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Frank Zappa - Carnegie Hall CD (album) cover

CARNEGIE HALL

Frank Zappa

RIO/Avant-Prog

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Evolver
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Crossover & JR/F/Canterbury Teams
4 stars This four CD set contains two Flo & Eddie era Mothers of Invention shows from the same night, plus a set by The Persuasions, who opened the show. The liner notes detail how Zappa's manager had to lie to the Carnegie Hall staff, telling them that Zappa was going to perform orchestral music from "200 Motels", in order to get the band book.

The Persuasions set only takes up a bit more than twenty minutes on the first set, and while I don't really appreciate a cappella doo-wop, it does server to set the mood for the concert experience.

The rest of the set is exquisite. It has plenty of material that makes this album unique and valuable. The best part, is the release of a full performance of the "Divan" routine, a bizarre story of how God (portrayed by Mark Volman as a fat maroon sofa), likes to watch his friends, The SH\hort Girl and Squat The Magic Pig, perform lewd acts. The piece is offensive and silly, and very funny at times. It also is where songs like Sofa and Stick It Out, later releast in different contexts, originally came from.

Other nice tracks are a half hour jam on King Kong, and a three quarter hour Billy The Mountain.

The sound quality is decent, although the recording is mono, with stereo processing laid over it by FZ some time before Joe Travers converted it into digital format.

If you are one of those people that dislikes this comedy group version of Zappa's band, this is not for you. But I love it.

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Posted Monday, December 5, 2011 | Review Permalink

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