The '88 band bounces back after a few subpar shows. Set one is tight and energetic, including one of the most solid versions of "Dickie's Such An Asshole" (a song which, for reasons not clear to this listener, tends to elicit the sloppiest performances of the tour). The guy singing along loudly with "My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama" on my tape adds to the fun rather than detracting.
Tonight's Monster, "Pound," is one of the best of the month. Aside from offering "Make A Sex Noise" (which appears on YCDTOSA 6 with some unsuccessful sex noises edited out), this version touches on a variety of moods, including a rare passage featuring Keneally (I think) working over a harmonically undetermined backdrop rather than the straight rock vamps which he usually got assigned. It ends with Robert Martin giving away one of the upcoming premieres of the night by quoting "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" (you're cheating, Bobby), before FZ cues "When The Lie's So Big."
The second half opens with the OSFA songs well done, leading to a version of "Let's Move To Cleveland" featuring an FZ solo that evokes memories of the Cologne '82 As An Am version (possibly the best ever). The other outstanding song is "Who Needs The Peace Corps." There have already been a few references to the "training exercise" mission to Nicaragua, and we finally get a full-scale infiltration of the Secret Word on the second half of this number, to great effect. (It does equal damage on the coda of "The Illinois Enema Bandit.") Plus, FZ's solo on "Stairway To Heaven" (absent in Portland) actually does give Jimmy Page a run for his money this time. Out of the mixed bag of March '88 shows, this one is a keeper.
- PB
It is a shame this show is not better than it is, because my tape of this concert is easily one of the better audience recordings from the '88 tour. Nice separation, high levels, clean sound, and a prominent mix of both Mann and Keneally. Unfortunately, the music contained on this excellent recording is not all that worth hearing.
The first set is the weaker of the two sets, and peaks early. Memories of '82 inhabit the opening "Black Page", which contains as aggressive a Frank solo as you will hear on this tour. Sadly, despite some strong song choices, the set is all downhill from here. "Find Her Finer" pumps some life into the set after the "I'm-on-my-last-legs-retire-me-soon" performance of "We're Turning Again," but an awkward segue into "Sinister Footwear" practically stops the band dead in its tracks, as does the segue from "Stevie's Spanking" into "Any Kind of Pain."
The second sets fares better than the first, but it's mostly due to the strength of the songs more than the performances themselves. The "Irish Godfather" opener is sluggish and weak, and "Packard Goose" is uninspired, but with "Zomby Woof" the show hits its stride. "King Kong" turns in an uneven Monster performance, but a Keneally guitar/keyboard solo, an Ed Mann "For those of you who might not know" speech (the Percussionist Speaks, part One), and a '68 sounding "let-everyone-solo-at-once" ending more than redeem the more routine portions. [Note: According to Project Documentation, Ed's speech was a thinly-veiled diatribe against Thunes, who gave Ed the finger in response. - PB] The OSFA Medley helps close the set, allowing Frank to whip out another enjoyably aggressive solo in "Andy," before going through the motions with a disappointing "Stairway to Heaven" workout. The encores do not offer any redemption by way of the guitar, though the majestic "Strictly Genteel" manages to work its magic and restore faith in Frank's compositional powers.
Frank does not seem able to sustain the energy for more than one show during the latter half of the US tour, and since the 3/17 show was so good, this one disappoints- as expected. But as with many of these shows, labeling this one as bad would simply be wrong. The performances are all solid, and Frank's solos, with the exception of "Stairway to Heaven", are at least on par with the rest of the tour. With a set list as strong and diverse as this one, however, one rightly expects much more- and sadly does not get it.
- JG
FZ sounds sort of pessimistic at the beginning of the show, telling us that the acoustics of the hall are terrible (which my tape confirms), that Ike has a sore throat and that Scott has tendonitis in one hand. In spite of these Diseases Of The Band, the band delivers a good rendition of "The Untouchables," with a monologue basically identical to the BTHW version. Oh, forgot to mention that "Stinkfoot" opened the show (hasn't it opened all shows I've reviewed so far?), with a pretty boring solo.
Next, it's time for one of my least favourite medleys. "Stick Together" is a bit funnier than last tour thanks to the horn section, while "Willie The Pimp" has moved to the porch of the Texas Motel, but is just a mere shadow of his dirty, bluesy self from the 1970s. "My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama," another song FZ butchered in 1984, has a pretty cool straight rock solo, but is it really Frank playing? The most impressive thing about "Montana" is to hear Ike handling the vocal lines at the middle with his sore throat.
After that, Carlos Santana once again sneaks his secret chord progression into the show. The solo starts out rather dull, but after a while FZ finds inspiration, and we get a rather lengthy, good guitar workout. But the best thing about "City Of Tiny Lites" is that it almost always leads into "Pound For A Brown," and it does tonight. After the theme, Albert Wing displays the whole register of the tenor sax in an amazing solo. Then, Bobby does the same thing with his voice, when he scats along with his keyboard solo over 4 octaves. Ed plays around with his synthetic toys, which turns into a simultaneous drum/percussion solo. Finally, we get an alto sax solo on top of tonight's loop, not too exciting. Despite the great first sax solo, we got a somewhat disappointing monster song, so it's good to know there'll come another.
Next, we get one of the most underrated and underplayed FZ tunes, IMHO. "Marqueson's Chicken" sounds great in this arrangement, should definitely have been released. This is one of the few1988 performances with the original solo vamp - in Europe they started using "Twenty-One", but I prefer this one. FZ's solo is quite good.
Set #2 starts with "Zoot Allures." Once again, Frank is a slow starter - the first minute of his solo is just plain boring, but after a while inspiration strikes and it turns into a long, very dynamic solo, showcasing most of FZ's playing moods.
After "I Ain't Got No Heart" and "Love Of My Life" it's time for the moment we've all been waiting for: "Big Swifty." The theme is majestetic as always, and leads us right into far-out territories - instead of starting the improvisations with a horn solo over a jazzy vamp, we get to hear a trombone/synclavier duet. Soon, Chad and Scott breaks in characteristic style, while FZ moves over to the horn section where he starts conducting a series of short solos. Next goes Mike, who gets the chance to play a long solo, but the rhythm section nearly steals the show with some amazing, high energy playing. Great stuff - if only the tape had sounded better. Meanwhile, FZ has moved back to favourite toy, this time for a short duet with Ed, before it's back to the closing theme. A much scarier monster than the previous one, yet not really impressive.
"The Torture Never Stops" has some amusing dialogue between FZ and Ed Mann. Ed goes wild on the harmonica, and tries to convince Frank that he's Bob Dylan and not Tom Petty. "Lonesome Cowboy Burt" has turned into a cotton advertiser on CNN, who tells us that cotton feels good on you. Not the faintest idea what this is about, but the band seems highly amused. [If I understand Den Simms correctly, it was a cotton commercial, featuring either Laurie Anderson or a similar voice, that inspired the "ha ha" motive in the second half of the song as they performed it in '88. - PB] FZ finds solo inspiration immediately this time, again very dynamic playing, ranging from soft melodicism to petulant frenzy. Though the solo ends up too long, this must be one of the best "Torture"s of the tour. [FZ released the solo and coda from this show on Best Band.- PB]
The rest of the set consists of typical towards-the-end-songs: "Peaches," "Stairway," "Beatles Medley," "Whippin' Post" and "Watermelon." To my surprise, my tape ends in the middle of the WP solo, so I can't tell whether something extraordinary happens during the last 10 minutes. But all in all, this was not a great show. The monster songs have their highlights, and we get some good FZ solos, but the band sounds tired tonight. Very well, soon it's off to Europe, where I anticipate the shows to be much better than this.
- JN
This is not among the outstanding shows of the tour, but it's enjoyable thanks to good humor and a well-plotted setlist. "Find Her Finer" as the second song, "Zoot Allures" in the middle of set 1 and "Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue" to open set 2 are all welcome (although "City Of Tiny Lites" closing set 1 isn't such a great idea). This take of "Dolphy" makes up much of the Best Band version - the best solos are Bobby Martin's (edited out of the album), featuring a jazzed-up rendition of the theme, and Paul Carmen's (included on the album), which actually does work some Dolphy licks into a composition that hardly seems to have much to do with the late saxophonist.
FZ supplies a great moment in '88 tour humor in his commentary during Keneally's "Peace Corps" monologue, as well as some good solos (though no outstanding ones). Unfortunately, he also allows this show to continue two of the worrisome trends of March '88 - no guitar solos on the Monster Songs and short second sets (only four songs, counting the "Texas Motel" medley as one). However, perhaps as a tribute to an enthusiastic audience, we do get a somewhat tentative premiere of "Bolero," a wonderful instrumental arrangement that hints at the pleasures to come in Europe.
- PB
While there is nothing in this show that is a must hear- no incredible solos, no outrageous performances, no hilarious Secret Word sabotages- this concert still comes across as an enjoyable and highly entertaining affair. The set list mostly consists of the same old songs that the US tour has seen, but constructed in such a manner as to highlight the strengths of each tune. There is no bona-fide Secret Word of the night, but Ike and Frank appear to be in rather good spirits, and their vocal parts are filled with ad-libs and good humor.
The first set is fairly standard, yet succeeds thanks to the excellent placement of a couple songs. The second song "Untouchables" is choice, and helps bring a freshness to the "Packard Goose" which follows. A jumbled version of "The Republican Medley" constitutes most of the second half of the set, with a creamy "Big Medley" filling helping to alleviate any "why-so-many-new-songs-in-a-row?" backlash. Unfortunately, Frank's "Oh No" solo is one of his weaker "Oh No" efforts of the tour, with not even Wackerman stepping up to save the show.
The second set runs pretty much the same course as the first, with some strong song placement helping to strengthen the proceedings. The opening "I Am the Walrus" is perfect, and sets the stage for a festive second set (despite the botched segue into "Torture"). "Big Swifty" is the single Monster performance of the show, and while it is nothing to write home about, it does manage to illustrate how comfortable this band has become with these extended improvisations. Even "Keep It Greasy" and "Honey Don't You Want A Man Like Me?" (a single tour performance) sound good, fitting well within this feel-good show.
The closing portion of the second set and the encores are all pretty standard, with some solid performances but nothing spectacular. Frank and Ike continue to have a good time with the lyrics, however, throwing in references from everything to Nicaragua to Golden Pheasant to Confinement Loaf. Their high spirits prove to be contagious, as I find myself enjoying this show a great deal despite the lack of any single spectacular performance.
- JG
The last show of the initial U.S. leg, and, as it would turn out, Zappa's last rock concert in America ever. As tape collectors know, FZ's performances on these special occasions have ranged all over the map, from spectacular epic shows to near-disasters. Like many of them, though, this show falls squarely in the middle. There are no surprises in the setlist, and special guests Dweezil, A. West and Eric Buxton, though entertaining, ain't Shankar or even Lisa Popeil. Still, this concert makes the grade as a good example of a standard U.S. show, with a couple of extra touches.
The "Torture" Medley benefits from some amusing horseplay between FZ and (primarily) Ed, with some early "ayee!" talk during "Lonesome Cowboy Burt." FZ reels off some good acoustic musings on this song, as well, and he manages to get a rise out of birthday boy Wackerman during "City Of Tiny Lites." His "Inca Roads" solo tonight also works on its own low-key terms, if you're willing to forget temporarily about the 70's versions. "Pound For A Brown" gives us a good run of solos, including a bizarre Keneally outing (why didn't any of his solos make it onto an official release?), before concluding with the return of A. West.
Dweezil joins in on the extended, all-covers encore, with a "Stairway" solo which suggests that he takes Jimmy Page more seriously than anyone else on stage. We get the inevitable father/son duet on "Whipping Post," with the elder Zappa supplying some subdued blues while Dweezil sounds like one of his father's loops from the '82 tour. Finally, "Bolero" and "America The Beautiful" wrap up the U.S. tour in style - and, even if many of these reviews suggest that this leg has made an underwhelming impression, one should bear in mind that even in February, no one could have predicted that it could have ended this way.
- PB