YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE, VOL. 6

It seems strangely fitting that, instead of ending the YCDTOSA series on a relatively serious note, Frank would overload the finale with his trashy and smutty side. This collection would probably seem like a nightmare to anybody who preferred to think of Zappa as a "serious" artist, but I've always accepted that aspect as a crucial part of what made Frank Zappa so interesting. Sure, I dislike the bulk of Thing Fish or the Flo and Eddie era as much as most people do, and I've never been a big fan of stuff like "Punky's Whips" or "Dinah-Moe Mum," but even for all his missteps I still think Frank could do tongue-in-cheek smutty better than anybody else could. After all, I really like Joe's Garage, I feel that the smutty half of Sheik Yerbouti is easily the better half, and I hope I never grow too old to laugh at "Titties and Beer" or "The Illinois Enema Bandit." A lot of this album is gross and pointless (the monologues, in particular, are very hit and miss, and when they miss they miss by a mile), but I end laughing and smiling at this album much more than I don't.

The first disc kicks off appropriately with "The M.O.I. Anti-Smut Loyalty Oath," which is the F&E lineup promising on stage that they won't expose themselves during the show (a la Jim Morrison), to great effect. A great 70's performance of "Dirty Love" is set up by "The Poodle Lecture," a story from the 80's where Frank tells an amusingly gross story about why the poodle has such a ridiculous arrangement of hair. There's another version of "Honey, Don't You Want a Man Like Me?" (I'm not sure why we needed a version on Vol 3 and on here, but whatever, it's fun in both places), fun and faithful versions of "Father O'Blivion" and "I'm So Cute" (bookending an amusingly smug and self-satisfied monologue about how ridiculous rock music must be if it can have a song like "I Have Been in You"), a very 80's-ified version of "Ms. Pinky" (preceeded by a reeeeeeally gross story about Frank seeing a blow up doll ad in a Finnish porn maganize), and fun renditions of "Wind Up Workin' in a Gas Station" (not really smutty, but definitely not sophisticated either) and, of course, "I Have Been in You." "Dinah-Moe Humm" isn't really superior to the Baby Snakes version (which was only kinda decent, though better than the original), but "He's So Gay" is a pleasant surprise, and the pairing of "Camarillo Brillo" and "Muffin Man" must have made everybody in the audience happy when they heard it. And, well, I have to admit that I laugh at "Make a Sex Noise." And, well, I kinda like "Magic Fingers" (done by the 80's band) and "Shove it Right in" (done by F&E), two 200 Motels tracks, in this context.

The second disc pulls back a little bit on the smut factor, though there are great versions of "Catholic Girls" and "Crew Slut" here to keep some continuity with before, not to mention the opening "Illinois Enema Bandit." "Black Napkins" is okayish, and neither "We're Turning Again" nor "Alien Orifice" do much to make themselves sound stronger than the originals, but "Tryin' to Grow a Chin" is still a lot of fun, and it's great to hear "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance" again (done as a jazz-fusiony instrumental, with a great electric violin part near the beginning). Apart from this, the Joe's Garage material and a great new instrumental called "Thirteen" (so named because it's subdivided into 5/8 and 4/4 time, which essentially puts it in 13/8), the highlights of the disc actually come from 200 Motels material. "Lonesome Cowboy Nando" splices together performances from 1971 and 1988, with the 1971 performance featuring JCB singing "Lonesome Cowboy Burt," and the 1988 performance featuring Zappa singing a parody about a guy from Italy, and the effect is amazingly great. "200 Motels Finale" is a great uptempo number that actually makes F&E's overdone vocals sound pretty great, and the 1981 version of "Strictly Genteel" that finishes the set is everything you would want it to be.

There's other stuff on here I don't like much (the track sung by the woman who did the awesome operatic vocals on "Teenage Prostitute" is really boring), but I like the overall effect of the set. There's lots of energy, and tension, and ridiculous enjoyment, and that should be enough to make up for any deficiencies in "seriousness" and "good taste" that it might have. A Zappa fan who doesn't like this at least a bit doesn't like Zappa for the same reasons I do.

The final set in Frank Zappa's massive live compilation starts off with a warning. The M.O.I. Anti- Smut Loyalty Oath can serve as a warning that this CD set focuses mostly on Frank's more sexual material. That doesn't make it bad. You just have to know what you are in for.

There are quite a few narrative included. There is the famous Poodle Lecture, the explanation of songs like Ms. Pinky, I Have Been In You (which loses points for not leading in to the song), and more. There is also a disgusting discussion about the womens' underwear thrown onto the stage (the band used to hang them on clotheslines across the stage).

But the real highlight, as usual, is the music. My favorites on this one include: a very fast version of Magic Fingers A great Patrick O'Hearn bass solo on Lobster Girl, and Zappa's homage to Olivia Wilde's hot character on the TV show "House" (A show created many years after his death. How could he know?), Thirteen. Okay, the song is really a vehicle for a fantastic L. Shankar violin solo - the title refers to it's time signatures.

So throw out your prurient attitude, sit back and enjoy.

This is the last volume of the "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore" series that Frank Zappa put together to represent some of his best live performances and to also collect some tracks that were not at that time available anywhere else. Volume 6 focuses on the comedy of his bands throughout the years. The tracks on this collection are collected from live performances through his career.

The first disc consists of humorous and shorter songs focusing on the vocals. The subject is all about sex and the bands on here are not afraid to delve into the most off-color and sexually explicit material and nothing here is sacred, so to speak. This material is not for the easily offended, so make sure you understand that before listening to this collection.

On the first track, FZ introduces the collection from an introductory speech made at a concert in Tallahassee, Florida on 10/9/1970. This was shortly after Jim Morrison was arrested for exposing himself and FZ and the band were confronted before going on stage by what he called "a redneck with a gun" saying that they had better not have any intention on exposing themselves. This is the oath they made up in answer to that performed on stage in front of a very excited crowd. It's a great introduction to the disc. This leads into the next spoken word track, "The Poodle Lecture". This helps explain the whole poodle controversy that is brought up time and time again in Zappa's music and concerts. After that you two songs, the famous "Dirty Love" that usually follows the lecture and then "Magic Fingers" that appeared on the rare album "200 Motels". Next is an audience participation track dealing with panties followed by a very mediocre version of "Honey Don't You Want a Man Like Me" and then an interesting version of "Father O'blivion". More spoken word follows with FZ talking about what was a big hit at the time in the song "I'm in You" by Peter Frampton. It really irked him that anyone would think that it was a romantic song to have someone making love to a woman and whispering this phrase in her ear. He carries on about this for 4 minutes. Next, Ted Nugent gets blasted on the song "I'm So Cute" which he was deserving of, then there is a strange avant garde style vocal styling called "White Person". After this is more spoken word explaining what the song "Ms Pinky" is about and then that particular song is performed.

Another great progressive selection from "200 Motels" follows in the song "Shove it Right In". After this is a version of "Wind Up Workin' at a Gas Station" is performed. This song is special in the fact that it is a rare recording of Bianca Odin performing with the band. There are not very many recordings of her during her short stint with the band. Also, Eddie Jobson from Roxy Music is on keys here. Not the best version of this song, but it is valuable in because of it's rarity. Next is the hilarious audience participation track "Make a Sex Noise" followed by "Tracey is a Snob" which is mostly a jazz fusion instrumental with sex noises behind it which was one of Frank's favorite jokes. The next song is "I Have Been in You" which is Frank's answer to Peter Frampton's "I'm in You" just to show how ridiculous lyrics like this can be. I guess he figured if Framption could do it, so could he. Another song with sex noises follows, then we get four of Zappa's most well known songs about sex in some pretty decent renditions which ends with "Muffin Man". It's actually a great ending for the first disc which leaves you wanting more of the same, but it takes way to long for the disc to become consitently good and unfortunately, the last song doesn't play out, but just fades out which is very annoying.

Disc 2 is much better and has the better performances and a lot more instrumentals, something that was sorely missed on the first disc. There is a great version of "The Illinois Enema Bandit" which is followed by an amazing instrumental called "Thirteen" that has a violin solo by guest artist L. Shankar. This is a wonderful solo that just works so well after the substandard music on disc 1. For some reason, during the last section of the song, Frank edits to another concert that features a guitar solo, but I would have rather heard the rest of Shankar's performance. It's still a great track though. Patrick O'Hearn gets featured on bass on the next instrumental track called "Lobster Girl" and does a great job, then this follows into a slow blusey rendition of "Black Napkins" which has the distinction of the melody and main hooks being played by brass in the beginning. This is another amazing performance and is a nice way to present this instrumental. Frank edits to another venue in the middle of the song and the rhythm suddenly changes from the slow blues to a more reggae sound, but it is still a great performance so it all fits well.

Next, you get a rare performance of "Turning Again" which is a good track, but it pokes some fun at Jimi Hendrix. Right after the bit about Hendrix, Keneally messes up his guitar part which Ike Willis finds very amusing. There is another instrumental called "Alien Orifice" which is interesting enough, which is followed two songs from Joe's Garage; famous "Catholic Girls" and "Crew Slut". Then comes Adrian Belew singing lead on "Tryin' to Grow a Chin" from Shiek Yerbouti followed by the instrumental version of "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance." Next Lisa Pomeil, a soprano operatic singer and sister to the Ronco ad announcer does a strange song about her life, or at least she says it is. The country tinged "Lonesome Cowboy Nando" is great and it includes lyrics about a jellyfish that has something to do with FZ actually have a jellyfish scientifically named after him (hydrozoan P. zappai) by a Zappa-fanatic that just happened to be a scientist (look it up, it's true). The "200 Motels Finale" follows and then the entire series is brought to an amazing close with a non-orchestral version of "Strictly Genteel" which is an appropriate closer.

So, if you are into Zappa's humor, this is the collection for you. But, disc 2 offers plenty of great music for when you are feeling a little more intellectual, yet still has a lot of the same humor in it. The 1st disc suffers because of the lack of cohesiveness and not a lot of progressive music, just silliness, but it's still not completely terrible. The 2nd disc is worth the purchase alone, so the two together make a pretty good compilation. Just be ready for a lot of off-color humor. As far as recommendation, I would get volumes 1 or 2 before this one, but it has plenty to offer for the humorous Zappa fan. 3.5 stars, but we'll round it up to 4.