Zappa In New York

Released: March 13 1978

Tracklist

  1. Titties & Beer
  2. Cruisin For Burgers
  3. I Promis Not To Come In Your Mouth
  4. Punky’s Whips
  5. Honey Don’t You Want A Man Like Me
  6. The Illinois Enema Bandit
  7. I’m The Slime
  8. Pound For A Brown
  9. Manx Needs Women
  10. The Black Page Drum Solo/Black Page
  11. Big Leg Emma
  12. Sofa
  13. Black Page
  14. the Torture Never Stops
  15. The Purple Lagoon/Approximate

Line-up
Frank Zappa (conductor, lead guitar, vocals), Ray White (rhythm guitar, vocals), Don Pardo (sophisticaded narration), David Samuels (timpani, vibes), Eddie Jobson (keyboards, violin, vocals), Patrick O’Hearn (bass, vocals), Randy Brecker (trumpet), Mike Brecker (tenor sax, flute), Lou Marini (alto sax, flute), Terry Bozzio (drums, vocals), Ruth Underwood (percussion, synthesizer, and various humanly impossible overdubs), Ronnie Cuber (baritone sax, clarinet), Tome Malone (trombone, trumpet, piccolo), John Bergamo, Ed Mann (percussion overdubs)

19 thoughts on “Zappa In New York”

  2. Great live album – killer band – killer horn section and great performances . I still prefer the original vinyl ( with Punky’s) to the FZ remix which is on CD . ‘ I promise not to.. is ‘ is one of FZ’s overlooked gems , Black Page is amazing , and Enema Bandit is the definitive version – overall one of my Fav Zappa albums , great cover too .

  3. My personal favorite live album. This album has a little bit of everything you might find on other Zappa albums. When a ‘Zappa newbie’ asks me what album is a good one to start with, I point them here. Good rock songs, great show, great show antics, and Terry Bozzio grows up right on stage!! I think this was one of the best shows I have heard, and always will be.

  4. Another great live Zappa album. I never get tired of Titties and Beer. I really dig that groove that kicks the tune off and reappears after “..magic ink!”. I could spend a good hour reviewing this double cd, but …

  5. This is one of my all time favorite live albums. not just Zappa’s, but by anyone. The superstar horn section had the chops to play FZ’s complex charts and improvise creatively. The comedy bits were some of the funniest as well. The extra material added to the cd version only enhances the experience. My only nit-pick is the insertion of “Big Leg Emma” and “Sofa” between “Black Page #1” and “Black Page #2” on the second cd breaks the flow of the sequence as it was on the original vinyl album. Otherwise the cd set has it all over the original vinyl, which was censored and had muddy sound on some cuts.

  6. This album should be put together properly. Plauged with edits from ALL versions, I would’nt mind seeing this released in its entirety, all of the shows that week.

  7. “Zappa In New York” will always be near and dear to my heart for one reason: it was the VERY FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I HEARD THE MUSIC OF FRANK ZAPPA!! I was only a pubescent 7th grader in a Catholic school (how appropriate), but the music sounded loose, wacky, naughty, bizarre and complex. It was really overwhelming for a 7th grader into the Beatles and Led Zep, but it fascinated me nonetheless. This first listening was from an old cassette, which had no “Punky’s Whips” or any of the later additions, like “Cruising For Burgers”. I really never got into Zappa SERIOUSLY until MUCH later, when I was attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston and first saw “Baby Snakes” in its entirety, but like Joe mentions in his review above mine, that AWESOME funky groove that Bozzio lays down during the beginning and end of “Titties and Beer” is infectious. This is an “all over the place” sweaty/homey live album from Frank (much like the BIG ROCK “balls out” approach of the “Baby Snakes” band from a year later), but is really a great ROCKIN’ Frank album. Since it was the first Frank I ever heard, I would recomend it to a neophytes.

  8. I just found out, that in december 76 they always played The Black Page nr. 2 BEFORE nr. 1, and Nr. 1 was a part of Pound For A Brown… Hm, interesting… (from FZshows homepage)

  9. I think this is one of his best albums ever (though not as good as “the best band you never heard in your life”). The versions of “The Illinois Enema Bandit” (with the fantastic intro by Don Pardo), “The Torture Never Stops” and “I’m The Slime” (again Don Pardo) are sublime, great band, great solo’s, all you want! This album thought me that flute (Lou Marini) can sound beautiful, ’cause for my generation (born ’78) Berdine Steinberg screwed up the ability to like flute. It’s one of those albums you can keep on playing time after time!

  10. Up there with Uncle Meat as one of FZ’s most musically accomplished albums. Very useful for introducing people to Zappa. There MUST be more of this line-up on tape in the vaults.

  11. this album is excellent. i think it is an intro to zappa album (at least of this era). great great jamming guitar work on cruisin for burgers, great energy in titties and beer. a very entertaining enema bandit. and patrick o hearn’s bass solo at the end (purple lagoon) is very liquid like.

  12. As I’ve never heard an original vinyl, and only have the Ryko release and Läther I cannot be nostalgic with the way the album originally was. However, I love this album–except for 2 major hiccups in this machine. The fact that FZ overdubbed racous guitar on ‘Punky’s Whips’ and mixed Eddie Jobson soooo low on ‘The Black Page Drum Solo/Black Page #1’ make the versions on Läther THAT much better. In spite of this, all the bonus tracks and the full version of ‘Titties and Beer’ make this great. I know about these features thanks to various sources. In my opinion, both Black Pages, ‘I Promise…’ and the piccolo on ‘BP #2’ (it’s there behind the heavy bass) make this album truly great. I could easily write a book on the facets of both Black Pages (especially #2), but that would be a waste of time on this website.

  13. I’ll have to admit that when I was gazing at a used copy of this at a store I almost didn’t buy it. Even though I was amazed to find anything buy Zappa secondhand. I looked at the song titles and thought I understood why. Titties and Beer, I Promise Not To Come In Your Mouth, Illinois Enema Bandit and so on, I figured this was one of Zappa’s pervert albums that I was not at all interested in. I’m glad I took the chance. This is one of my favs. Did he have a band that was as gifted as this one? I Promise… ends up being one of the man’s most interesting instumentals and Titties still makes me giggle every time I listen. As a guitar player I really enjoy his playing on this album. It has some of his most focused leads ever.

  14. 10 out of 10.
    top notch performance + recording.
    worth purchasing for purple lagoon alone.
    cruising for burgers is totally gorgeous – in a trashy sort of way.

    4wt

  15. Very 70’s New York Jazz (take it or leave it), together with classic ‘disgusting’ Zappa songs, such as ‘Titties and Beer’ and ‘The Illinois Enema Bandit’. Plus…the first appearnce of the world-famous..RAY WHITE!!

  17. Every song is smokin’, in the top five for sure. Besides the obvious, Purple Lagoon is fuken amazing. The Breckers are incredible.

  18. I wish all of the material would sound like the original vinyl-mixes without the addition of extra guitar and reverb. Well, there were LOTS of guitar overdubs on the vinyl already – Sofa, Purple Lagoon … but the overdubs on Punky’s Whips is way to much. I have a vinyl version WITH Punky’s Whips which seems to be an italian counterfeit – I didn’t know until I read about that at Zappa patio. Luckily we have some of the original mixes on Läther now.

    Nevertheless an outstanding album.

    Th.

  19. zappa in new york fin1976! One of my favorite discs! there are other measures of these memorable evening, they come out of the vault?

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