Customer Reviews

You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore - Vol. 4

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

as far as i'm concerned when it comes to the stage series this set comes second only to volume2. There are so many great bits here. cd1 is the better disc, for sure. It contains humour, instrumental music, great guitar and super solos from other band members.

We have the hilarious 'little rubber girl' to begin with from 1979. Guess what this one is about? Hilarious vocals from frank and..denny i think. i'm not sure. Stick together is not a great song, but nice singing by ray. My guitar and willie the ... are cool, especially the ray white singing on .... These are from the 84 band, as is a portion of montana. Frank combines the 84 band and the 73 band(roxy&elsewhere band) to great effect. There's a great 73 guitar solo, followed by 84 band playing. Then 2 thing fish classics. Brown Moses sung by ike and ray is lovely.84 band again. And 1984 also provides us with an awesome 'evil prince'. It's a top tune sung by the great Ray White.(Yes, i love the guy). This version is in contrast to the nappy brock version on thing fish, which is understated. The live version really rocks. Great rhythm playing by scott and chad, and a guitar solo from heaven, one of Frank's best (he's got a lot of 'best' solos!!). One of stage's highlights. A 79 approximate is brilliantly played and has the classic 'heinz make food' line. Love of my life is a nice little song from the 80 band. 1984 brings us the great Archie Shepp, a famous free jazz sax virtuoso. He has a great solo on 'let's move to cleveland solos'. Alan zavod has a great jazzy piano solo. Then a classic 69 mothers instrumental, abstract, improvised stuff. Special guest star on vibes. A 1978 pound for a brown solos shows tommy mars and peter wolf getting some spotlight. It has a wonderful groove to it. This segues into the awesomeness that is 'the black page'. It is a high tempo performance from the 1984 band, and is fantastic. There is a great solo from Frank with some echo effects, building up to a shattering climax. Of special note is scottt hunes remarkable bass playing during the solo - a bass solo in itself. Then the 88 band get to shine, with the side-splitting baseball tune..'ehhhhh, one run games jim'. And an awesome big band filthy habits. Frank solos with burning intensity. Brilliant playing again, another one of his best solos! Along with black page and evil prince!! A 76 torture with beefheart wraps up the disc. Great vocals great song.

on disc 2 no instrumentals but great comedy and guitar. church chat has frank endearing himself to a french audience-'there is no hell, there is only France!' An amazing 10 minute stevie's spanking with megaton guitar soloing. outside now is beautiful with a great guitar solo,disco boy teenage wind are cool and hilarious truck driver divorce from 84 more great guitar and a 2 band florentine pogen. hilarious wank tribute song is followed by some george duke treasures from 74. it's funky and funny. carolina is the business followed by zappa heckles the audience and doo wop lucky bag. Thank you

The fourth out of six double CD live compilations featuring a wealth of unreleased performances spanning Zappa's 25+ year career. True to Zappa form, this is an eclectic collection, but all the more pleasing due to its mix and match nature. Appearing here are alternate live versions of many favourites, as well as some extended jams, and a gorgeous doo-wop medley to round off the set. Many of Zappa's bands are showcased here, including some bizarre material from the original Mothers of Invention, and the fabulous 1988 touring band. Tracks from each group of players are interspersed with and juxtaposed against one another, but it does not detract from the listening experience of hearing many fine talents doing justice to some much loved tunes. For Zappa newbies, this is a nice place to start, as it shows off such a variety of sides to the moustachioed one's musical persona, and is a heck of a lot of fun at the same time. Some conceptual in-jokes may be lost to those who are uninitiated, but for those interested, there's always time to bury down deep into the vast Zappa catalogue and catch up on some wildly diverse musical madness. Personal favourites on this volume are: Montana, Brown Moses/The Evil Prince, Church Chat, Truck Driver Divorce, Florentine Pogen, Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy and Little Girl Of Mine. There are some weak points here and there, but overall, the sheer variety of the other stuff more than makes up for this.

I assume everyone interested in this CD is a Serious Zappaphile. It's great, you should buy it... but know that Volume 2 of this series, the Helsinki Concert, is the best.

'Tiny Sick Tears' really stood out for me on the first listening - it's got a sort of Jim Morrison reference that had me rolling on the floor laughing. Nice version of 'Willie the Pimp', too.

The great thing about this series is that it's the Ultimate Guide to Conceptual Continuity. We can hear how the different bands played the various songs, and how Frank's musical conception changed over time. There is a theory that says that Frank only wrote one song, but it's REALLY LONG. This collection gives me an idea of how that could be.

This is probably the most consistently enjoyable of the entire YCDTOSA series, barring Vol. 2 -- The Helsinki Concert -- which doesn't really count since that particular volume was all from one show and sort of defies the concept of the series to begin with. Volume 4 has a little bit of everything: experimental madness from the 60s Mothers incarnations; hilarious, tight funk from the 70s period featuring the likes of George Duke and Napoleon Murphy Brock; late 70s Halloween madness at the NYC Palladium; goofy, humor-drenched stuff from the oft-maligned 1984 tour; and even a few surprises from the unbelievably talented 1988 combo. Highlights for me include "Brown Moses," (Frank's guys sure could sing!) "Take Me Out To the Ballgame," (laugh-out-loud funny and extremely odd) "Filthy Habits" (quite impressive with the 1988 horn section), and the 50s doo-wop medley (Ray White is simply astounding as one of the 1984 band's vocalists). This is a good example of why Frank and his musicians made for such a musically satisfying live show. There was everything...humor, great playing, and some things that you'd never see anywhere. Not a bad place for newbies to start. Tis is

Since the all-knowing, all-caring folks at Amazon.com are seemingly refusing to post my review of Volume 3 in this series (I wrote a good review of Volume 3, submitted it, and waited, and waited, and waited. With no results, I wrote another. And waited, and waited, and waited again. Still, nothing.), I'll press on ahead, and, this time, submit a review of Volume 4.

This edition follows the same premise of Volume 1, in that it spans Zappa's whole live career, without any apparent underlying theme. Where Volume 2 is only from the 1974 Helsinki Concert, Volume 3 is focused on the vocal abilities of the 1984 touring band, Volume 5 contrasts the original Mothers Of Invention (1965-1969) with the 1982 touring band, and the first disc of Volume 6 is focused on sexual themes, with the finale (disc two) being odds and ends to wrap it all up, this is a pot-pourri going back to the spring tour of 1969, spanning forward through the 1988 "Broadway The Hard Way" tour. Some real gems are included here, most notably, the '84 band's version of "The Evil Prince." The original, from "Thingfish," features Napoleon Murphy Brock singing this lengthy selection, in a sinister, chilling voice during that particular version of "The Torture Never Stops." I didn't feel there was room for improvement. Ray White sings it here, with the full band accompanying him, a far more complex arrangement than the studio version, and it is to be heard to be believed. Awesome band, contrary to what some detractors may think. The "Pound For A Brown Solos" are flowing with sweet-sounding keyboard arrangements, very nice, "Brown Moses" shows that Zappa hired some fantastic vocalists for his tours, and Disc One ends with the first version of "The Torture Never Stops," from the "Bongo Fury" sessions, Austin, Texas, 1975. This version is signifigantly different from the one everybody's familiar with. It's gritty and bluesy, the 1975 line-up of The Mothers, with Captain Beefheart singing, a perfect vehicle for this particular delivery of this number.

Disc Two begins with Zappa's "sermon" about Hell, and he tells the French audience, "THERE IS NO HELL, THERE IS ONLY...FRANCE!"
This kicks off a lengthy guitar duel between Zappa and Steve Vai, in the song "Stevie's Spanking." This is what live shows used to be made of. Too bad, look at what's out there these days. Things really have gone downhill.

Once again, you are treated to different performances over the years, some really old Mothers gems, "Are You Upset?" having gotten its title from the question Zappa asked a heckler in the audience during the recording of this piece. They lampoon The Doors in "Tiny Sick Tears" with a part of Zappa's monologue being modeled after the Oedipal section of "The End," only here there is no mother, just an embarrassed father. Really tacky, but funny, nonetheless. "Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy" just shines, it is so well done. And the set ends with a medley of old Rock-n-Roll songs from yesteryear. You don't have to like that kind of thing to see just how much fun the band had playing this sequence, and its inclusion is all part of the experience of Frank Zappa on stage. He never limited himself to one genre, and along with Volume 1, this is the most variety you will find in this series.

Together with volume 3, this is the most accessible of the YCDTOSA series, and, as such, a nice place to start for Zappa newbies. Personal favorite is Stevie's spanking which has amazing guitar playing over a perfect 'vamp'. Also the segue Willy the pimp / Montana, the 50's medley, Carolina hard core ectasy and Filthy habits are great. Well I could go on: this volume perhaps shows best that although the song selection could be discussed, the YCDTOSA series really offers some amazing versions of songs, and amazing performances of any touring (rock) band Zappa ever worked with

some very good early and some bloody good later Frank Zappa
not everyones taste but if you like the style of frank Zappa best album since Them or Us

Of the 6 entries in the YCDTOSA series, this is one of the 3 that receives heavy play in my regular listening rotation. If you are already a Zappa fan, this volume contains excellent performances of excellent songs and a couple rather rare treats. For the new Zappa fan, this release contains a little bit of everything that Zappa does- satire, rock, doo-wop, instrumentals, improv, blues, and more.
Disc one is all over the map. While it is heavy on '84 tour material- one of Zappa's least popular tours among the hard core fans- the tracks selected represent this tour at its best. The "Stick Together-> My Guitar-> Willie the Pimp" find Frank occupying a musical space as close to the middle of the road as he will ever be, and while some people may be offended by the sanitized "Willie the Pimp", this is a fun three song suite that kicks off the album with energy. Two tracks from the best ignored "Thingfish" album- "Brown Moses" and "The Evil Prince"- show off the '84 band's incredible vocal skills and musical virtuosity, and are two of the best tracks on the album. The first disc closes with an incredible set of five songs that display many sides of Zappa. "The Pound for a Brown solos" finds keyboardists Tommy Mars and Peter Wolf soloing over the unbeatable double bass combo of Patrick O'Hearn and Arthur Barrow (with the incomparable Vinnie Coliuta on drums). "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is exactly that, as performed by the '88 horn laden touring band, complete with some hilarious Ike Willis play by play. "Filthy Habits" (again with the '88 band) and the Captain Beefheart blues version of "The Torture Never Stops" conclude the first disc in epic fashion. Heck, this first disc alone is worth the price of admission.
Disc two starts off with a lot of guitar heavy classics, ranging from the metal flavored "Stevie's Spanking", the slowly building "Outside Now", the experimental as always "Truck Driver Divorce", and culminating in the melodic "Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy". Thrown in the mix are "Smell My Beard-> The Booger Man"- an improvisational jam from the Fall '74 band that chronicles their experiences with groupies and shows off the incredible funk skills of this George Duke led unit. Even the rather predictable "Disco Boy" and "Teen-age Wind" sound fresh, thanks to their placement in this set. The disc closes with 6 doo-wop flavored numbers which essentially serve as encores here as they would in a regular Zappa set.
Volume 4 has a little bit of everything and is both a great place to start and a rewarding listen for hard-core Zappa fans. Consistent from start to finish, it also contains some of the series best tracks in "The Evil Prince", "Pound for a Brown solos", and the '74 funk improv. Definitely worth buying!

I think vols. 3 & 4 are the gems of the YCDTOSA series. No theme or organizing principle, just a bunch of good music. Vol.4 includes weirdo covers, freakily-free jamming, and cool versions of Zappa favorites like Montana and TheTortureNeverStops. But its not the documentary value or the particular songs or musicians that make Vol.4 great -- it just has a nice flow.

5 Stars for Stevie's Spanking, the Willy the Pimp / Montana segue and the string of 50's doo wop songs at the end. Brilliant!!!