I think she's capable of it but she just won't take a solo. Everybody else in the group is improvisationally oriented.

See also: Around the World and Time Sandwich

Informants: Andreas Kerschgens

The Rondo Hatton Band (LP)

  • Capitol Theater, Pasaic, New Jersey, 8/18-Nov-1974
  • Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, 25-Jun-1973
  • unknown live 1974
  • Studio

Featured as record 5 in the Mystery Box.

Length: 48 min
Label: Nifty, Tough & Bitchen Records

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

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. I'm the Slime
2. Ruthie-Ruthie [Stage #1 version]
3. No, Babette ["Babette", Stage #1 version]
4. Boogers of Marty Perellis ["Smell My Beard" on Stage #4]
5. White Juice on His Beard ["The Booger Man" on Stage #4]
6. Smell My Beard [NOT on Stage #4]

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
12. Penguin in Bondage
13. T'Mershi Duween / Dog Breath Variations / Uncle Meat [listed only as "Dog Breath"]

  • Track 1 is the single version, with a different guitar solo from the album version.
  • Tracks 2-6 are live at the Capitol Theater in Passaic 08-Nov-1974.
  • Tracks 7-11 are live in Sydney 24-Jun-1973, also issued on Nifty (track 11 is Zappa improvising around the letters MAR-JUH-RENE) - from the "Un-Concert".
  • Tracks 12-13 are December 1973 bonus tracks. From Milhouse481:

"Penguin in Bondage", "T'Mershi Duween", "Dog Breath" and "Uncle Meat" are the same recordings that appear on Around the World - with two differences, both in "Penguin in Bondage":

"Penguin in Bondage" on Around the World fades up 7 or 8 seconds into the track, and has a different guitar solo. These songs definitely are the same performances; I listened for a lot of little nuances in each track to make sure they were the same, and they are. But on the Rondo Hatton boot, "Penguin in Bondage" has a different guitar solo. I don't know if it was edited in on this one or Around the World, nor can I tell which was is the unedited performance. But it's a different solo on each.

Rondo Hatton was an ugly movie actor, and Zappa sometimes used that name on stage for himself. Marty Perellis was a road manager.

The Mothers Down Under (2 CD)

  • Horden Pavillion, Sydney, 24-Jun-1973 & 25-Jun-1973

Length: 77:44+79:31
Sound quality: From MP3 - soundboard A (partly A+ & B+)
Label: FZ24061972-1/2

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

1. Combined Introduction/Soundcheck
2. Dupree's Paradise
3. Exercise #4
4. Dog Beath
5. Uncle Meat
6. Fifty-Fifty
7. Montana
8. Don't Eat the Yellow Snow 
9. Nanook Rubs It
10. St. Alphonso's Pancake Breakfast
11. Father O'Blivion
12. St. Alphonso's (Reprise)
13. Mar-Juh-Rene
14. Father O'Blivion (Reprise R&B Version)
15. Son of Mr Green Genes
16. King Kong
17. Chunga's Revenge
18. Son of Mr. Green Genes Part 2

19. Father O'Blivion (Reprise) [including "Be-Bop Tango", "Dog Breath" & "Uncle Meat"]
20. Montana
21. Dupree's Paradise
22. Dog Breath Variations / Uncle Meat
23. Fifty-Fifty
24. Cosmik Debris
25. Inca Roads ["swank" version]

Tracks 1-19 live 24-Jun-1973; tracks 20-25 live 25-Jun-1973. The Horden Pavilion tapes are a bit special; perhaps they were mixed and edited by Zappa. The cover is a close-up of part of the Over-Nite Sensation cover with a hamburger, razor blade and cigarette butts. Released in 2001. Words of warning from a collector:

The Mothers Down Under is actually MP3-sourced. I am speaking of the original silver discs. You can tell by the gaps between the tracks and songs respectively (one track has two songs). If you rip the songs into the PC and open them with some kind of wave editor and switch from the amplitude-sprectrum to frequency-spectrum, you see that not the entire spectrum is captured.

PiquantiqueSydney1973 (2 CD)

  • Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, 8-Jul-1973

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, George Duke, Ralph Humphrey, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler and Jean-Luc Ponty, Sal Marquez and Ian Underwood plus special guest Barry Leef on "Road Ladies"

Sound quality: Audience C-
Length: 64:47+61:54
Label: KillingFloor Records 99039/40

We have a special timing list for this boot: the regular track times followed by the actual length of the song itself: 

1. Intro (07:15)
2. Don't You Ever Wash That Thing? (08:23 (07:27))
3. Zomby Woof (07:55 (06:30))
4. Dupree's Paradise (27:41 (27:37))
5. Inca Roads (13:32 (13:10))

6. Cosmik Debris (15:54 (12:15))
7. Road Ladies (10:03 (08:18))
8. Farther Oblivion (19:14 (17:22)) [listed as "Father O'Blivion"]
9. Mr Green Genes / King Kong / Chunga's Revenge (16:42 (16:30))

"Farther Oblivion" is an officially unreleased number including themes from "Cucamonga", "The Adventures of Greggary Peccary" as well as the entire "Be-Bop Tango" theme, and often confused with the completely different "Father O'Blivion".

"Road Ladies" has a special guest vocalist: a Barry Leef. "Tis is NOT a repro job or CD-R knock-off. Comes with 3 nice period shots of Frank." Nicely printed white-black-and-green cover; colour photo on back cover. The discs are supposed to be STAMPED with "ZAPPA DISC 1" and "ZAPPA DISC 2", but not otherwise marked/labeled/printed. Some (all? :) copies seem to be labelled as promotionals, "not for resale".

From Dave-O Thompson:

The sound source is obviously an audience recording. I compared it with Rhino's Stockholm Piquantique (a similar-era recording from the same tour), rated a B+, and I have to give the Sydney recording a C-: "C" for clearly being a step below the Stockholm recording, and "-" because the recording level seems > to have been set so that the high frequencies splatter at times.

  • DO NOT see also: Piquantique, a completely different boot.

Piquantique (LP)
Oppopoppa (CD)

  • Skansen, Stockholm, 21-Aug-1973
  • 1974 bonus track

Piquantique has also been issued legally as part of the Beat the Boots set.

Length: ~45 min
Sound quality: FM radio B+ ("pornographic")
Label: Aids of Spades

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, George Duke, Ralph Humphrey, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler and Jean-Luc Ponty, and also Ian Underwood, even though certain people have disputed his participation

This concert was televised as part of a Swedish series of concert broadcasts embarassingly titled Oppåpoppa ("get up and pop"). The first 20 minutes ("Cosmik Debris" - "RDNZL") were shown separately from the remaining 57 ("Montana" - "Farther Oblivion"). (Our Swedish readers might be interested to know that the announcer was none other than Claes "Clabbe" af Geijerstam :) In the video, "Dupree's Paradise" is full-length, and Ian Underwood is clearly visible.

Piquantique

1. The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue / Kung Fu  (02:13) [only "Kung Fu" is listed]
2. Redunzl ["RDNZL"] (04:26)
3. Dupree's Paradise (11:26) [edit - Oppopoppa has full-length]
4. T'Mershi Duween (01:55)

5. Farther Oblivion (20:42) [listed as "Farther O'Blivion"]

  • Tracks 1-3 and 5 are live in Stockholm. Track 1 starts with about a minute of "The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue", which is not listed, but changes into "Kung Fu" , which is listed.
  • Track 4, the 1974 filler track, is taken from Nifty; date and location unknown. (The liner notes claim Sidney, "only 32" days before, but this does not seem to hold water.)

"Farther Oblivion" is an officially unreleased number including themes from "Cucamonga", "The Adventures of Greggary Peccary" as well as the entire "Be-Bop Tango" theme, and often confused with the completely different "Father O'Blivion". Cover is probably a head shot of Zappa xeroxed on blue paper; back cover has a picture of the band at the Skansen stage. (We see Ian Underwood clearly). 

"Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue" / "Kung Fu"  informant: Michael Gula

Oppopoppa

The Oppopoppa CD is struck from the same recording, but has the following tracks:

1. Montana (08:35)
2. Dupree's Paradise (23:36)
3. Farther Oblivion (22:26)

Packaged in cheezy black & white xerox quality. The "booklet" has one page, with a close-up of Zappa's face, and the back has a plain track/band listing. At the beginning of "Montana", there are some feedback / mic level problems, and "Dupree's Paradise" starts off a little noisily, but otherwise the sound is "not that bad".

Live in Edinboro 1974 (2 CD)

  • Edinboro State College, Edinboro, PA, 08-May-1974

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Jeff Simmons, Tom Fowler, Chester Thompson, Ralph Humphrey, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Don Preston, George Duke and Bruce & Walt Fowler

Length: 120:42
Label: The Swingin' Pig Records, SARL TSP-CD-012-2
Sound quality: Soundboard A-

1. Tune Up & Intro
2. Cosmik Debris
3. Pygmy Twylyte
4. Idiot Bastard Son / Cheepnis
5. Inca Roads [12:23; partial]
6. Montana [partial]
7. Cocktail Lounge Music
8. Dupree's Paradise [including Varèse's "Octandre", "Blue Moon" [?], Wagner's "Lohengrin", and the "Can't Afford No Shoes" riff]

9. Dupree's Paradise [last part; mislisted as "It Can't Happen Here"]
10. It Can't Happen Here [not listed] / Hungry Freaks, Daddy / You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here
11. How Could I Be Such a Fool? / Wowie Zowie / Let's Make the Water Turn Black / Harry, You're a Beast / The Orange County Lumber Truck ["Orange Country Lumber Truck" not listed]
12. Oh No [also listed: "Son of Orange County"]
13. Son of Orange County [not listed]
14. More Trouble Every Day
15. Camarillo Brillo

  • Track 7: a slow jazz boogie introduced by Zappa as "Cocktail Lounge Music". It quotes Wagner's "Die Valkyries".
  • Track 11: "The Orange County Lumber Truck" fades out and back in.

The front cover is a sepia-tone photo from a rehearsal or soundcheck that shows Zappa, Ruth, Chester & Ralph, and a fifth musician who is probably Tom Fowler. The back cover says "Collect 'em all!"

Unmitigated Audacity (LP)

  • Notre Dame University, 12-May-1974

Also issued legally as part of the Beat the Boots set.

Length: ~45 min
Sound quality: Audience C
Label: 11 Records / GLC D-549 (?)

Musicians: Frank Zappa, George Duke, Tom Fowler, Bruce Fowler, Ralph Humphrey, Chester Thompson, Jeff Simmons, Don Preston and Napoleon Murphy Brock

1. Dupree's Paradise (00:53)
2. It Can't Happen Here (02:19)
3. Hungry Freaks, Daddy (02:46)
4. You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here (02:40)
5. How Could I Be Such a Fool? (03:46)
6. Ain't Got No Heart (to Give Away) (02:20)
7. I'm Not Satisfied (02:18)
8. Wowie Zowie (03:18)
9. Let's Make the Water Turn Black (02:23)
10. Harry, You're a Beast (00:53)
11. Oh No
12. Son of Orange County (08:15)
13. More Trouble Every Day (07:53)
14. Louie, Louie [Richard Berry] (01:55)
15. Camarillo Brillo (05:06)

"Dupree's Paradise" looks suspiciously partial. The title probably refers to the audacity required to release a recording that sounds this bad. The original run was on black vinyl; 100 copies were done on red and 100 on multi-coloured. The cover was an insert printed in several different colours. The group was identified as "The Rivival Band".

Frank Zappa vs. the Tooth Fairy (LP/CD)

  • Circle Star Theater, San Carlos, California, 19-Jul-1974 / 21-Jul-1974

Also issued as record 5 (red label) of The History & Collected Improvisations of Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention (re-issued on CD).

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.

Indiscreet Picture Show (LP)
A Token of His Extreme (LP)
We-Don't-Fuck-Around (LP)

  • KCET-TV studio, Culver City, Los Angeles, 6/7-Aug-1974 (broadcast in December)
  • bonus track (We-Don't-Fuck-Around)
  • Also issued as A Token of His Extreme (both on Mud Shark MZ 3607 and on Nifty, Tough & Bitchen Records, who also made it record 6 of their Mystery Box)
  • Also issued as We-Don't-Fuck-Around with Los Angeles 1977 bonus track (200 green vinyl copies)
  • Officially released on the Dub Room Special video

Length: ~50 min
Sound quality: TV mono
Label: Smog Records 62517A/B

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

1. Dog Breath Variations / Uncle Meat
2. Trouble Every Day
3. Montana
4. George Duke Freaks Out [Duke's solo]
5. Florentine Pogen Part 1

6. Florentine Pogen Part 2
7. Oh No
8. Son of Orange County
9. Pygmy Twylyte
10. Stink-Foot (Tom Waits Version)
11. Inca Roads [cut after 03:05 - Cuccurrullo Brillo Brullo has a 09:28 version]

(The issue We-Don't-Fuck-Around has a "San Ber'dino" bonus track from Los Angeles 1977.)

On "Montana", Zappa seems to forget the lyrics "And it would be on top, / That's why I'm moving to Montana" and sings nonsense instead. Track 10 is a "Tom Waits Version" ("right around the corner - over by Tom Waits' restaurant") and is sung through a frequency shifter (Zappa's own term, caught on tape in San Carlos 21-July-1974) transposing his voice down below normal range. (Tom Waits opened for Zappa on the previous tour.) And this version of "Inca Roads" provided the basic tracks for the official One Size Fits All relese (the guitar solo came from a Helsinki concert 17-Sep-1974 - Stage #2 is assembled from two shows, and "Inca Roads" there is from the 22nd - they are not the same). "Florentine Pogen" is the One Size Fits All version, but here it is 9:40, whereas on One Size Fits All it fades and is several minutes shorter.

This is a European issue (in deluxe black & white cover) of a recording made for a TV show called "A Token of My Extreme", which has been extensively bootlegged. The cover has two pictures of Frank and two Tinsel-Town Rebellion-style collages (front and back) of hell (?) (front) and a ballroom with a big band playing (back) under a banner reading "FAB POODLES". The labels bear track lists and also say "SMOG RECORDS", "BEIM", "62517A"/"62517B" and "INDESCRET PICTURE SHOW". The back cover says:

Total Time 50 min
All titles by HIM

Chester Gorilla drums Thompson
Ruth percussion Underwood
Napoleon sax belcanto Murphy Brock
George freakout Duke
Tom bass Fowler
Special Thanks to F. guitar and Z. vocals

Produced by SMOG DISTRIBUTION LTD

A Token of His Extreme

Length: 24:38+22:10
Sound quality: "not awful (for example better than Freaks & Motherfuckers) but it isn't great either; there's a lot of high end but I can listen to it comfortably"
Label: Mud Shark / Nocturnal Records MZ-3607 (one version); Nifty, Tough & Bitchen Records (another version)
Matrix (Mud Shark version): MZ-3607 A "To Arms To Arms" 381 [side A]; MZ-3607 B "Revenge the Crusaders" 381 [side B].

The issue A Token of His Extreme (not to be confused with A Token of MY Extreme) was pressed in 2000 copies on black vinyl and 500 copies on green vinyl. It is supposed to be slightly different, but exactly how is not known. It came out in two versions, on the Mud Shark and Nifty, Tough & Bitchen labels (the latter also making it record 6 of their Mystery Box). Mud Shark version:

1. Dog Breath / Uncle Meat (03:57)
2. Florentine Pogen (10:15)
3. Oh No / Son of Orange County (04:02)
4. Pygmy Twylyte (05:26)

5. More Trouble Every Day (03:27)
6. Stinkfoot (04:09)
7. Inca Roads (10:03)
8. Honey Honey (00:55)
9. Pygmy Twylyte (01:15)
10. Outro - A Token of My Extreme (01:25)

Some eyewitness accounts:

  • The first track on each side fades out to a brief break and the the rest of each side segues.
  • "Dog Breath" is without lyrics and played at a fast tempo. Much of the 1st track sounds cut-up or like it may have been "played with" in a studio somewhere.
  • From "Florentine Pogen" through "Inca Roads", each song has a solo by Frank.
  • "Stinkfoot" is the Tom Waits' Restaurant version ["right around the corner ... over by Tom Waits's Restaurant"] and is sung through the voice modifier. It also leads into the guitar solo with the Fido slaughter and "Sick!" (just like on Stage #2).
  • The second "Pygmy Twylyte" is a short jam in the same fashion as "The Booger Man" from Stage #4: a band member shouts a line from "Pygmy Twylyte" during it - hence the title I guess.

Here's a further eyewitness account of the Mud Shark MZ-3607 version - and by the use on the labels of lines from "Dumb All Over", we can deduce that it's a 1980s product:

In the summer of '98, I purchased the Zappa vinyl bootleg A Token of His Extreme in the States. I believe this is one of the 2000 black vinyl pressings which your web site talks about. For now, I'll try to describe the "look" of the album. I'd be happy to provide details on the music in a
future e-mail, if you wish.

The record was sealed poorly in cellophane. The record jacket has the typical "bootleg look": a solid white front and back with a glued-on paper front cover featuring some black-on-white artwork. The back cover, as I said, is simply white.

I'll attempt to describe the front cover artwork: a large, mean-looking picture of Frank's face, a large hand holding a head (skull) on which is written "MUD SHARK", a type-written, diagonally cut-off letter in the bottom left-hand corner on which is written a lot of crazy stuff 

Oh, almost forgot, the cover has to be
black & white. Put the pungent Mud Shark
Stereo MZ 3607 - on the front and only
cover. You that this album was ---- like
----, produced by BASIL FAWLTY ---- don't
ignorant network executives can ---- down
just about anything, like vomit
that it fried my brain or any
adjust the pitch on side one by 1%
had a hard on that wouldn't go
but have to stay within the basic
work. If you don't feel up to the task --- turned down the
Bass --- since this still

[the rest is illegible - but this is nearly everything anyhow]

and 5 pictures of the John Cleese character from FAWLTY TOWERS doing his kind of funny walking routine. On the top of the cover it says "A TOKEN OF HIS EXTREME (LIVE FROM KCET TV L.A. 1974)". Below Frank's face it has "Beyond the Fringe of Audience Comprehension" [which is the title of another boot, but without connection to this one - the phrase was coined by Zappa himself]. Under the "MUD SHARK" head it has "STEREO, MZ 3607". To the left of Frank's face it has a track listing. There are also three small pictures around the front-cover edges: two are of a hand taking a knife to a rat and one is of a dinner plate with scaled bones on it (presumably rat leftovers).

Now for what I consider to be a really interesting feature. The top half of the labels (on both sides) has a black background and funky green letters spelling "The Billy Dexter Band". The bottom half has a green background with black lettering. On side A: "SIDE 1, MZ 3607 A, (24:38), Recorded Live" in small lettering. In large lettering: 'BEYOND THE FRINGE, "To Arms! To Arms", Billy Dexter, All Rights Reserved., Nocturnal Records'. On side B (in the same fashion as side A): "SIDE 2, MZ 3607 B, (22:10), Recorded Live"; 'BEYOND THE FRINGE, "Revenge the crusades", Billy Dexter, All Rights Reserved., Nocturnal Records'. On the needle drag at the end of side A (in etching): 'MZ-3607 A "To Arms To Arms" 381'. On side B: 'MZ-3607 B "Revenge the Crusaders" 381'.

Note: "Billy Dexter" was a name Zappa used instead of his own on the Mothers' single "Tears Began to Fall", in 1971.

Mystery Box version:

1. Montana (03:58)
2. Stinkfoot (03:56) ["Tom Waits version"]
3. Inca Roads (09:38)
4. Dog Breath / Uncle Meat (03:53)

5. Approximate (01:25)
6. Cosmik Debris (07:39)
7. Florentine Pogen (10:09)

(All tracka also appear on Cuccurrullo Brillo Brullo.) And an eyewitness account:

On both sides everything is adjusted to have an "all segue", but edits between songs are of course clear. Audience is only audible in the middle of "Approximate" and after "Florentine Pogen" (the song finish at 9:55). Most songs on side 1 (and expecially the second half of "Inca Roads") are overcrowded of crazy rumours overdubs. "Stinkfoot" is the "Tom Waits version" ("right around the corner ... over by Tom Waits's Restaurant"] and is sung through the voice modifier. "Approximate" is, of course, just a little bit of the song, with first the theme illustration by the whole band, then a vocal extravaganza (Zappa: "That's the melody"), after which Zappa says "Ok, this can also be danced" but "Cosmik Debris" starts.

Our Man in Italy (LP/CD)
Sono di Passagio (LP)

  • Palasport, Bologna, Italy, 8-Sep-1974

Also issued as Sono di Passagio on 20th Century Frog (matrix number FZ-1974-A/FZ-1974-B).

Length: ~54 min
Sound quality: Audience B+
Label: TZ-1974 (LP) / Yellow Fish Records YFR01 (CD)

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

1. Tush Tush Tush (A Token of My Extreme)
2. Stink-Foot
3. Inca Roads
4. Approximate

5. Penguin in Bondage
6. T'Mershi Duween
7. Dog Breath Variations / Uncle Meat
8. Cosmik Debris
9. David Bowie Soundcheck

Track 9 is introduced by Zappa as the "David Bowie Soundcheck". It seems to be George Duke's funky intro to "Dupree's Paradise", and not unlike "The Booger Man". On Sono di Passagio, it is identified as "Is There a Life After Uncle Meat?" ("Uncle Meat" itself, ironically, is not listed there). The Our Man in Italy vinyl, in 1983, had deluxe colour covers and/or green & white covers and was pressed on 300 numbered copies on blue vinyl. Sono di Passagio was made in 200 un-numbered copies. The cover has the 20th Century Fox logo, with "Fox" replaced with "Frog", and a black & white picture of Zappa with a guitar. Both black and white vinyl has been mentioned.

(The "Our Man in Italy" was inspired by Our Man in Nirvana, which is a bootleg and an unreleased 1960s album, and also a play on Graham Greene's book title Our Man in Havana.)

Televisioni Privati 1 ("vinyl metal acetate")
Televisioni Privati 2 ("vinyl metal acetate")
Cosmik Evolution (2 CD)

  • Velodromo Vigorelli, Milan, 09-Sep-1974

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Chester Thompson, Tom Fowler and George Duke (listed as playing keyboards & violin)

Televisioni Privati 1 ("vinyl metal acetate")

  • Label: UFO 1025 ("vinyl metal acetate")

1. A Token of My Extreme
2. Stink-Foot
3. Inca Roads
4. Florentin Pogen [continues on side 2]

5. Florentine Pogen [continued from side 1]
6. Approximate
7. Cosmik Debris

Televisioni Privati 2 ("vinyl metal acetate")

  • UFO 1026 ("vinyl metal acetate")

1. Dupree's Paradise
2. Village of the Sun
3. Penguin in Bondage [continues on side 2]

4. Penguin in Bondage [continued from side 1]
5. T'Mershi Duween
6. A Pound for a Brown on the Bus
7. Pygmy Twylyte

Cosmik Evolution (2 CD)

Label: Lizard LZCD 007/8

1. Tush Tush Tush (A Token of My Extreme) [partial]
2. Stink-Foot
3. Inca Roads
4. Florentine Pogen
5. Approximate
6. Cosmik Debris

7. RDNZL / Village of the Sun / Echidna's Arf (of You) / Don't You Ever Watch That Thing / Penguin in Bondage / T'Mershi Duween / Dog Breath Variations / Uncle Meat / Tush Tush Tush (A Token of My Extreme)
8. Camarillo Brillo
9. Pygmy Twylyte [00:00-08:57] / Room Service
10. Room Service [00:00-03:59] / Tush Tush Tush (A Token of My Extreme)

Track 1 fades up just before Zappa comes in to introduce the band, and they light into "Stink-Foot" (as on Stage #2). On track 7, Zappa introduces "a bunch of songs stuffed together; most of them are new". He names them all, except "Tush Tush Tush (A Token of My Extreme)" which does not belong here; it is a 40-second edit screw-up which seems to include the end of the concert. Track 10 has a fade end, and the real (chaotic) ending has been tagged to the end of track 7 instead.

This was a limited, numbered 300-copy edition. The booklet and back cover very appropriately have four 1988 tour photos of Zappa holding his microphone. The discs are Kodak writables, with sticker labels on the disc. Each disc has one of the cover pictures printed on the label. Incredibly, a copy went for US$113.50 on Ebay in spring 2002.

Ein Monster in der Musikhalle (LP/CD)

  • Wighalle, Vienna, 11-Sep-1974

Featured as record 3 (orange label) of The History & Collected Improvisations of Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention (re-issued on CD).

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".

CD That Came with the Book IM ZEICHEN DES MAGISCHEN AFFEN

  • 01-Oct 1974, Festhalle Mustermesse, Basel, Switzerland

From Robert Riedt:

I've got a new book:

Urban Gwerder (remember: Alla Zappa)
Im Zeichen des magischen Affen
September 1998
WOA Verlag AG Zürich, Switzerland
ISBN 3-9512180-2-9

It's a nice, large German book with one chapter "Meine Begegnungen mit Frank Zappa / Hot Raz Times". 2,000 copies have been printed ... the first 1,000 issues contain a CD with a nine-minute collage of Frank's concert in Basel '74 in good quality. I paid 89 DM (about $65).

From Andreas Kerschgens:

The cd that came with the book: Im Zeichen des magischen Affen starts at track one with a "Präambel" which are some spoken words of Frank Zappa in a radio interwiew ("great googly moogly ...") and turns into a song of Urban Gwerder. Track 5 (the last track of the CD) is a 9-minute collage of a Mothers concert from Basel on October 1 1974 called "ETERNAL MOTHERLY GOODBY COLLAGE" and has the following contents:

  • Drum solo by Ruth Underwood
  • Guru versus Archives in <<Cosmic Debris>>
  • Room Service Funnies in <<Pygmy Twilight>>
  • Let's get the fuck out of here <<Tush Tush Tush>>

Swiss Cheese at the Festivalhalle Basel in 1974 (2 CD)

  • Festhalle Mustermesse, Basel, Switzerland, 01-Oct-1974 (early show)
  • Harrisburg, 07-Nov-1974
  • Capitol Theater, Passiac, 08-Nov-1974

Label: FZ BA 01/02
Sound quality: very good soundboard

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

1. Tush Tush Tush Incl. Band Introduction (02:15)
2. Stink-Foot (07:06)
3. Inca Roads (13:13)
4. Cosmik Debris (12:38)
5. Approximate Version One (01:21)
6. Approximate Version Two (01:06)
7. Approximate Version Three (00:43)
8. Approximate Whole Version (04:21)
9. Preamble Chesters Gorilla (01:39)
10. Florentine Pogen (09:49)
11. Preamble Incl. Tuning (01:27)
12. Penguin in Bondage (08:15)
13. T'Mershi Duween (03:52)
14. Dog Meat (06:36)
15. Preamble Stupid Fucking Song (01:25)

16. Camarillo Brillo (06:29)
17. Preamble Oh No, I Don't Believe It (00:50)
18. Oh No (01:33)
19. Son of Orange County (06:01)
20. Trouble Every Day (07:09)
21. Dog Breath Variations / Uncle Meat (02:36)
22. Building a Girl (01:45)
23. Preamble Love Song (00:50)
24. Florentine Pogen (08:07)
25. Montana (07:00)
26. The Hook (Dupree's Paradise) (26:23)
27. Ruthie-Ruthie (02:16) [Berry/Zappa/Brock] [same recording as on Stage #1]
28. Smell My Beard (05:08) [may or may not be as on Stage #4]

  • Tracks 1-20 live at the Festhalle Mustermesse in Basel, Switzerland, 01-Oct-1974 (early show).
  • Tracks 21-26 live in Harrisburg 07-Nov-1974.
  • Tracks 27-28 live at the Capitol Theater, Passiac, 08-Nov-1974.

The cover is "similar to Roxy & Elsewhere with a coloured photo of the 1974 Mothers on stage on the front and the back".

Frank Zappa Brings Yellow Snow to Rochester & Buffalo (CD)

  • War Memorial, Rochester, NY, 14-Nov-1974
  • Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, NY, 15-Nov-1974

Label: Dripping Cow Rec. (D.C.R. 004 FZ)
Sound quality: "A-/B+"
Edition: limited 500 pieces
FZShows Link: Here

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

Rochester, NY, 14-Nov-1974
1: Tuning (00:51)
2: Florentine Pogen (08:08)
3. I'm Not Satisfied (03:13)
4. Echidna's Arf (Of You) (03:24)
5. Don't You Ever Wash That Thing? (04:22)
6. Montana / Tuning (09:15)
7. Yellow Snow Medley (13:08)

Buffalo, NY, 15-Nov-1974
8. Dog/Meat (06:46)
9. Yellow Snow Medley (14:26)
10. Tush Tush Tush (00:26)
11.  --- more! ---  (01:32)
12. Camarillo Brillo (03:15)
13. More Trouble Every Day (05:55)

Bonus (San Carlos, '74)
14: Cheepnis (04:17)

Thanks to hk for the info.

A Token of My Extreme (LP/CD)

  • Bridges Auditorium, a collage in Claremont, California, 11-Apr-1975 (late show)

Featured as record 6 (silver label) of The History & Collected Improvisations of Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention (re-issued on CD).

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.

No Bacon for Breakfast (2 LP / CD)
No Bacon for Breakfast Part 1 (LP)
No Bacon for Breakfast Part 2 (LP)
Violant Rape (1/2 LP)
Violent Rapture [?]
I Was a Teenage Maltshop (LP)

  • Music Hall, Boston, Massachusettes, 27-Apr-1975 (early show)
  • New Jersey November 1973 (No Bacon for Breakfast (Part 2) bonus track)
  • Avery Hall, New York 22-Nov-1973 (No Bacon for Breakfast (Part 2) bonus track)
  • Also issued as two separate albums, in the same covers, and re-issued on CD
  • Concert also bootlegged as Violant Rape (two versions?) as Al-01 on black, light-red/semi-translucent and clear (wow!) vinyl, with various covers, and as Violent Rapture (probably?), also on the Al label, with orange insert covers (200 copies).
  • Tracks 2-3 & 12 also issued as side 2 of I Was a Teenage Maltshop.

Length: 105 min
Sound quality: Audience B ("bad to horrible")

1975 musicians: Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Denny Walley, George Duke, Tom Fowler, Terry Bozzio and Napoleon Murphy Brock

1973 musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, George Duke, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Ralph Humphrey, Chester Thompson, Napoleon Murphy Brock and special guest Irma Coffee (in New Jersey)

No Bacon for Breakfast was released, in Europe, in 1985. From Andreas Kerschgens:

The versions of No Bacon for Breakfast that I own are the Volume 1 and Volume 2 LPs. They have the same black & white photo collage covers and titles on the back. There are black & white inserts on green (volume 1) and pink (volume 2) paper with parts of the same collages as on the cover. The inserts are titled "No Bacon for Breakfast - Live in Boston April 27, 1975 - Frank Zappa, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, George Duke, Terry Bozzio, Denny Walley, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Don Van Vliet". The bottom line: "ZAPPA/MOTHERS & Captain Beefheart". The sound of the bootlegs is bad to horrible. The labels are white with no text on them.

No Bacon for Breakfast Part 1 (LP)

Label: Angry Taxman Records NBB 2006

1. Introduction (07:26)
2. A Token of My Extreme (04:29)
3. Stink-Foot (05:12)
4. I'm Not Satisfied (02:00)
5. Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy [part 1] (07:30)

6. Carolina Hardcore Ectasy [part 2] (02:42)
7. Summer Night ["Summer-Night Blues", traditional] (03:40)
8. Uncle Meat Improvisations (16:23)
10. Varèse Extro (02:40) [Varèse?]

("Summer-Night Blues" has been described as "a blues improvisation where a band member says the words 'summer night'".)

No Bacon For Breakfast Part 2 (LP)

Label: Angry Taxman Records ATR (2) 006/007 (? - this is the same label as Framingham 1969?)
Matrix: NBB 20071-A/B

1. Poofter's Froth, Wyoming, Plans Ahead
2. Echidna's Arf (of You) [intro]
3. George Duke Solo / Instrumental
4. Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?
5. Drum Solo
6. Advance Romance [part 1]

7. Advance Romance [part 2]
8. Pygmy Twylyte / Dummy Up [bonus track]
9. Dupree's Paradise [bonus track - listed as "The Singing Lesson"]

Tracks 8 and 9 are bonus tracks, from the Nifty bootleg. They're 1973 recordings from New Jersey and New York, respectively. Irma Coffee sits in in New Jersey. From Richard Kolke:

"Echidna's Arf (of You)" is used as a bridge between "Poofter's Froth, Wyoming, Plans Ahead" and George Duke's solo. It is only the last 20 or 30 bars of the tune and instead of going directly into "Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?", it goes in to Frank's preamble to George's solo (the finger-cymbal routine - this also holds true for the Violant Rape boot [below]). George's solo mutates into a Zappa-conducted instrumental that concludes with Captain Beefheart stating that "the music was thud-like" and then into brief snatches of the "Don't You Ever Wash That Thing" motif, which then segues into Terry Bozzio's drum solo. The cover is brown & white with title and track listings on the front and a collage on the back. There's a black & white insert on glossy paper with the same collage. Angry Taxman Records ATR (2) 006/007 on the cover, but the vinyl says NBB 20071-A/B.

No Bacon for Breakfast CD

Label: Phantas Music FZNOBA 15

1. Prologue Improvisation
2. A Token of My Extreme
3. Stink-Foot
4. I'm Not Satisfied
5. Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy Part 1
6. Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy Part 2
7. Summer-Night Blues [traditional]
8. A Pound for a Brown on the Bus
9. Prologue / Frog Improvisation [?]
10. Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead
11. Improvisation (Including George Duke Solo)
12. Don't You Ever Wash That Thing? (including Terry Bozzio Drum Solo)
13. Advance Romance

(Again, "Summer-Night Blues" has been described as "a blues improvisation where a band member says the words 'summer night'".) From Andreas Kerschgens:

The No Bacon For Breakfast CD has a 1975 black & w front photo of Zappa and Captain Beefheart sitting at a table. Mr. Zappa wears a hat and smokes a cigarette. Don van Vliet brushes his moustache. In the middle of the fold out is a black & white 1975 live photo of the Mothers with Captain Beefheart sitting on the stage. On the back of the CD cover you find the same black & white photo collage as on the vinyl version [above].

Violant Rape

Label: Al-01

Violant Rape has been confirmed as a single album on both black, clear and light-red, semi-translucent vinyl. Clear vinyl versions have been without labels. The front cover is "a laminated black & white photo of Zappa" / "a nasty close-up of Zappa's head", and the back cover reads: "Violant Rape ... is one of my favorites! Live in Boston 1975 with Captain Beefheart".

1. Montana
2. Florentine Pogen

3. Instrumental Intro
4. Debra Kadabra
5. Poofter's Froth, Wyoming, Plans Ahead
6. Echidna's Arf (of You) Intro [listed as "Echidnas Arf"]
7. George Duke Solo [listed as "Funky Room Service"]

Track 3 has been described as "sort of a cross between 'Canarsie' and 'Leather Goods'". Track 7 fades out with three or four bars of "The Torture Never Stops".

Muffin "Live" Band

  • Music Hall, Boston, Massachusettes, 27-Apr-1975 (early show)?

This is a 1975 recording, but the date is so far a guess.

Length: ~38 min
Sound quality: Audience
Label: STW 840101

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

1. Montana (09:51)
2. Florentine Pogen (07:24)

3. Debra Kadabra (08:37)
4. Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead (02:52)
5. Echidna's Arf (00:38)
6. George Duke Improvisations (05:21)

The cover is red and blank. Red labels, listing the artist as P.T. Schneider presents MUFFIN "LIVE" BAND. The track list is given as "Prisoners Torture", "Best Song of the World" (side one), "In Your Mouth", "Worse Muffing", "Black Water", "Iceball" (side two).

If You Get a Headache (LP/CD)

  • Kiel Auditiorium, Saint Louis, 13-May-1975
  • Music Hall, Boston, Massachusettes, 23-Oct-1975

Featured as record 4 (pink label) of The History & Collected Improvisations of Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention (re-issued on CD).

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.

Bongo Fury El Paso TX (2 CD)
Bongo Fury in El Paso (2CD)

Two different double-CD issues of material from the same show. For some reason, they have much the same bonus tracks.

Bongo Fury El Paso TX

  • El Paso, 23-May-1975
  • Bonus tracks

Label: RXZ CD 344A/355A

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, George Duke, Terry Bozzio, Tom Fowler, Bruce Fowler and Napoleon Murphy Brock plus special guest Jimmy Carl Black

1. Presentation
2. Bongo Fury Tour Intro
3. Apostrophe (')
4. Intro of Band
5. Stink-Foot
6. I'm Not Satisfied
7. Carolina Hard-Core Ectasy
8. Velvet Sunrise
9. A Pound for a Brown on the Bus
10. Zappa Introduces Jimmy Carl Black
11. You're So Fine [Lance Finney & Willie Schofield]
12. Those Lonely, Lonely Nights [Earl King or John Vincent]
13. Debra Kedabra
14. Advance Romance
15. Florentine Pogen
16. 200 Years Old [extended version]
17. Orange Claw Hammer
18. As a Matter of Fact
19. Inca Roads [slighly longer edit of the Lost Episodes version]
20. The Horrible Part of It
21. RDNZL [longer edit of the Lost Episodes version]

  • Tracks 1-15 are live in El Paso, 23-May-1975.
  • Tracks 11-12 are oldies sung by special guest Jimmy Carl Black, originally recorded by The Falcons and Earl King, respectively. "Those Lonely, Lonely Nights" was covered later by Johnny "Guitar" Watson. It was written by Earl King or his manager, John Vincent, depending on which credit you believe.
  • Tracks 16-20 are bonus tracks.
     
  • Track 16 is the unedited version of the track that's on Bongo Fury, clocking in at around 8 minutes instead of 04:31. What has been cut out on Bongo Fury is 39 seconds just before the guitar solo (a slide solo by Denny Walley), 2 minutes and 43 seconds just after the guitar solo (effectively a piano solo and one verse), and 2 seconds of the fade-out. It also appears on Chronicle and on An Evening with ... Frank Zappa & Captain Beefheart.
  • Track 17 may be from a radio broadcast, with Zappa strumming a guitar and Beefheart singing (barely audible).
  • Track 18 is a recording of when "Zappa talks".
  • Tracks 19 and 21 are longer edits of the Lost Episodes versions: "RDNZL" is about 04:11 (22 seconds longer than on The Lost Episodes), and the fade-out in "Inca Roads" is a couple of seconds longer, too.
  • Track 20 is an interview segment.

Bongo Fury in El Paso

  • El Paso, 23-May-1975
  • William Patterson College, Wayne, New Jersey, 11-Nov-1973 (early show)
  • Music Hall, Boston, 27-Apr-1975 (?)
  • bonus tracks

Label: FZ EP 03/04
Sound quality: very good soundboard

El Paso musicians: Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, George Duke, Terry Bozzio, Napoleon Murphy Brock and Denny Walley plus special guest Jimmy Carl Black

1973 musicians: Frank Zaooa, Ruth Underwood, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Ralph Humphrey, Chester Thompson, Tom Fowler, Bruce Fowler, Walt Fowler and George Duke plus special guest Irma Coffee

1. Presentation (00:47)
2. Bungo Fury Initial (04:34)
3. Apostrophe (') (03:38)
4. Band Introduction (00:32)
5. Stink-Foot (05:28)
6. I'm Not Satisfied (02:06)
7. Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy (09:10)
8. Velvet Sunrise (05:23)
9. A Pound for a Brown on the Bus (14:51)
10. Frank Introduces El Paso Son Jimmy Carl Black (00:25)
11. You're So Fine (01:26) [Lance Finney & Willie Schofield]
12. [Those] Lonely, Lonely Nights (02:55) [Earl King or John Vincent]
13. Debra Kadabra (04:18)
14. Montana (07:04)
15. Strange Things (08:36)

16. Advance Romance (12:38)
17. Florentine Pogen (08:53)
18. 200 Years Old (Outtake) (08:06) [extended version]
19. Orange Claw Hammer (Outtake) (04:19)
20. ReDuNZL (Outtake) ["RDNZL" - longer edit of the Lost Episodes version] (04:04)
21. Camarillo Brillo (05:26)
22. Muffin Man (03:25)
23. Let's Make the Water Turn Black (03:52)
24. Willie the Pimp (09:15)
25. Preamble (00:43)
26. Pygmy Twylyte (00:26)
27. Dummy Up (04:05)
28. The Singing Lesson (04:59)
29. Dupree's Paradise (07:41)

  • Tracks 1-17 live at the County Coliseum, El Paso, 23-May-1975. Tracks 11-12 are oldies sung by Jimmy Carl Black, originally recorded by The Falcons and Earl King, respectively. "Those Lonely, Lonely Nights" was covered later by Johnny "Guitar" Watson. It was written by Earl King or his manager, John Vincent, depending on which credit you believe.
  • Tracks 18-29 are bonus tracks.
     
  • Track 18 is the unedited version of the track that's on Bongo Fury, clocking in at around 8 minutes instead of 04:31. What has been cut out on Bongo Fury is 39 seconds just before the guitar solo (a slide solo by Denny Walley), 2 minutes and 43 seconds just after the guitar solo (effectively a piano solo and one verse), and 2 seconds of the fade-out. It also appears on Chronicle and on An Evening with ... Frank Zappa & Captain Beefheart.
  • Track 19 is recorded live in a studio in 1975, with Zappa strumming chords and Beefheart singing (barely audible).
  • Track 20 is a longer edit of the Lost Episodes version - some 22 seconds longer.
  • Tracks 21-24 were previously thought to be live at the Music Hall, Boston, 27-Apr-1975 (early show); this has been called into question; stay tuned.
  • Tracks 25-29 live in Wayne, New Jersey, 11-Nov-1973, with Irma Coffee on guest vocals.

The front cover has a "coloured photo of the 1975 Mothers with Captain Beefheart on stage"; the back cover has two drawings of Zappa by Captain Beefheart and a track list.

Waterbury, Connecticut, 29.10.75 (CD)

  • Waterbury Palace Theater, Waterbury, Connecticut, 29-Oct-1975

Label: ZAPP 1001 (Germany)

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

1. Stink-Foot
2. Dirty Love
3. How Could I Be Such a Fool?
4. I Ain't Got No Heart
5. I'm Not Satisfied
6. Black Napkins
7. Advance Romance
8. Honey, Don't You Want a Man Like Me?
9. The Illinois Enema Bandit
10. Carolina Hard-Core Extasy
11. Chunga's Revenge [partial]

The cover (front has a black & white picture of Zappa, as on page 19 of Dominique Chevalier's book Viva! Zappa) lists a bonus track: "Call Any Vegetable" from the Fillmore West in 1970 - but it's not on the disc. The disc itself says "Waterburg" instead of "Waterbury" and is labeled "ZAP 1001" instead of "ZAPP 1001".

On to 1976-1980

home - vinyl vs CDs - weirdo discography - bootlegs - misc - hot lynx - e-mail us at zappa dot patio at gmail dot com 2006-04-22 20:02

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