FZ - "Roxy" Music Revisited

I promise there aren't going to be a million Zappa posts, but I've got one more after this and that will be it for a while. That said, this one is pretty great, as it's Zappa and the Mothers less than two months before the Roxy performances and in pretty great form. On top of that, the sound quality of this show is incredible! Frank probably wanted this show recorded because it features the premier performance of Dickie's Such An Asshole, Frank's anti-Nixon number. It's essentially a bluesy jam dressed up in Frank's usual percussion insanity, which is perfectly fine.

Most shows I've heard from this line-up prior to the Roxy performances seem a little stiff, most likely because they're still getting comfortable with Frank's impossible arrangements. The post-Roxy shows, on the other hand, feature a band so loose and nimble that some of the joy of hearing them perform is lost in their swift runs through the repertoire. I'll take the variations of this line-up any way I can find them, but they sound so full of energy in everything I've heard from the Roxy shows that it just makes their absence from release all the more difficult to bare. Of course, a somewhat acceptable replacement until then is the official release of The Dub Room Special! on DVD, which primarily features performances from the Token Of His Extreme TV special that was filmed in 1974. Supposedly that entire show may see the light of day sometime in the near future, but this begs huge questions like "why issue part of something only to reissue it in a complete form shortly after?" or "why does it take so long for you guys to put these things out? you're gonna miss (what's left) of the market!", both of which I'm dying to know.

I say all of the above about long-delayed releases without wanting to sound completely cynical, as I honestly believe the Zappa Family Trust wants to issue these projects, it just seems to take a long time. So, until then at least, we've got lots of unreleased recordings and bootlegs to survey, but please don't make us wait forever guys!


Frank Zappa - Live @ Armadillo World Headquarters, Austin, TX, 10/26/73
UPDATE: Sorry guys, this download is no longer available. You can read why here.

01 Tuning (just what it says it is)
02 Cosmik Debris
03 Inca Roads
04 Pygmy Twylyte
05 The Idiot Bastard Son
06 Cheepnis
07 Big Swifty
08 Dickie's Such An Asshole
09 Farther O'Blivion
10 The Mr. Green Genes Medley (features Son Of Mr. Green Genes, King Kong, Chunga's Revenge and a reprise of the end of Dickie's Such An Asshole)