SWISS CHEESE / FIRE!

Frank Zappa and the Mothers Were at the best place around But some stupid with a flare gun Burned the place to the ground

Yes. This is the concert Deep Purple was singing about.

This certainly wasn't the greatest performance by the Flo & Eddie lineup of The Mothers of Invention, but as noted above, it was significant for historic reasons.

The recording quality is at best fair. Some tracks cut in after they've started, and some fade out before the end, but the songs seem to be mostly complete.

The concert began with a long, uncharacteristically boring jam by the band. Some comments are heard about technical difficulties. That's probably why the jam was so long, and so uninspired. The band then gets into gear with a nice performance of Peaches En Regalia, followed by a relatively short medley containing some "200 Motels" songs. Call Any Vegetable follows, not all that different (aside from a few spoken parts) from the "Just Another Band From L.A." version. Anyway The Wind Blows closes the first disk. This song has an ending that I haven't heard on other recordings. It's nothing special, just different.

The second disk is much longer, and has better material. i opens with a great version of Magdalena, which segues into Dog Breath, just like on JABFLA. The next track is listed as Sofa, although your media player will show it as Give Me Some Floor Covering Under This Fat, Floating Sofa. As far as I know, this is the only official Zappa release containing the full version of this funny piece, which contains Sofa, Stick It Out and a routing that has God watching a short girl have sex with a pig on his couch. This rarity is the true gem on the album.

A few songs later, Don Preston is just beginning a weird synth solo, when the band stops. Volman or Kaylen (I forget which is which) says "Fire! Arthur Brown, in person!" and Zappa calmly directs the audience to leave the building.

Once again, it wasn't a great concert, but worth owning for the history. And the short girl.