While compiling the prior four installments of this mix – I was intrigued by the sheer energy, vitality, and variation Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention brought to each of their show’s encores. Traditionally, Zappa‘s contemporaries might toss out an occasional song or two to satisfy their audience at the conclusion of a concert. In contrast, Zappa‘s encores would sometimes morph into mini-concerts onto themselves – the maestro and the band often returning for two, sometimes three encores. Something truly incredible to hear, especially when compounded one show after another, one tour after another, one incarnation of the band after another.
Listening to these encores – some a little over ten to twelve minutes in length, others almost a full hour – it’s obvious that Frank Zappa and the Mothers had a special connection with their audiences as well as to the music, itself.
A wonderful way to end the Immaculate Voodoo Butter Mix, n’est pas?
Click here to listen to the mixtape.
Sit back, get comfortable, slip those headphones-to-oblivion back on your head, and prepare yourself for a colossus of a final installment.
Note: for those who require a detail listing of individual tracks, go to KUR’s Frank Zappa Gig List and plug in the date and venue for each encore.
AMAZING !!!
THANK YOU(again with the bold?) – if for no other reason than Appleton, WI, 23 May 1969 Encore…30 minutes of nostalgia for this old fuck, er, folk!
great stuff. A LOT of stuff! Listening to the ’68 tour encore in Paris, I am struck once again at what a piece of shit the RMI electric piano was. God, it sounds nasty, and I’m sure it was difficult to play as well.
Wow. I’ve just discovered this site and this mix is incredible! Absolute gold dust all the way through. Such quality. Thanks so much.
Awsome (bis)
Hey Urban,
Just wanted thank you and say this is highly enjoyable – vertiginously so. A simple idea which just keeps paying with goodness.
Thanks,
Ashley
Help me out here – who’s singing Inca Roads on the first KCET encore? Thanks!
Nevermind. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.
Am I missing something, or the encore from The Ark pretty much just the complete bootleg?
George Duke
[quote comment=”11727″]Am I missing something, or the encore from The Ark pretty much just the complete bootleg?[/quote]
In the case, Mark, where there was no clear cut transition to an encore, I played it by feel. When it comes to The Ark show, there are two versions: the inferior sounding Beat The Boots version in which some tracks are also incomplete (i.e. My Guitar), and the excellent sounding complete version which I used. In my opinion, from the applause just before Valerie to the conclusion of King Kong made a better encore than to arbitrarily cut this excellent example of the tail end of an original Mothers of Invention show.
[quote comment=”11732″][quote comment=”11727″]Am I missing something, or the encore from The Ark pretty much just the complete bootleg?[/quote]
In the case, Mark, where there was no clear cut transition to an encore, I played it by feel. When it comes to The Ark show, there are two versions: the inferior sounding Beat The Boots version in which some tracks are also incomplete (i.e. My Guitar), and the excellent sounding complete version which I used. In my opinion, from the applause just before Valerie to the conclusion of King Kong made a better encore than to arbitrarily cut this excellent example of the tail end of an original Mothers of Invention show.[/quote]
Fair enough. Although my impression’s always been that that bootleg is less an actual concert then an album FZ was working on that somehow ended up as a boot – kind of like Chalk Pie or that test pressing that leaked a while back. After all, a bunch of stuff from those shows ended up elsewhere over the years: a solo on a Mothers album, a couple cuts on YCDTOSA, etc
[/nerd]
[quote comment=”11754″][quote comment=”11732″][quote comment=”11727″]Am I missing something, or the encore from The Ark pretty much just the complete bootleg?[/quote]
In the case, Mark, where there was no clear cut transition to an encore, I played it by feel. When it comes to The Ark show, there are two versions: the inferior sounding Beat The Boots version in which some tracks are also incomplete (i.e. My Guitar), and the excellent sounding complete version which I used. In my opinion, from the applause just before Valerie to the conclusion of King Kong made a better encore than to arbitrarily cut this excellent example of the tail end of an original Mothers of Invention show.[/quote]
Fair enough. Although my impression’s always been that that bootleg is less an actual concert then an album FZ was working on that somehow ended up as a boot – kind of like Chalk Pie or that test pressing that leaked a while back. After all, a bunch of stuff from those shows ended up elsewhere over the years: a solo on a Mothers album, a couple cuts on YCDTOSA, etc
[/nerd][/quote]
Indeed, not a complete concert, yet from listening one can easy determine that the part of the concert that was recorded was the middle and encore (which I made use of in my mix):
http://www.zappateers.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=7277