You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Sampler

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE" in its complete form has a playing time of more than 13 hours. It was designed primarily for release on CD (six double sets, with each disc including more than one hour of material).

From the beginning we have been asking ourselves: "How will we ever cram all this stuff into a normal vinyl release?"

The only practical answer seems to be this double LP sampler.

For those of you who don't own CD players yet, this release provides an 80 minutes sneak preview of material from Volume One, as well as future "YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE" releases.

We hope you enjoy it, and that it provides some incentive for the acquisition of a CD player, and that eventually you get to hear the whole collection in the medium for which it was created.

General Information

This series took 20 years to put together. It provides for those interested in my music a comprehensive collection of previously unreleased live material (ABSOLUTELY NO OVER DUBS), recorded in every available medium (7 1/2 ips analog two-track up through 24 track digital), beginning with the earliest tapes (October, 1968, Royal Festival Hall, London, England), to the most recent (featuring material from our 1988 "BROADWAY THE HARD WAY" world tour).

Great care has been taken throughout to ensure the best audio quality, however early selections of historical interest performed by the original Mothers Of Invention, though not exactly "hi-fi," have been included for the amusement of those fetishists who still believe the only "good" material was performed by that particular group. Hopefully, comparisons to recordings by the later ensembles will put an end to that peculiar misconception.

THIS COLLECTION IS NOT CHRONOLOGICAL.

The performance of any band from any year can be (and often is) edited to the performance of any other band from any other year, sometimes in the middle of a song.

The selections were chosen as answers to these theoretical questions:

(1) Is this the best available version of THIS SONG by THIS BAND?
(2) Is there some "folkloric" significance to this performance?
(3) Is it a premiere recording?
(4) Is it a "one-time-only" performance of an improvised event?
(5) Is there a good solo in it?
(6) Will it give "Conceptual Continuity Clues" to the hard-core maniacs with a complete record collection?
(7) Does the inclusion of this song help the stylistic flow of the album sequence by providing contrast or relief?
(8) Is there film or videotape of the performance?

I hope you enjoy this volume and will find time to hear the entire 13 hour collection.

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE" is dedicated to the musicians who play on it and to the listeners who have appreciated them for the last two decades.

Thank you.

SIDE ONE

PLASTIC PEOPLE (4:38)
(words: FZ music: Richard Berry) publisher: LIMAX MUSIC, BMI/MUNCHKIN MUSIC ASCAP
album(s) in which song has appeared: "ABSOLUTELY FREE" (different version)
date: February 13, 1969 location: THE FACTORY, THE BRONX, NEW YORK original recording medium: 2 track analog recording engineer: DICK KUNC remote facility: UHER portable (7 1/2 ips) remix engineer: BOB STONE remix facility: UTILITY MUFFIN RESEARCH KITCHEN

musicians: F.Z. (lead guitar/vocal) · LOWELL GEORGE (guitar/vocal) · ROY ESTRADA (bass/vocal) · DON PRESTON (keyboards/electronics) · BUZZ GARDNER (trumpet) · IAN UNDERWOOD (alto sax) · BUNK GARDNER (tenor sax) · MOTORHEAD SHERWOOD (baritone sax) · JIMMY CARL BLACK (drums) · ARTHUR DYER TRIPP III (drums)

The spring tour of 1969 was a bus tour. It was cold and miserable. Many of the venues we were performing in were small and "unfashionable." This rare recording finds the Mothers of Invention working a bar in The Bronx, performing for an audience that probably would have preferred The Vanilla Fudge.

THE TORTURE NEVER STOPS (15:51)
(words & music: FZ) publisher: MUNCHKIN MUSIC ASCAP
album(s) in which song has appeared: "ZOOT ALLURES"
date: March, 1977 location: HEMMERLEINHALLE, NURNBERG, W. GERMANY original recording medium: 4 track analog recording engineer: DAVEY MOIRE remote facility: SCULLY (at mix console) remix engineer: BOB STONE remix facility: UTILITY MUFFIN RESEARCH KITCHEN

musicians: F.Z. (lead guitar/vocal) · ADRIAN BELEW (guitar/vocal) · TOMMY MARS (keyboards) · PETER WOLF (keyboards) · ED MANN (percussion) · PATRICK O'HEARN (bass) · TERRY BOZZIO (drums)

Recordings of performances in this German venue have usually been good. The high concentration of U.S. Service Men in the audience here has tended to give the Nurnberg concerts a "special" flavor.

SIDE TWO

MONTANA (WHIPPING-FLOSS) (10:15)
(words & music: FZ) publisher: MUNCHKIN MUSIC ASCAP
album(s) in which song has appeared: "OVER-NITE SENSATION"
date: February, 1974 location: HELSINKI, FINLAND original recording medium: 16 track analog recording engineer: unknown remote facility: unknown remix engineer: BOB STONE remix facility: UTILITY MUFFIN RESEARCH KITCHEN

musicians: F.Z. (lead guitar/vocal) · NAPOLEON MURPHY BROCK (sax/vocal) · GEORGE DUKE (keyboard/vocal) · RUTH UNDERWOOD (percussion) · TOM FOWLER (bass) · CHESTER THOMPSON (drums)

Starting in 1982, Bobby Martin was featured vocalist on our encore version of "WHIPPING POST." Many people have wondered why we chose to include this Allman Brothers classic in our show. This extract from the "HELSINKI TAPES" (included in the series as one complete concert) shows where it all began . . . with a request from a fan in Finland.

THE EVIL PRINCE (7:12)
(words & music: FZ) publisher: MUNCHKIN MUSIC ASCAP
album(s) in which song has appeared: "THING-FISH"
date: December 18, 1984 location: VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA original recording medium: 24 track digital recording engineer: MARK PINSKE remote facility: UMRK MOBILE remix engineer: BOB STONE remix facility: UTILITY MUFFIN RESEARCH KITCHEN

musicians: F.Z. (lead guitar/vocal) · IKE WILLIS (guitar/vocal) · RAY WHITE (guitar/vocal) · BOBBY MARTIN (keyboards/sax/vocal) · ALAN ZAVOD (keyboards) · SCOTT THUNES (bass) · CHAD WACKERMAN (drums)

This complicated arrangement was developed during sound-checks on the 1984 tour. A comparison to the original release on "THING-FISH" will give a rough idea of how musically twisted things can get in the middle of a tour.

YOU CALL THAT MUSIC? (3:07)
(music: FZ) publisher: MUNCHKIN MUSIC ASCAP
album(s) in which song has appeared: UNRELEASED
date: September, 1969 location: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NYC original recording medium: 2 track analog recording engineer: DICK KUNC remote facility: UHER portable (7 1/2 ips) remix engineer: BOB STONE remix facility: UTILITY MUFFIN RESEARCH KITCHEN

Another aspect of the old M.O.I. repertoire: dissonance and abstraction . . . the sort of material that used to drive rock critics into apoplexy.

SIDE THREE

SHARLEENA (8:53)
(words & music: FZ) publisher: MUNCHKIN MUSIC ASCAP
album(s) in which song has appeared: "CHUNGA'S REVENGE" & "THEM OR US"
date: December 23, 1984 location: UNIVERSAL AMPHITHEATER, HOLLYWOOD original recording medium: 24 track digital recording engineer: MARK PINSKE remote facility: UMRK MOBILE remote engineer: BOB STONE remix facility: UTILITY MUFFIN RESEARCH KITCHEN

This was the next-to-last song on the last concert of the 1984 tour (the very last song was the version of "WHIPPING POST" included in the "DOES HUMOR BELONG IN MUSIC?" CD, released by EMI). These are the only two times Dweezil and I have played guitar together on stage.

NANOOK RUBS IT (11:19)
(words & music: FZ) publisher: MUNCHKIN MUSIC ASCAP
album(s) in which song has appeared: "APOSTROPHE"
date: February 18, 1979 location: ODEON HAMMERSMITH, LONDON, ENGLAND original recording medium: 24 track analog recording engineer: MICK GLOSSOP remote facility: ISLAND MOBILE remix engineer: BOB STONE remix facility: UTILITY MUFFIN RESEARCH KITCHEN

musicians: F.Z. (lead guitar/vocal) · DENNY WALLEY (slide guitar/vocals) · WARREN CUCURRULLO (guitar) · TOMMY MARS (keyboards/vocals) · PETER WOLF (keyboards) · ED MANN (percussion) · ARTHUR BARROW (bass) · VINNIE COLAIUTA (drums)

Prior to purchasing the U.M.R.K. Mobile Studio, all "first class" live recordings had to be done using rented equipment. This meant that good live recordings could only be obtained in major cities where professional gear was available (London or New York), and so it became a tradition during every European Tour that we would do a live recording at The Odeon Hammersmith (or the Palladium if it was a U.S. Tour). The unfortunate aspect of this tradition is that if anybody in the band became ill on the recording day, the results of that handicapped performance wound up on tape . . . and, conversely, the fantastic performances in the small towns and villages survive only on 2-track or 4-track "guerilla recordings."

On this occasion, many members of the band were ill, but, in spite of it, delivered one of the more memorable concerts of the tour.

SIDE FOUR

THE FLORIDA AIRPORT TAPE (1:03)
(words: Volman, Kaylan, FZ) publisher: MUNCHKIN MUSIC ASCAP
album(s) in which song has appeared: UNRELEASED
date: April, 1970 location: AN AIRPORT IN FLORIDA original recording medium: 2 track analog recording engineer: F.Z. remote facility: UHER portable remix engineer: BOB STONE remix facility: UTILITY MUFFIN RESEARCH KITCHEN

musicians: F.Z. (guitar/vocal) · MARK VOLMAN (vocal) · HOWARD KAYLAN (vocal) · JEFF SIMMONS (bass) · GEORGE DUKE (keyboards) · IAN UNDERWOOD (keyboards/alto sax) · AYNSLEY DUNBAR (drums)

I carried a UHER portable recorder at all times on this first tour with the "vaudeville band." This is a mild example of some of the candid conversations captured for a future audio documentary.

ONCE UPON A TIME (4:38)
(words & music: FZ) publisher: MUNCHKIN MUSIC ASCAP
album(s) in which song has appeared: UNRELEASED
date: December 10, 1971 location: RAINBOW THEATER, LONDON, ENGLAND original recording medium: 8 track analog recording engineer: unknown remote facility: EMI REMOTE remix engineer: BOB STONE remix facility: UTILITY MUFFIN RESEARCH KITCHEN

musicians: F.Z. (lead guitar/vocal) · MARK VOLMAN (vocal) · HOWARD KAYLAN (vocal) · JIM PONS (bass/vocal) · DON PRESTON (keyboards/electronics) · IAN UNDERWOOD (keyboards/alto sax) · AYNSLEY DUNBAR (drums)

A week before this show, all our touring equipment was destroyed in a a fire at the Montreux Casino in Geneva, Switzerland (remember "Smoke On The Water" by Deep Purple?). This was our first concert after scrounging for new band gear. Most of it didn't work too well. We did our best to put on a good show, however, toward the end of the concert I was knocked off the stage by an irate individual who later told police that we hadn't given him his money's worth and that I had been making "eyes" at his girl friend. I spent a month in the hospital and the best part of the following year in a wheel chair. He went to jail for a short while.

KING KONG (3:11)
(music: FZ) publisher: FRANK ZAPPA MUSIC BMI
album(s) in which song has appeared: "UNCLE MEAT"
date: June 22, 1982 location: PARC DES EXPOSITIONS, METZ, FRANCE original recording medium: 24 track analog recording engineer: MARK PINSKE remote facility: UMRK MOBILE remix engineer: BOB STONE remix facility: UTILITY MUFFIN RESEARCH KITCHEN

musicians: F.Z. (lead guitar/vocal) · RAY WHITE (guitar/vocal) · STEVE VAI (stunt guitar) · TOMMY MARS (keyboards/vocal) · BOBBY MARTIN (keyboards/sax/vocals) · ED MANN (percussion) · SCOTT THUNES (bass) · CHAD WACKERMAN (drums)

This concert hall in Metz has perhaps the most loathsome acoustics of any venue on the continent. Everybody in the band was depressed by the unbelievable echo (which might still be churning away even as you read this) during the show, however, by the end of the tour when I got a chance to hear the road tapes, I discovered several interesting items from that show, all of which have found their way into the collection. It is also worth noting that a performance video of this cut is included near the end of "VIDEO FROM HELL."

DICKIE'S SUCH AN ASSHOLE (6:48)
(words & music: FZ) publisher: MUNCHKIN MUSIC ASCAP
album(s) in which song has appeared: UNRELEASED
date: December 12, 1973 location: THE ROXY, HOLLYWOOD, CA original recording medium: 16 track analog recording engineer: KERRY McNAB remote facility: RECORD PLANT REMOTE remix engineer: BOB STONE remix facility: UTILITY MUFFIN RESEARCH KITCHEN

musicians: F.Z. (lead guitar/vocal) · NAPOLEON MURPHY BROCK (sax/vocal) · GEORGE DUKE (keyboard/vocal) · RUTH UNDERWOOD (percussion) · BRUCE FOWLER (trombone) · TOM FOWLER (bass) · CHESTER THOMPSON (drums) · RALPH HUMPHREY (drums)

This was a regular part of the 1973/74 stage show. Somehow it never made it onto an album. An up-dated arrangement is included in the 1988 band's "Republican Medley." In politics, some things never change.

COSMIC DEBRIS (4:45)
(words & music: FZ) publisher: MUNCHKIN MUSIC ASCAP
album(s) in which song has appeared: "APOSTROPHE"
date: December 17, 1984 location: PARAMOUNT THEATER, SEATTLE, WA original recording medium: 24 track digital recording engineer: MARK PINSKE remote facility: UMRK MOBILE remix engineer: BOB STONE remix facility: UTILITY MUFFIN RESEARCH KITCHEN

musicians: F.Z. (lead guitar/vocal) · IKE WILLIS (guitar/vocal) · RAY WHITE (guitar/vocal) · BOBBY MARTIN (keyboards/sax/vocals) · ALAN ZAVOD (keyboards) · SCOTT THUNES (bass) · CHAD WACKERMAN (drums)

One of the things that happens during a tour is a "lyric mutation," inspired by current events, audience participation, or, as in this case, arbitrary nonsense. For some unknown reason, this concert was infested with references to The Lone Ranger. Further proof that touring can make you crazy.