Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Frank Zappa - Fillmore East, June 1971 CD (album) cover

FILLMORE EAST, JUNE 1971

Frank Zappa

RIO/Avant-Prog


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Bookmark and Share
loserboy
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars A superb live album with all the ZAPPA'ish twists one has come to expect. ZAPPA is a 'show-man' and live at Filmore's displays the zainy, wacky and thought provoking musical ideas of Mr ZAPPA. For me this live album (although not long enough) does nicely transport the listener back into the early days of this creative musical genius... even a couple of live tracks from "Hot Rats" and an old classic featured for the first time "The Mud Shark".
Report this review (#29672)
Posted Saturday, April 17, 2004 | Review Permalink
daveconn
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars That's right, you heard right, the secret word for tonight is "Mud Shark." But for this bawdy tale from the not-so-briny shoals of Seattle, Washington alone, this is required listening. Of course, instrumental fans who hunger for something more filling from Fillmore will find it in tracks like "Lonesome Electric Turkey" and the evergreen "Peaches En Regalia." This live record (one of the last from the Fillmore East if memory serves) is one of my favorites from the Flo & Eddie experiment, showcasing their unique stage presence on the dialogue- driven "Do You Like My New Car?" and cascading into a delirious version of The Turtles' "Happy Together." Unlike some of ZAPPA's live releases, Fillmore East retains the atmosphere of a live show from beginning to end, with a minimum of post-doctoring and a maximum of spontaneous energy (or as spontaneous as a band playing a tortuous track like "Little House I Used To Live In" can get). Among the other ZAPPA/Mothers albums out there, Fillmore East reminds me most of the 200 Motels soundtrack, where a similar mix of complicated instrumentals and transcendently strange songs co-existed happily (although I understand that Uncle Meat tasted about the same too). As an oral history of rock stars and the groupies who love them, Fillmore East puts Professors Flo & Eddie at the podium, overshadowing the rest of the band much of the time. Ordinarily, their monkeyshines steal the spotlight from the erstwhile top banana (FRANK) and his phenomenal fretwork. But Fillmore East finds a better balance than Just Another Band From L.A., for example, alternating between the profane and the musically profound in a way that satisfies both camps.
Report this review (#29674)
Posted Tuesday, May 4, 2004 | Review Permalink
Proghead
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Here's the album where ZAPPA went for penis jokes instead. He recruited three ex- Turtles (Howard Kaylan and Mark Volkman, aka. Flo & Eddie, and Jim Pons). Ian Underwood and Don Preston from the original MOTHERS stayed on, and British session drummer Aynsley Dunsbar (later of JOURNEY and JEFFERSON STARSHIP) was added on. You can tell right away this isn't what the original MOTHERS (Jimmy Carl Black, Roy Estrada, etc.) had done. Emphasis now put on bathroom humor and penis jokes, which did not endear themselves to the rock critics one bit. But the music was about groupies who demanded the band they're obsessed with play their hit record (with the emphasis "with a bullet"), and plaster it with lots of sexual innuendo, and references to a fight with LED ZEPPELIN at the Edgewater Inn in Seattle involving a baby octopus (which allegedly happened). I liked how they were saying that THREE DOG NIGHT was their favorite band (which was obviously a joke, since THREE DOG NIGHT were always ridiculed for being an overly-commercial band too obsessed with the charts). Another was "Do You Like My New Car", with mention of hopping in the trunk of a Gremlin to get their rocks off. What's really silly is the car in question, the AMC Gremlin, has no trunk, so how can you make out in the back of the Gremlin (not to mention how ridiculously small the Gremlin is - if you thought the original VW Beetle was small, the Gremlin was even smaller). Another song worth mentioning is "Bwana Dik", one of the penis joke songs, where one of the vocalists did all he can to sound exactly like Jim Morrison! They eventually ended up playing "Happy Together", a hit for Flo & Eddie's former band, the TURTLES. This version was obviously a lot less polished than the original, but I guess that's the point. A couple of songs from the MOTHERS and ZAPPA's back catalog are played like "Little House I Used To Live In" (much shorter than the original and no killer violin solo from Don "Sugarcane" Harris) and "Peaches en Regalia".
Report this review (#29675)
Posted Friday, May 7, 2004 | Review Permalink
jthornton1562
2 stars This is possibly the worst live album Zappa ever released. It stands as a reminder of the Led Zeppelin 'mud shark' story. Great. That is, when it isn't trying to be one big penis joke. The playing is profecent and even inspiried in parts, but it comes off like bad schtick. If you crave adult humor, rent a Jay & Silent Bob movie, or better yet buy 'Zappa in New York'. In closing, there isn't anything on this album that isn't done better somewhere else.
Report this review (#29677)
Posted Friday, April 29, 2005 | Review Permalink
slack4justice
4 stars Flo & Eddie are very prominent on this live album, and it makes it much like a Bonzo Dog Band or Monty Python affair, but much less British of course. The penis jokes and the Mud Shark routines are happily debuted here, as well as their uplifting dual harmony vocals they're known for. This funny concept is throughout the entire album, climaxing with the band finally giving the groupies the hit with a bullet (SLAM), and sing Happy Together. Many parts of this album show off this band extremely well, Bob Harris and Aynsley Dunbar are extremely good in this shortened version of The Little House I Used To Live In, and in the slightly altered live version of Peaches en Regalia. Off of Hot Rats, Willie the Pimp appears in an altered version as well. Lonesome Electric Turkey hits the homestretch of the show with excellent keyboard playing, finally flowing into an Aynsley break that introduces Tears Began To Fall, setting the final tone of the show. The meandering comedy routines are acquired taste, and since they're so abundant here, this could lead you off. The music-heavy moments of the album are particularly fantastic however. 8.5/10
Report this review (#38714)
Posted Wednesday, July 6, 2005 | Review Permalink
greenback
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars The sound of this record is not very good: it is recorded live! The music is good, but a bit minimalist for some Zappa's stuff; maybe more rock than jazz or fusion. The guys focused on vocals and electric guitar. There are more complex songs like "Peaches en regalia" and "Lonesome electric turkey". Zappa's voice does not have all its refinement yet. Zappa gives here an excellent cover of the famous "Happy together" hit by The Turtles.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Report this review (#39630)
Posted Saturday, July 16, 2005 | Review Permalink
Easy Livin
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
2 stars "That's right, the secret word for tonight is Mudshark"

This 1971 recording features the modified Flo and Eddie line up of the Mothers performing live in the final days of the famous Fillmore East venue. F&E's previous day job with the west coast pop band The Turtles is referenced through a reasonably straight version of their hit "Happy together".

Things are kept pretty tight throughout the performance, the majority of the tracks being short. The album features mainly new material, but brief renditions of a couple of tracks from "Hot rats" (Willie the pimp" and "Peaches en regalia") are included. After the orthodox jazz rock start of "Little house I used to live in", Frank goes into his first spoken narrative for "The mud shark", a shaggy dog story of no consequence. The track introduces an increasingly seedier set of songs, "What kind of girl do you think we are" sounding at times distinctly like a Jim Morrison indulgence.

"Willie the pimp" is split in two, ending side one of the LP and starting side two. Bizarrely, the break is abrupt, in mid performance of the song. From a prog perspective, apart from the "Hot rats" songs, the album is virtually devoid of anything relevant. By the time we get to "Do you like my new car" things have sunk to an astonishingly low depth, with a total dearth of music and humour. Don Preston's mini-moog solo during the "Lonesome electric turkey" encore is curtailed here, but at least offers something of interest.

While this live recording is clearly Frank and the band having fun, and would have been far more entertaining had the listener been present for the event, the album misfires on just about every count. The humour is not humorous, the generally music takes a sorry second place, and the frequent childish sleaze references quickly become tiresome.

The sleeve is a strange affair, consisting entirely of rather unattractive hand scrawled notes, and a plea from Frank "Don't forget to register to vote".

Report this review (#134683)
Posted Friday, August 24, 2007 | Review Permalink
5 stars Historical ! I'm probably the first reviewer to rate this release a 5 stars ! Not because I want to be the first to, but because I reall love this album, which is too much underrated. Yes, the music here is largerlydeceiving, unconsistent. Fillmore East, June 1971 (recorded at the Fillmore East a few days before they definitely close this concert area) is a funny live album, from the 'Flo & Eddie' era, much based on humor than on music (remember 200 Motels ?). There are some great moments here, as The Mud Shark dance, or these incredible versions of Willie The Pimp and Peaches In Regalia. Quite deceiving the first time you hear it, but after a few listenings, the weirdness of this albums takes you, for a funny trip !
Report this review (#162963)
Posted Saturday, March 1, 2008 | Review Permalink
Man With Hat
COLLABORATOR
Jazz-Rock/Fusion/Canterbury Team
3 stars Flo & Eddie & Frank...happy together.

Fillmore East is a bit of a two headed beast. On one hand, you have some very explict, expertly worded, and sometimes hilarious dialouge dominated affairs, and on the other hand you have some fantastic, intense, hot music. Flo & Eddie are fully unleashed here and take no prisoners throughout. If bawdy lyrics offend you, it is probably best to avoid this album. With that being said, if you have an ear for Zappa's dirty side (and specifically this line up of The Mothers) these tracks for the most part should be enjoyable. What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are? is, IMO, at the top of the list of these vocal dominated tracks (just edeging out The Mud Shark). There are also a few middle of the road tracks which balance vocals and music such as Bwana Dik and Latex Solar Beef (both of which are very enjoyable).

However, there are some more important reasons to own this record. First and foremost, The Mud Shark. Even though its basically a story and mostly spoken, this starts the ever recurring theme of the Mud Shark through out Frank's Music. Thus essential for Zappa fans. Now for the musical moments: Little House I Used To Live In. An excellent rendition that really show the use of Flo & Eddies vocals in top form (aka to emphasize the music, as opposed to completely dominating it). Not to mention its always fun to here this one played live. Willie The Pimp, Part One. A blistering show for guitar. The only downside to this song is that it is much too short. Lonesome Electric Turkey. Another song that is much too short. Fantastic key work, a great jazz-rock/jammy atmosphere, and a good excercise for the band (albeit a short one) make this one a winner and a must have. Peaches En Regalia. One of the rare times this was actually released played live, it is certainly in top form, with F&E vocals once again putting the perfect puncuation on the music. (As an aside, I've always liked The Turtles hit with a bullet Happy Together, so to hear it here in a more exciting form is also a plus).

All in all, this one is perhaps the best of the bunch from the Flo & Eddie lineup of The Mothers. Although I would have liked to hear more insturmentals, or at least more emphasis on the music, Fillmore East does have numerous points of interest. The humor is not for everyone, and this isn't exactly the most progressive record Frank made, both of which will hurt the rating it recieves here. Also, this one should be picked up near the end of your Zappa adventure, unless you are hunting for the more sexual side of his work. On PA's scale, a 3 should fit nicely. On my own scale, a 3.5-3.8.

Report this review (#168980)
Posted Monday, April 28, 2008 | Review Permalink
Garion81
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars I always smile when I see the cover for this one. Almost looks like a bootleg with the handwritten titles in pencil. While certainly not one of Franks's most ambitious musical endeavors it sure is entertaining. Maybe the humor escapes some people but it is based on a concept of the groupie and rock star. The MudSHark sets the tone as being the story of the infamous octopus/fish story involving a young lady and members of Led Zeppelin. The related sequence of What Kind of Girl/Bwana Dik and Do You Like My New Car of the groupie getting together with the rock star is hilarious. Think of it Howie ..B Jobs, Knotted Nylons, One Unreleased recording of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young fighting in the dressing room a the Filmore east I am not a groupie, I told Elton John I told Robert Planet all those big guys Some priceless stuff if you know the history. Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan aka Phosphorescent Leech & Eddie formally of the Turtles join Zappa on this one for their outright humor after which they turned into a radio show as well as touring as Phlo and Eddie making a living satirizing pop and rock songs.

This seem to be a companion collection to Just Another Band From LA and would think the two together would form a complete show. Still this is short by today's standards and some bonus tracks would help this recording a lot. There are some great musical tracks Like Peaches and Lonesome Electric Turkey to round this out. I still enjoy this from time to time so three stars.

Report this review (#170906)
Posted Tuesday, May 13, 2008 | Review Permalink
UMUR
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Fillmore East, June 1971 is the first solo live album from Frank Zappa. I don´t care if it says Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention on the sleeve of the album I still regards this as a Frank Zappa album with hired help. The band that Zappa toured with in 1970-1971 included Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan from The Turtles on vocals, Ian Underwood on winds, keyboards and vocals, Aynsley Dunbar on drums, Jim Pons on bass and vocals, Bob Harris 2nd keyboard and vocals and last but not least old Mothers of Invention collegue Don Preston on Mini-Moog. These musicians where on an off the The Mothers of Invention in that period.

It is a strange period in Frank Zappa´s discography and many fans didn´t like this incarnation of the band. Mostly due to the high pitched vocal performances from Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan and the rather dirty humour about groupies and sex that seemed to be the favorite subject in that period. Many felt Zappa didn´t deliver his most artistically valid albums in that period. I only partially agree. I really enjoy the vocal performances on the albums from this period ( Chunga´s Revenge, Fillmore East, June 1971, 200 Motels and Just another Band from L.A.) while especially the bad sound quality on those four albums sometimes annoy me. There is nothing wrong with the quality of the music though.

The music on this live recording from The Fillmore East is part music and part dialogue about groupies and the size of rock star penises. If you don´t find those parts funny I´ll dare say you don´t have a humour. With lines like: Talking ´bout Your haemorrhoids Baby and My Dick is a Harley you kick it to Start this album is a real lyrical gem for those of us who like dirty rock songs. The music is of course great as always. There are both unreleased songs like What Kind of Girl Do You Think We Are?, Bwana Dik and Do You Like my new Car?, old Mothers of Invention songs like Little House I used to Live in and also Frank Zappa solo songs like Willie the Pimp and Peaches En Regalia on the album. The new songs are mostly vocal based or dialogue from Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan. They remind me of some of the vocal based tracks on 200 Motels.

The musicianship is excellent and I must say that I really enjoy Howard Kaylan´s wide vocal range. That man is a brilliant singer. Mark Volman isn´t the greatest singer but as Zappa said: He is a funny fat person.

The sound quality is not very good and besides the pretty well produced vocals I´d say it´s almost of bootleg quality. Well that´s probably taking it too far but you get the picture.

The cover art also signals bootleg being totally white with only handwritten letters to show what´s inside. It suits it´s purpose well.

Fillmore East, June 1971 was never my favorite Frank Zappa album even though it makes me laught every time I listen to it. It´s a good testimony of the time Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan were the lead singers in The Mothers of Invention though. I would recommend that you get Just Another Band from L.A. before purchasing this one though as it is an even better testimony. I´ll rate Fillmore East, June 1971 3 stars.

Report this review (#177069)
Posted Thursday, July 17, 2008 | Review Permalink
tarkus1980
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars One-third decent live performance, two-thirds LAME juvenile standup comedy/skits (with vague musical backing), this is the kind of landmine that serves as an example of why Frank Zappa's discography is a dangerous place to trod. The majority of the album consists of Flo and Eddie (with some narration by Frank about the infamous Mud Shark incident with Vanilla Fudge, though he never actually gets to the punchline) singing/talking about sex with groupies (oh, sorry, they're not groupies, Roger Daltry never laid a hand on them) who only want an artist with a number one hit (with a bullet!) on the chart. This goes seemingly FOREVER, and it's all the sadder because Frank (Flo and Eddie are absolved largely because Frank wrote this crap, though they did willingly consent to deliver it) really seems to think that just mentioning crude sex acts and using dirty words and obvious sexual puns ("I Bwana Dik! I Bwana Dik!") is sufficient to create legitimate ha-ha humor. I do admit that it's funny that the ultimate punchline of the interminable "Do You Like My New Car?" is the band breaking into "Happy Together," especially when they end up doing it so well (Frank's backing vocals are terrific!), but even so, were I in that audience that night, I'd be pretty pissed off.

On the plus side, when the band actually gets its act together and plays some real music, they sound fine. The opening runthrough of an excerpt from "Little House I Used to Live In" is perfectly decent, the sadly faded out (just as it's really picking up steam) version of "Willie The Pimp" sounds like it has the potential to rip down the house, and "Peaches en Regalia" (with Flo and Eddie doing a nice job of replacing the horns at one point) is a fine choice for the encore. And while they don't show very good vocal harmonies in it, the closing r'n'b pop of "Tears Began to Fall" leaves a nice taste in my mouth, though the net effect is like taking a single Tic-tac after siphoning ten gallons of gas with my mouth.

Report this review (#289987)
Posted Monday, July 12, 2010 | Review Permalink
Evolver
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Crossover & JR/F/Canterbury Teams
3 stars This album, the first official live recording from Frank Zappa is a mixed bag. There is some good music, like Little House I Used To Live In, and Lonesome Electric Turkey, and there are long stretches of comedy with some music thrown in. The main problem is the sound. Whereas Zappa later became known for some meticulously recorded concerts, this one sounds like a bootleg. The dynamics are clipped off, and there is much distortion throughout.

Performancewise, it's not bad. If you can withstand the scatological references, which mostly relate to the "200 Motels" section of Zappa's conceptual continuity, there's some funny stuff. And the straight music, the songs mentioned above, and Willie The Pimp (cut in half on the record, clipped on the CD) rocks. And the rollicking version of The Turtles' Happy Together is a classic.

Despite it's flaws, this is necessary to understand some of the jokes thrown into later Zappa albums.

3 stars.

Report this review (#353344)
Posted Wednesday, December 15, 2010 | Review Permalink
zravkapt
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars The first of many Zappa live albums. This album features one of the last concerts performed at the Fillmore East. This features the Flo & Eddie line-up. Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman(I can't remember who is who) were of course members of the Turtles, and they manage to fit in that band's most well known song here. This is the worst sounding of Zappa's live albums. In fact, the whole Flo & Eddie period sonically is not up to Zappa's usual high standard. You will notice that Frank's voice is a bit different here than on later albums. This was before his accident in 1971/72 when a audience member pushed him off the stage. Since then his voice was deeper.

"Little House I Used To Live In" is a bit different from the Burnt Weeny version. Flo & Eddie do the sax and violin parts with their voices. "The Mud Shark" is a blues-rock song about an incident involving Vanilla Fudge, a groupie and marine life. For this concert the "secret word" was Mud Shark. Zappa had 'secret words' he would repeat in concert at this time. "What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are" is more blues-rock. Basically a skit about band members trying to pick up groupies. Alice Cooper gets mentioned in this song; it was Zappa who got Alice a record deal.

"Bwana Dik" is probably the best song here. Lots of variation. "Mud Shark" gets reprised in "Latex Solar Beef". That song leads into "Willie The Pimp". Apparently the vinyl had a longer version of this. On CD it really sounds like something is missing between this and the start of "Do You Like My New Car?" It's the longest song and the most skit oriented. Band members pretend to be groupies. At one point one of the 'girls' denies having sex with famous rock stars, including "Robert Planet". The girls want to hear the big hit, that's #1 with a bullet(every time "bullet" is said the band imitate a gunshot...funny).

What's the hit? Well the Turtles' "Happy Together" of course. That's the end of the main concert. After we get an instrumental called "Lonesome Electric Turkey". This features Don Preston soloing on a MiniMoog over a jazz-rock vamp. This must have been one of the few times a synthesizer was used onstage at the Fillmore. Then the band does a version of "Peaches En Regalia" with Flo & Eddie singing the sax parts. The last song, "Tears Began To Fall", was a song Frank recorded with the original Mothers in the 1960s.

This is part rock concert/part comedy act. You can hear the crowd laughing throughout. This is a decent live album, but Just Another Band From LA is even better. 3 stars.

Report this review (#359350)
Posted Tuesday, December 21, 2010 | Review Permalink
Warthur
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars A live concept album that gives an accurate portrayal of the Mothers' theatrical stage show at the time, Fillmore East sees Zappa and crew (featuring Flo and Eddie) playing the roles of both egomaniacal rock stars and dizzy groupies. Lyrically, the album is a reasonable take on the concept, replete with smutty jokes - including a recounting of the infamous Mud Shark urban myth which gives a clear idea of the participants involved but, cleverly, doesn't actually give any details on precisely what transpired, leaving that part down to the listener's own filthy imagination Whether this is a problem will depend on your own tolerance of juvenile comedy and dick jokes.

Musically speaking, whilst the band on show is alright, it doesn't come across as being quite as tight and technically proficient as the original incarnation of the Mothers, or indeed previous recording ensembles of Zappa's. This is most evident in the renditions of earlier Zappa material, like The Little House I Used to Live In, or Willie the Pimp, which are notably slower and more careful than the blisteringly fast original versions of those tracks.

On the whole, the album is a fun and amusing listen, but it's hardly Zappa's most cutting-edge experimental work. Still, it's worth a listen if you enjoy crude sexual comedy - it's like the audio equivalent of one of the American Pie films.

Report this review (#484903)
Posted Monday, July 18, 2011 | Review Permalink
2 stars It had too many Flo & Eddie jokes about "The Road" and "Crew Sluts" to be anything appealing past the age of say 15? I first bought this LP back in the mid 70's when I was 15 and thought it was the best album he ever did. Now, after hearing this as a middle aged adult, and got past the Woo Hoo stuff that was sooooo funny back then, I listened to it to hear it on just it's musical merits. Only two tracks really jumped out one being "Loneome Electric Turkey", and Peaches. The rest I call forgettable.
Report this review (#1246855)
Posted Wednesday, August 13, 2014 | Review Permalink
TCat
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
2 stars The first official completely live album that Zappa released was this one credited to the Mothers at Fillmore East. It's purpose was to spotlight a Mothers show and the concept was to illustrate life on the road, mostly in a humorous way. The album cover was meant to look like a bootleg type recording, but I'm not sure if the sound and production was supposed to intentionally sound like a bootleg, because it does, albeit on the better side of a bootleg. But definitely not up to the sound and production standards of the typical FZ live recording in upcoming years.

This album of course, is a representation of the Flo and Eddie years (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan) who were formerly of The Turtles. This is, in my opinion, one of the most obnoxious times of Zappa history. I am not a big fan of their hijinx and the skits that they were a part of. I find them quite annoying. I can deal with the school-boyish humor, but I don't like their delivery. They always seemed to take the focus off of the music which is exactly the opposite of what FZ wanted, but they served their purpose by attracting certain listeners to the concerts.

This album is definitely not for those with tender ears or closed minds. It is mostly centered on the humor of the band at the time. There are only 3 short instrumentals here and everything else is mostly dialog. It starts out with the fusion number "Little House I Used to Live In" which more or less introduces the band to the stage. It's not a bad rendition of the song, but there are better versions out there. From there it goes right into the storyline of "The Mud Shark" which is FZ and the band narrating the mostly true story of the sexual hijinx of the band Vanilla Fudge as it was told to the band in an airport. Actually, VF was only involved with making a video of the incident. John Bonham from Led Zeppelin was also involved, but apparently only as a witness to the events. Richard Cole who worked with LZ claims he was the one totally responsible for what happened. Apparently, there is a hotel in Seattle where you can fish for sharks from your hotel window. Of course, just for fun, the musicians had to try it out. But there were some groupies in the room at the time, and when one of the sharks was caught, one of the groupies and Cole got involved in some sexual games that involved the mud shark, which is actually a Dogfish. I'm not going into anymore detail than that. Anyway, the 2nd track is FZ's recounting of the incident as it was told to him and then teaching the audience how to do the dance that he had made up. Flo and Eddie of course do their obnoxious brand of humor during the track.

The album goes on with tracks about rock stars and groupies and how the girls would only have sex with bands that had a number 1 hit. That is pretty much what the rest of the album is about, except for a few short instrumentals. Yes, it can get a little explicit, but that's not really the problem because it is Frank Zappa after all. The problem is the silliness of Flo and Eddie. It's just annoying and any semblance of enjoyable music is completely ruined by the duo. But that's my opinion because I know there are people that like their style. The humor is funny in a one-off sort of way, but for me, the delivery of Flo and Eddie is just annoying.

I don't enjoy this album much and only have it because I like collecting Zappa's vinyl. Everyone of the important tracks on here are on better live albums and if you want to hear these skits and humor, then it would be worth it to search them out. At least you get a better dose of FZ's more serious music with other recordings, this one is only for those who don't want to hear the serious side of Zappa. But, the sound quality just isn't that good here, and I'm not saying that this is not an important recording, I'm saying there are better options out there for the "not so serious" Zappa listener. Yes, it's Zappa's first foray into recorded concerts, and I guess I can excuse him for using it as a learning experience. But I don't recommend this album because there are so many better live albums out there that are better at documenting Zappa's live shows.

Just as an aside, during this same show that is recorded on this album, John Lennon and Yoko Ono joined the Mothers on stage for about a half an hour. If you are interested in hearing this strange part of the show, you can hear it on the live album "Playground Psychotics" which is a better documentation of life on the road and much better produced as far as FZ concert recordings go.

A lot of Zappa aficionados would probably disagree with me on this, but I can only consider this as a collector's item, only a little better quality than a bootleg, but not much. There are just so many much better FZ live albums out there for the casual or curious listener.

Report this review (#1369501)
Posted Monday, February 16, 2015 | Review Permalink
3 stars Review #164

I've already explained in several different reviews that live albums are not something that I'm particularly interested in; I feel most of the time these records are empty in originality because the bands tend to play the same songs that are on the studio albums with not at all of musical differences, so I'd rather listen to the studio albums, but, talking about Frank Zappa's albums I can't say the same thing. Most of the Frank Zappa live albums include original songs or at least very interesting improvisations that make the albums as unique as any studio album.

This album was recorded in June 1971, with the line-up that included THE TURTLES' ex-members Mark Volman & Howard Kaylan (aka FLO & EDDIE) and, actually, one of the best moments of the record is when they played THE TURTLES' most famous song "Happy Together" (a song that I really don't like in its original version but the Zappa band gave it a very entertained interpretation). Through a nice selection of some original studio-recorded Zappa songs as "Peaches en Regalia" and "Willie the Pimp" from "Hot rats" and "The little house I used to live in" from "Burnt weeny sandwich" (that weren't exactly performed at their best) and some original tracks and improvisations, "Fillmore East, 1971" is a very unique album and a great example of how interesting a Frank Zappa live show should have been.

SONG RATING: The little house I used to live in, 4 The Mud shark, 4 What kind of girl do you think we are? 3 Bwana Dik, 3 Latex solar beef, 3 Willie the Pimp, 4 Do you like my new car? 4 Happy together, 4 Lonesome electric turkey, 4 Peaches en regalia, 4 Tears began to fall, 3

AVERAGE: 3.64

PERCENTAGE: 72.73

ALBUM RATING: 3 stars

Report this review (#2650127)
Posted Monday, December 6, 2021 | Review Permalink

FRANK ZAPPA Fillmore East, June 1971 ratings only


chronological order | showing rating only

Post a review of FRANK ZAPPA Fillmore East, June 1971


You must be a forum member to post a review, please register here if you are not.

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.