FRANK ZAPPA
''YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE, VOL. 4, DISC ONE''
1995
RYKODISC
DISC ONE
01 - Little Rubber Girl/0:2:57
02 - Stick Together/0:2:04
03 - My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama/0:3:20
04 - Willie the Pimp/0:2:06
05 - Montana/0:5:47
06 - Brown Moses/0:2:38
07 - The Evil Prince/0:7:12
08 - Approximate/0:1:49
09 - Love of My Life (Mudd Club Version)/0:1:58
10 - Let's Move to Cleveland - solos (1984)/0:7:11
11 - You Call That Music/0:4:07
12 - Pound for a Brown - solos (1978)/0:6:29
13 - The Black Page (1984)/0:5:14
14 - Take Me Out to the Ball Game/0:3:02
15 - Filthy Habits/0:5:39
16 - The Torture Never Stops - original version/0:9:12
DISC TWO
01 - Church Chat/0:2:00
02 - Stevie's Spanking/0:10:51
03 - Outside Now/0:6:09
04 - Disco Boy/0:2:59
05 - Teen-Age Wind/0:1:54
06 - Truck Driver Divorce/0:4:46
07 - Florentine Pogen/0:5:10
08 - Tiny Sick Tears/0:4:29
09 - Smell my Beard/0:4:32
10 - The Booger Man/0:2:44
11 - Carolina Hard Core Ecstasy/0:6:27
12 - Are You Upset/0:1:29
13 - Little Girl of Mine/0:1:40
14 - The Closer You Are/0:2:05
15 - Johnny Darling/0:0:51
16 - No, No Cherry/0:1:25
17 - The Man from Utopia/0:1:16
18 - Mary Lou/0:2:14
REVIEW
You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 (1991)
Volume four is another grab bag of performances ranging from 1969 through 1988, although the set leans heavier on the 80s material than the 60s or 70s. This is a complaint that some fans have about the Stage series - the 80s bands are over-represented on some volumes. Still, volume 2 is entirely from 1974, and disc one of volume five is entirely from the 60s Mothers. Plus Frank probably had more well-recorded 80s concerts available, and they were fresher in his mind. So it's not surprising that there's a lot of stuff on volumes 1, 3, 4 and 6 from the 81-84 and 88 tours.
About volume four specifically - I think this might be the second weakest volume (after volume six), but it still has lots of good stuff on it. The opening Little Rubber Girl is kinda funny, although seriously sexist. I like these versions of Brown Moses and especially The Evil Prince a lot better than the ones on Thing Fish. The short version of Approximate gets right to the heart of that song, and the Mudd Club Version of Love of My Life is really catchy (I love the drum fills). Jazz fans will love the Let's Move to Cleveland and Pound For a Brown solos. You Call That Music? is an interesting, very experimental minimalist piece from the original Mothers that makes a perfect link between the two "solos" tracks mentioned above. The 1984 version of The Black Page is good, and it's fun to hear the '88 band do a surreal sportscaster parody on Take Me Out to the Ball Game, followed by a smokin' Filthy Habits. Unfortunately there's also a few low points - Stick Together isn't improved by a live performance, and these versions of My Guitar Wants To... and Willie The Pimp aren't the best. The segue from "Willie" into Montana is kind of jarring, and the edit in the middle of the latter song is one of the few in the series that I think sounds really obvious and bad. But the thing I dislike most about this disc is The Torture Never Stops - Original Version with Captain Beefheart. As if there weren't already enough versions of this song in the official Zappa catalog (and there's more to come), Frank had to include this boring, very straightforward blues version. Snooze.
Disc two starts out with the amusing Church Chat, a spoken word piece that reminds us that "There is no hell, there is only...France!". This would seem to be a logical introduction for In France (I used it that way on a mix tape I made), but instead they go into Stevie's Spanking. This version includes a long, amazing guitar battle between Zappa and Vai. They each play an individual solo, and then they play together for several great minutes. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of long guitar solos, I really like this one. Unfortunately that song is followed up by a lengthy Outside Now, which I've always thought was one of the more boring of Zappa's songs (although others love the track). This is followed by versions of Disco Boy, Teen-Age Wind (I think you may be able to construct a nearly complete live version of the You Are What You Is album just from tracks in the Stage series), Truck Driver Divorce and Florentine Pogen. A track called Tiny Sick Tears follows, based on the song 96 Tears. This song includes a narrative section in the middle where Frank does a funny parody of some Doors lyrics. Smell My Beard and The Booger Man are folkloric tracks by the '74 band, and sound like jamming improvisations. Carolina Hard Core Ecstasy is pretty good - I like it better than the Bongo Fury version. In Are You Upset? Frank confronts an angry audience member who doesn't like the early Mothers' experimental music. The disc ends with a medley of short doo-wop/50s rock songs. A nice touch.
''YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE, VOL. 4, DISC ONE''
1995
RYKODISC
DISC ONE
01 - Little Rubber Girl/0:2:57
02 - Stick Together/0:2:04
03 - My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama/0:3:20
04 - Willie the Pimp/0:2:06
05 - Montana/0:5:47
06 - Brown Moses/0:2:38
07 - The Evil Prince/0:7:12
08 - Approximate/0:1:49
09 - Love of My Life (Mudd Club Version)/0:1:58
10 - Let's Move to Cleveland - solos (1984)/0:7:11
11 - You Call That Music/0:4:07
12 - Pound for a Brown - solos (1978)/0:6:29
13 - The Black Page (1984)/0:5:14
14 - Take Me Out to the Ball Game/0:3:02
15 - Filthy Habits/0:5:39
16 - The Torture Never Stops - original version/0:9:12
DISC TWO
01 - Church Chat/0:2:00
02 - Stevie's Spanking/0:10:51
03 - Outside Now/0:6:09
04 - Disco Boy/0:2:59
05 - Teen-Age Wind/0:1:54
06 - Truck Driver Divorce/0:4:46
07 - Florentine Pogen/0:5:10
08 - Tiny Sick Tears/0:4:29
09 - Smell my Beard/0:4:32
10 - The Booger Man/0:2:44
11 - Carolina Hard Core Ecstasy/0:6:27
12 - Are You Upset/0:1:29
13 - Little Girl of Mine/0:1:40
14 - The Closer You Are/0:2:05
15 - Johnny Darling/0:0:51
16 - No, No Cherry/0:1:25
17 - The Man from Utopia/0:1:16
18 - Mary Lou/0:2:14
REVIEW
You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 (1991)
Volume four is another grab bag of performances ranging from 1969 through 1988, although the set leans heavier on the 80s material than the 60s or 70s. This is a complaint that some fans have about the Stage series - the 80s bands are over-represented on some volumes. Still, volume 2 is entirely from 1974, and disc one of volume five is entirely from the 60s Mothers. Plus Frank probably had more well-recorded 80s concerts available, and they were fresher in his mind. So it's not surprising that there's a lot of stuff on volumes 1, 3, 4 and 6 from the 81-84 and 88 tours.
About volume four specifically - I think this might be the second weakest volume (after volume six), but it still has lots of good stuff on it. The opening Little Rubber Girl is kinda funny, although seriously sexist. I like these versions of Brown Moses and especially The Evil Prince a lot better than the ones on Thing Fish. The short version of Approximate gets right to the heart of that song, and the Mudd Club Version of Love of My Life is really catchy (I love the drum fills). Jazz fans will love the Let's Move to Cleveland and Pound For a Brown solos. You Call That Music? is an interesting, very experimental minimalist piece from the original Mothers that makes a perfect link between the two "solos" tracks mentioned above. The 1984 version of The Black Page is good, and it's fun to hear the '88 band do a surreal sportscaster parody on Take Me Out to the Ball Game, followed by a smokin' Filthy Habits. Unfortunately there's also a few low points - Stick Together isn't improved by a live performance, and these versions of My Guitar Wants To... and Willie The Pimp aren't the best. The segue from "Willie" into Montana is kind of jarring, and the edit in the middle of the latter song is one of the few in the series that I think sounds really obvious and bad. But the thing I dislike most about this disc is The Torture Never Stops - Original Version with Captain Beefheart. As if there weren't already enough versions of this song in the official Zappa catalog (and there's more to come), Frank had to include this boring, very straightforward blues version. Snooze.
Disc two starts out with the amusing Church Chat, a spoken word piece that reminds us that "There is no hell, there is only...France!". This would seem to be a logical introduction for In France (I used it that way on a mix tape I made), but instead they go into Stevie's Spanking. This version includes a long, amazing guitar battle between Zappa and Vai. They each play an individual solo, and then they play together for several great minutes. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of long guitar solos, I really like this one. Unfortunately that song is followed up by a lengthy Outside Now, which I've always thought was one of the more boring of Zappa's songs (although others love the track). This is followed by versions of Disco Boy, Teen-Age Wind (I think you may be able to construct a nearly complete live version of the You Are What You Is album just from tracks in the Stage series), Truck Driver Divorce and Florentine Pogen. A track called Tiny Sick Tears follows, based on the song 96 Tears. This song includes a narrative section in the middle where Frank does a funny parody of some Doors lyrics. Smell My Beard and The Booger Man are folkloric tracks by the '74 band, and sound like jamming improvisations. Carolina Hard Core Ecstasy is pretty good - I like it better than the Bongo Fury version. In Are You Upset? Frank confronts an angry audience member who doesn't like the early Mothers' experimental music. The disc ends with a medley of short doo-wop/50s rock songs. A nice touch.
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