Customer Reviews

Unmitigated Audacity

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this CD in a heartbeat when I saw the setlist. I, like many, am a BIG fan of the Mothers, and this CD's tracklist is chock full of goodies. I also love Camarillo Brillo, so I figured it was a no brainer.

Ah, but unfortunatly, there is no real warning when you're in the stores - the sound quality is AWFUL. I listened through once, kicked myself for spending the bucks, and threw it in my back seat.

When I had the chance to play it at home, I was in my bathroom shaving when "Oh No" came on, and I actually stopped, walked back to my room, and stood in front of the stereo with a half shaven face dripping with cream. The jam is top notch, right into "More Trouble Everyday," which is the slower version of this song (ala "Roxy & Elsewhere).

I think one reviewer mentioned that the more you hear it, the less attention you pay to the quality of the recording. The quality of the MUSIC is what's important, and after a few songs, you hardly notice the shabby recording, instead becoming lost in the musical brilliance and simply enjoying Zappa's genius.
If you, like me, saw this in a store and bought it without doing research, then got [upset] and decided to see what other folks thought by checking out Amazon.com, do yourself a favor, play it on a good stereo, let it go for awhile, and see if you can catch yourself grooving to the beats. There. See? It wasn't that much of a waste!

Other than that, I can only say to those contemplating buying this that do not own any other Zappa works: No. You need to have a little more understanding and tolerance before you're ready to exhibit true Unmitigated Audacity.

Yes, the sound quality is GOD AWFUL. It's a shame, because this is an amazing show. The line-up is tight(same players as YCDTOSA V2). There's killer versions of some "Freak-Out" tunes, and the version of "I ain't got no heart" on this album is 10 times better than the one on "Tinsletown Rebellion," even with the cruddy sound. You even get an almost complete version of "Oh-no" (it starts at "...all of the fools, all of the hate...") that is similar to the way it appears on "Weasels." Most of the other versions of this song you find on YCDTOSA and "Ahead of their Time" are the instrumental one. So what if it sounds like it was taped from the John at Notre Dame University instead of the stage? If you listen to it enough, you start to pay less attention to the quality and realize how good the band is.

I love this album.

However, the recording quality of this disc is simply atrocious. Unmitigated Audacity sounds like it was recorded with one microphone somewhere near the concession stand. Also, some songs that cut out for no apparent reason.

Normally, it would be easy to completely disregard this album as a waste of time and money -- it is from the "Beat the Boots" series after all. Unfortunately, this horrible recording hides an amazing display of music talent.

This is an example of what many considered to be Frank's best band, doing a bunch of early Mother's classics. I've heard that show took place on the tenth anniversary of the formation of the Mothers of Invention, which inspired the performance of so many old classics. It was also Mother's Day, so who knows.

Despite the fact that the disc has many issues, it is still one of my favorite live FZ discs because of the band, the quality of their performance, and the songs that were played.

Hopefully, the Zappa Family Trust will simply release a soundboard version of this show and stop torturing us, but there's a lot of other stuff in the vault that they probably are more concerned about.

While I would easily recommend this to anyone with an interest in the Nepolean Murphy Brock era of the Mothers, it's not a good place to start if you are new to Zappa.

The best live examples of the 1974 band are "Roxy & Elsewhere," or "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 2." If you liked those two, or are a complete-ist, then buy Unmitigated Audacity.

the quality on this cd is not very outstanding, being as it is some sort of a bottleg offered to the masses. but when i bought this, i had it in mind that the quality would not be phenominal (and as you listen on, you would think something is wrong with your speakers). but i think the music itself, along with the mothers funny attitude almost makes up for it. this one is for hard-core zappa fans.

Some people are so upset at the sound quality of this recording; it's a bootleg, for crying out loud, what did you expect? Someone said it sounded like it was recorded with one mic near the concession stand. Well, that's probably exactly what happened. Frank got a hold of these bootlegs and released them on his own label in order to try to make a little money off of them. Don't get so hung up on sound quality with bootlegs, just enjoy the music and be glad we at least get to hear something we otherwise wouldn't be privy to.

The sound quality is indeed poor. Compression is the problem, everything else - mixing, the music/audience sound balance - is all right. (Except the editing, which removes "Orange County Lumber Truck" and the first verse of "Oh No")
But if you can live with that, you may conclude (as I did) that these are the best-ever versions of "You're Probably...", "How Could I...", "Wowie Zowie", "I'm Not Satisfied" and even "Camarillo Brillo".

Avoid this release -- far and away, the worst of Zappa's Beat The Boots series -- as Zappa's great Mothers band is drowned out by this unlistenable recording, which sounds like it was made from the cheapest portable cassette recorder available at that time. To boot, some of the pitch goes off in several unlistenable directions.

While the majority of Beat The Boots serves its purpose, all Unmitigated Audacity will make you do is want to seek a much better copy of any Zappa show around that time.

This is an album I had meaning to get for some time. I finally purchased it. It intrigued me to see early Mothers songs performed by his brilliant mid-70s ensemble, couldn't wait to hear it. As has been said before, the sound quality is awful. Though as a collector of bootlegs, I have heard just as bad if not worse recordings, including a Grateful Dead show that sounds like it was recorded in the parking lot. You really have to focus yourself on the music and cut through it...though he mentions in the intro in a nice improv on the lyrics to "Trouble Every Day" that he is mighty sick of the PA system...This is an excellent show. Too bad there is not a sound-board master.

It's really unfortunate that this wasn't recorded better because this really is a fantastic concert featuring a band that in my opinion is possibly the best band Zappa ever had. For a short while, sort of in between the band he had on Apostrophe and Roxy, with, I'm pretty sure, two drummers which is a really cool sound when they play Zappa's rythmically complex and groove heavy music. The real shame of this though is that, in my opinion, this has the best versions of many of the early Mothers' tunes, most notably 'Hungry Freaks Daddy.' When I first put this in I was upset because the quality was really awful, but when the second track came on with this killer groove, then he started singing, "Mister America..." I realized that the album was probably worth the 5 bucks I spent on it. Good solos, too. Buy if you're a real zappaphile, but if you're a casual listener, then skip this one.

OK, the audio quality is as poor as some concerts I've attended, but the band's performance gets five stars. The brass are tight, George Duke and Napoleon Murphy Brock do some hilarious versions of early Mothers songs, and Frank has several outstanding solos. The great musicianship and inventive overhauls of early Mothers material (not duplicated elsewhere on other live recordings) make this worth hearing.