FRANK ZAPPA
''YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE, VOL. 6, DISC ONE''
1995
RYKODISC
DISC ONE
01 - The M.O.I. Anti-Smut Loyalty Oath/0:3:01
02 - The Poodle Lecture/0:5:02
03 - Dirty Love/0:2:39
04 - Magic Fingers/0:2:21
05 - The Madison Panty-Sniffing Festival/0:2:44
06 - Honey, Don't You Want A Man Like Me/0:4:02
07 - Father O'Blivion/0:2:21
08 - Is That Guy Kidding Or What/0:4:02
09 - I'm So Cute/0:1:39
10 - White Person/0:2:07
11 - Lonely Person Devices/0:3:13
12 - Ms. Pinky/0:2:00
13 - Shove It Right In/0:6:45
14 - Wind Up Working In A Gas Station/0:2:32
15 - Make A Sex Noise/0:3:09
16 - Tracy Is A Snob/0:3:54
17 - I Have Been In You/0:5:04
18 - Emperor Of Ohio/0:1:31
19 - Dinah-Moe Humm/0:3:16
20 - He's So Gay/0:2:34
21 - Camarillo Brillo/0:3:10
22 - Muffin Man/0:2:24
DISC TWO
01 - NYC Halloween Audience/0:0:46
02 - The Illinois Enema Bandit/0:8:05
03 - Thirteen/0:6:08
04 - Lobster Girl/0:2:20
05 - Black Napkins/0:5:21
06 - We're Turning Again/0:4:56
07 - Alien Orifice/0:4:16
08 - Catholic Girls/0:4:04
09 - Crew Slut/0:5:33
10 - Tryin' To Grow A Chin/0:3:33
11 - Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance/0:3:46
12 - Lisa's Life Story/0:3:05
13 - Lonesome Cowboy Nando/0:5:15
14 - 200 Motels Finale/0:3:43
15 - Strictly Genteel/0:6:56
REVIEW
You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 (1992)
The final volume of the series is the Halloween sex volume. It brings together most of Zappa's sexually themed songs, and includes a lot of songs that were recorded at Halloween shows over the years.
Giving some indication of where volume six is heading, disc one starts off with the M.O.I. Anti-Smut Loyalty Oath. Due to Jim Morrison being charged with exposing himself on stage not long before, the Mothers were asked to promise that they wouldn't do anything like that. So they start the concert with a very enthusiastic verbal oath not to show their wee-wees, ending with "That does not include private showings at the motel, which is the Ramada Inn". After that, the album covers a lot of already-covered ground, making me wonder if Frank was running out of material but was contractually obligated to come up with a sixth album. Included are: Dirty Love (with Poodle Lecture introduction), Magic Fingers, Honey, Don't You Want a Man... (did we really need another version of this?), I'm So Cute, Ms. Pinky, Shove it Right In, Wind Up Working in a Gas Station (this song is entirely too lame to deserve the number of versions that appear in the FZ catalog), I Have Been In You, Dinah-Moe Humm, He's So Gay, Camarillo Brillo and Muffin Man. And that's just on disc one. If you really enjoy Frank's "dirty" songs, then you'll probably like this disc - the performances are actually very good, and there's lots of humorous introductions and dialogs. But this is far and away my least favorite disc in the series, just because I really don't need another version of all these songs.
However, there is also a lot of unique material on disc one. The Madison Panty-Sniffing Festival is just what the title implies. White Person is a strange little improvised spoken-word track. Make a Sex Noise has a good groove to it, while audience members are challenged to make their best sex noises over top. Tracy is a Snob and Emperor of Ohio feature the band improvising over pre-recorded tapes of women making some real sex noises. Sounds like the soundtrack to a porno. Adding to the confusion about this title, Farther O'Blivion actually turns out to be Father O'Blivion from Apostrophe (') (see the Piquantique review - the track there called Father O'Blivion is actually Farther O'Blivion).
Disc two is much better. By the late 70s, it had become a tradition for FZ to play a big concert on Halloween every year. Most of these were recorded (both audio and video), and spawned the three hour concert movie Baby Snakes. Most of disc two of volume six also comes from these Halloween shows. The sex theme is continued in tracks like Catholic Girls, Crew Slut and Lisa's Life Story (which has Lisa Popeil of Teen-age Prostitute fame singing about herself). But there are also some fantastic instrumentals, like Thirteen, which features L. Shankar on violin and is in...you guessed it...thirteen. At the beginning of the song, Zappa explains to the crowd how to count it. Lobster Girl is a nice little drum and bass duet. There are also good versions of Black Napkins, Alien Orifice and Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance.
The 1988 band gets one of their rare appearances in the series with Lonesome Cowboy Nando, an odd version of Lonesome Cowboy Burt that is so mutated by secret words and inside jokes that it hardly makes any sense to the average listener. Unfortunately, since 200 Motels was out of print while I was doing most of my Zappa collecting, this Stage performance was the first version of the song that I heard, and it left me completely bewildered. During my most recent listen to it, I suddenly realized that I could identify vocals belonging to Mike Keneally, Jimmy Carl Black and Flo and Eddie. Keneally only ever performed in the '88 band, and I had never heard of JCB and F&E performing with that band, so I was further confused. Then I checked the liner notes and saw that FZ had used some new studio technology to somehow combine the '88 performance with one from 1971. It's an interesting experiment, but I wonder if the only reason this track made it into the Stage series was as an excuse for Frank to play with a new studio toy. (Update March 9th, 2004: I got an email from one Ferdinando Boero who, it turns out, is the Nando that the song was named after! He read the above paragraph and sent me the URL for a web page that explains what the Nando and Jellyfish references are all about. Thanks Nando!)
Disc two of volume six concludes with a wonderful performance of the 200 Motels Finale and and instrumental rock version of Strictly Genteel. A perfect ending for the Stage series, made even better by the guy in the audience who plaintively wails "ZAAAPPPAAAAAAAAA!" right at the very end.
Overall, I'd say that there's a lot of good stuff in this series, but there's also a lot of filler. The whole thing probably could have been boiled down to eight discs without losing anything important, possibly even down to six. As an overview of Zappa's career, I'm not sure that it's entirely successful, but then again given the huge scope and volume of his output, a truly comprehensive retrospective is pretty much impossible. Especially since every Zappa fan has a different list of what he or she considers essential. In the end, I'd say this set is worth picking up for people who are serious about Frank's music, but unless you've got a big wad of cash to burn, it probably isn't the best place for beginners to start. Of course, no one's ever going to talk me into giving up my "road case" version (a wooden box with metal reinforced corners, made to look like a piece of touring equipment, which holds all six volumes in the original double-wide CD cases).
One final thought - the liner notes of all six volumes spell out the criteria by which tracks were selected for the set. One thing on every list is "Is there film or video tape of the performance?" As someone recently pointed out on the Zappa newsgroup, it's been over a decade now since this series was released - why has there never been an accompanying video? What was the point?
''YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE, VOL. 6, DISC ONE''
1995
RYKODISC
DISC ONE
01 - The M.O.I. Anti-Smut Loyalty Oath/0:3:01
02 - The Poodle Lecture/0:5:02
03 - Dirty Love/0:2:39
04 - Magic Fingers/0:2:21
05 - The Madison Panty-Sniffing Festival/0:2:44
06 - Honey, Don't You Want A Man Like Me/0:4:02
07 - Father O'Blivion/0:2:21
08 - Is That Guy Kidding Or What/0:4:02
09 - I'm So Cute/0:1:39
10 - White Person/0:2:07
11 - Lonely Person Devices/0:3:13
12 - Ms. Pinky/0:2:00
13 - Shove It Right In/0:6:45
14 - Wind Up Working In A Gas Station/0:2:32
15 - Make A Sex Noise/0:3:09
16 - Tracy Is A Snob/0:3:54
17 - I Have Been In You/0:5:04
18 - Emperor Of Ohio/0:1:31
19 - Dinah-Moe Humm/0:3:16
20 - He's So Gay/0:2:34
21 - Camarillo Brillo/0:3:10
22 - Muffin Man/0:2:24
DISC TWO
01 - NYC Halloween Audience/0:0:46
02 - The Illinois Enema Bandit/0:8:05
03 - Thirteen/0:6:08
04 - Lobster Girl/0:2:20
05 - Black Napkins/0:5:21
06 - We're Turning Again/0:4:56
07 - Alien Orifice/0:4:16
08 - Catholic Girls/0:4:04
09 - Crew Slut/0:5:33
10 - Tryin' To Grow A Chin/0:3:33
11 - Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance/0:3:46
12 - Lisa's Life Story/0:3:05
13 - Lonesome Cowboy Nando/0:5:15
14 - 200 Motels Finale/0:3:43
15 - Strictly Genteel/0:6:56
REVIEW
You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 (1992)
The final volume of the series is the Halloween sex volume. It brings together most of Zappa's sexually themed songs, and includes a lot of songs that were recorded at Halloween shows over the years.
Giving some indication of where volume six is heading, disc one starts off with the M.O.I. Anti-Smut Loyalty Oath. Due to Jim Morrison being charged with exposing himself on stage not long before, the Mothers were asked to promise that they wouldn't do anything like that. So they start the concert with a very enthusiastic verbal oath not to show their wee-wees, ending with "That does not include private showings at the motel, which is the Ramada Inn". After that, the album covers a lot of already-covered ground, making me wonder if Frank was running out of material but was contractually obligated to come up with a sixth album. Included are: Dirty Love (with Poodle Lecture introduction), Magic Fingers, Honey, Don't You Want a Man... (did we really need another version of this?), I'm So Cute, Ms. Pinky, Shove it Right In, Wind Up Working in a Gas Station (this song is entirely too lame to deserve the number of versions that appear in the FZ catalog), I Have Been In You, Dinah-Moe Humm, He's So Gay, Camarillo Brillo and Muffin Man. And that's just on disc one. If you really enjoy Frank's "dirty" songs, then you'll probably like this disc - the performances are actually very good, and there's lots of humorous introductions and dialogs. But this is far and away my least favorite disc in the series, just because I really don't need another version of all these songs.
However, there is also a lot of unique material on disc one. The Madison Panty-Sniffing Festival is just what the title implies. White Person is a strange little improvised spoken-word track. Make a Sex Noise has a good groove to it, while audience members are challenged to make their best sex noises over top. Tracy is a Snob and Emperor of Ohio feature the band improvising over pre-recorded tapes of women making some real sex noises. Sounds like the soundtrack to a porno. Adding to the confusion about this title, Farther O'Blivion actually turns out to be Father O'Blivion from Apostrophe (') (see the Piquantique review - the track there called Father O'Blivion is actually Farther O'Blivion).
Disc two is much better. By the late 70s, it had become a tradition for FZ to play a big concert on Halloween every year. Most of these were recorded (both audio and video), and spawned the three hour concert movie Baby Snakes. Most of disc two of volume six also comes from these Halloween shows. The sex theme is continued in tracks like Catholic Girls, Crew Slut and Lisa's Life Story (which has Lisa Popeil of Teen-age Prostitute fame singing about herself). But there are also some fantastic instrumentals, like Thirteen, which features L. Shankar on violin and is in...you guessed it...thirteen. At the beginning of the song, Zappa explains to the crowd how to count it. Lobster Girl is a nice little drum and bass duet. There are also good versions of Black Napkins, Alien Orifice and Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance.
The 1988 band gets one of their rare appearances in the series with Lonesome Cowboy Nando, an odd version of Lonesome Cowboy Burt that is so mutated by secret words and inside jokes that it hardly makes any sense to the average listener. Unfortunately, since 200 Motels was out of print while I was doing most of my Zappa collecting, this Stage performance was the first version of the song that I heard, and it left me completely bewildered. During my most recent listen to it, I suddenly realized that I could identify vocals belonging to Mike Keneally, Jimmy Carl Black and Flo and Eddie. Keneally only ever performed in the '88 band, and I had never heard of JCB and F&E performing with that band, so I was further confused. Then I checked the liner notes and saw that FZ had used some new studio technology to somehow combine the '88 performance with one from 1971. It's an interesting experiment, but I wonder if the only reason this track made it into the Stage series was as an excuse for Frank to play with a new studio toy. (Update March 9th, 2004: I got an email from one Ferdinando Boero who, it turns out, is the Nando that the song was named after! He read the above paragraph and sent me the URL for a web page that explains what the Nando and Jellyfish references are all about. Thanks Nando!)
Disc two of volume six concludes with a wonderful performance of the 200 Motels Finale and and instrumental rock version of Strictly Genteel. A perfect ending for the Stage series, made even better by the guy in the audience who plaintively wails "ZAAAPPPAAAAAAAAA!" right at the very end.
Overall, I'd say that there's a lot of good stuff in this series, but there's also a lot of filler. The whole thing probably could have been boiled down to eight discs without losing anything important, possibly even down to six. As an overview of Zappa's career, I'm not sure that it's entirely successful, but then again given the huge scope and volume of his output, a truly comprehensive retrospective is pretty much impossible. Especially since every Zappa fan has a different list of what he or she considers essential. In the end, I'd say this set is worth picking up for people who are serious about Frank's music, but unless you've got a big wad of cash to burn, it probably isn't the best place for beginners to start. Of course, no one's ever going to talk me into giving up my "road case" version (a wooden box with metal reinforced corners, made to look like a piece of touring equipment, which holds all six volumes in the original double-wide CD cases).
One final thought - the liner notes of all six volumes spell out the criteria by which tracks were selected for the set. One thing on every list is "Is there film or video tape of the performance?" As someone recently pointed out on the Zappa newsgroup, it's been over a decade now since this series was released - why has there never been an accompanying video? What was the point?
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