ZAPPA '80: MUDD CLUB/MUNICH

Frank Zappa

RIO/Avant-Prog

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Warthur
PROG REVIEWER

The Mudd Club set combines very new material - with selections from Sheik Yerbouti and Joe's Garage as well as material which would eventually wind up on You Are What You Is - along with quite old stuff material like Chunga's Revenge, with tunes originating from the 1973-1975 incarnation of the Mothers absent more or less entirely, which perhaps is indicative of a desire by Zappa to move on from songs he'd played rather extensively. The longer Munich set covers more ground.

That's fine in principle, but the particular renditions of the material here I'm not so keen on - the keyboard sound in particular is rather thin and muzak-y, Zappa being the technophile he was having been an early adopter of these 1980s synths but not quite having best practice down in terms of how they're used. Between this and a fairly syrupy take on some of the songs, and fairly lukewarm production at points (Zappa's vocals in particular are a bit fuzzy), this set ends up being rather inessential.

Report this review (#3113173)
Posted Friday, November 8, 2024 | Review Permalink

Fido73

Not perfect but some of the best guitar solos from Zappa in this live recording from 1980. I like the small club sound, makes you feel like you're there. The band, as always, is in perfect form and delivers a stellar performance all the way through, but like I said, the star here is the guitar, so if you like a guitar heavy show, you will like this album. The set might be missing most of the 73-74 songs that we like, but we have plenty of recordings from that time that have been released recently like Cheaper Than Cheep so I found the setlist on these two shows from 1980 quite refreshing. The only thing that prevents this to be a 5 stars is that, some of the keyboards sound are very 80's and have not aged very well but they reflect the time very well, when the technology was not there yet. If you're a fan of Joe's Garage album and you're nostalgic of the early eighties sound, this recording is for you. So 4 stars is the correct rating for me. Not perfect but very good performance wise.

Report this review (#3205974)
Posted Thursday, July 24, 2025 | Review Permalink

FRANK ZAPPA Zappa '80: Mudd Club/Munich ratings only

chronological order | showing rating only

fliertje (Frank van Lier)
isrort (Israel Ortiz)
Cwbme (PJ)
jacquesbrel (Stewart Smith-Langridge)
BDTF
RangerK1935 (Rawg Kay)
ProgJaroen (Jerry)
yeeshkul (Bob)

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