Tweezer Glint: Finale — The Roxy Years 73/74 (Part I) (aka Ruth Is A Sugar Bear — Or, The Continuing Adventures of Marty Perellis)
Between February 1973 and December 1974 Frank Zappa and the Mothers – featuring George Duke, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Ruth Underwood, Ian Underwood, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Walt Fowler, Jean-Luc Ponty, Don Preston, Ralph Humphrey, Chester Thompson, Jeff Simmons, and Sal Marquez – were almost continuously on the road. During this time, they set the musical foundations for such classic Zappa albums as Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe, Roxy & Elsewhere, One Size Fits All, as well as many of the classic Zappa standards we’ve come to know.
In “Tweezer Glint: Finale — The Roxy Years 73/74 (Part I)“, we hear Zappa songs evolve as his band toured them, some growing from their early proto instrumentals into fully realized versions, while others became more refined with each successive performance; still others act as a showcase for the talents each and every band member. What should be obvious to anyone who listens to these tracks is that Frank and band are having a lot of fun. So are the many and varied audiences. So should you. I know I had a ball putting this one together. A fine way to end the series, methinks.
Click here to listen to the mixtape.
Note: Parts two and three will be posted in two and four weeks, respectively. I wish to thank Charles Ulrich’s analysis of the 1973-1974 bands at Planet of My Dreams for his useful research. This mixtape would be much, much less than it is if not for his efforts.
Happy Festivus, Xmas, Chanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever, everybody!!!
December 27th, 2009 at 2:31 am »
Don’t tell me how, but I have a version of Amnerika, live, sung by Napoleon, but absolutely I have no infos about the year, but does not sound like some 84 stuff…
December 27th, 2009 at 3:30 am »
wowie zowie what a great mixtape! thank you thank you thank you
December 27th, 2009 at 12:20 pm »
I checked it out, I was wrong… it was’nt Amnerika, it was “Spider of destiny” ! (strange anyway!)
December 27th, 2009 at 2:48 pm »
A quote from Sterbus:
There are plenty of surprises to heard in parts two and three, Sterbus (like Napoleon singing “Flambay” in part two). It’s the silly season after all!!!
December 27th, 2009 at 2:54 pm »
Fabulous mix, Urb — thanks! Also: thanks for the longest headline ever to appear on KUR
December 27th, 2009 at 8:19 pm »
Thanks alot
Is there a way to download the whole mix?
December 27th, 2009 at 8:30 pm »
A quote from Noam:
+1 on that question….
even if you have to tell us in private.
December 27th, 2009 at 10:20 pm »
Wow, if ZFT releases that version of Dupree on the Roxy DVD, I will never say a bad thing about them again. Very cool — thanks for posting!
December 28th, 2009 at 2:33 am »
A quote from urbangraffito:
Let’s wait then
December 28th, 2009 at 4:03 am »
A quote from Noam:
Noam and vince, it takes a lot of Audacity to ask that question!
December 28th, 2009 at 3:00 pm »
Does that mean we shoulda ran for PRESIDENT?
December 28th, 2009 at 3:42 pm »
How do I convert to…
December 29th, 2009 at 6:19 am »
This mix looks so juicy.
I’ve been finally able to d/l shows at zappateers. So many shows, bands, and tours to choose from! Lately, I’ve been drawn to the shows with Duke. I really dig Frank & George playing together. Amazing stuff.
December 29th, 2009 at 12:34 pm »
What a Christmas treat, thanks so much! Love it.
December 29th, 2009 at 9:02 pm »
A quote from Hugh:
Zappateers is like a candy store for Zappaphiles, Hugh. It’s difficult to decide where to begin, and what shows to download first. I’m sure as you skim the forums, you’ll find many good suggestions. Just remember to remain logged on after you have downloaded a show so that others can download from you as well. I recall my first big investment after discovering Zappateers was a new external harddrive…
December 29th, 2009 at 9:40 pm »
A quote from urbangraffito:
I’ve stay logged on for most of the day, my ratio is creeping up nicely.
I started to be concerned with HD space. I think it’s time for a purchase.
The sound quality for a lot of these recordings is pretty impressive. Of course, your picks (UrbanG) are in a class by themselves.
December 30th, 2009 at 2:52 am »
This Pygmy Twilight is SMOKIN
and
There’s an extension for Firefox that is sort of a Helper for Downloads. A Download Helper, if you will. I can’t seem to remember the name of it, though.
December 30th, 2009 at 11:05 pm »
BTW how can I listen to the old mixtapes from this site?
All the links on previous posts direct me to the mix.killuglyradio site which has only the last mix
December 31st, 2009 at 9:42 am »
A quote from Noam:
I’ll keep it short: you can’t.
December 31st, 2009 at 7:48 pm »
Nice Mix ! Too bad the Edinboro show has wow and flutter….
January 6th, 2010 at 10:38 pm »
I’m still really enjoying these, but help me out here. The version of “Montana” from Notre Dame University, 12 May 1974 (which segues into “Dupree’s Paradise”) has a Frank solo starting just under 26 minutes in, where he opens with some melodic phrases that he also plays between Beefheart’s utterances on “Sam With The Showing Scalp Flat Top”. Is this a quote from something, or a known Mystery Piece, or what? When I only knew it from Bongo Fury, I thought it might have been a Beefheart quote (from TMR or something) but in this context it seems quite different. Any suggestions? I’m sure I’m going to kick myself here.
January 7th, 2010 at 7:49 am »
Planet of My Dreams’ Gig List has 3 musical quotes listed in “Dupree’s Paradise”: “Sweet Leilani”, “Mystery Tune”, and “Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing?”.
I’m not entirely sure if this is the phrase of which you speak, Theydon Bois, but when I compared those quotes with the Mystery Tracks listed in Information is not Knowledge songlist they had no listing for a Mystery Song on the Date and Place in the mixtape.
That said, I too can hear similarities in the melodic phrasing starting around the 25:55 mark of “Montana” with that of phrases played between Beefheart’s utterances on “Sam With The Showing Scalp Flat Top” on Bongo Fury.
If this is correct, I believe you’ve identified a new Mystery song, #5.
Excellent ears!
January 7th, 2010 at 7:03 pm »
Not that excellent! The bit I had in mind was around 25:30 (at FZ’s first entry), which matches 0:48 of SWTSSFT on Bongo Fury. But! As Planet Of My Dreams correctly identifies, it’s just “Sweet Leilani” (just like my mother and father used to go and cream over). I should really have recognised that! Oh well, thanks Urbangraffito, and over to Lawrence Welk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3olol6hSkfE&feature=related