Best of Zappa In Australia – 1973 Tour

In the above clip (short as it is), Frank Zappa expounds on what an Australian concert goer might expect from one of the various shows on his 1973 Australian tour. For some FZ fans, this particular ensemble is their favorite incarnation of the Mothers (right next to the Roxy band).

That said, it was fairly easy to choose the “Best of Zappa In Australia – 1973 Tour” for this short, 26 track mixtape. Each member of the ensemble got to solo extensively. Particular highlights are the unique vocal rendition of “Inca Roads” by Sal Marquez, solos by George Duke and Jean-Luc Ponty, “Montana“, “Cosmik Debris“, “Fifty-Fifty“, “Farther O’Blivion“, “Dupree’s Paradise“, and of course, “Yellow Snow Suite“.

Click here to listen to the mixtape.

Mothers (circa June/July 1973):

Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals
George Duke – keyboards, vocals
Tom Fowler – bass
Ralph Humphrey – drums
Bruce Fowler – trombone
Ruth Underwood – percussion
Ian Underwood – woodwinds
Sal Marquez – trumpet, vocals
Jean-Luc Ponty – violin

Author: urbangraffito

I am a writer, editor, publisher, philosopher, and foole (not necessarily in that order). Cultural activist and self-described anarchist.

12 thoughts on “Best of Zappa In Australia – 1973 Tour”

  1. I do love the version of “Farther O’Blivion” from 25th June; a great performance, and it sounds so much better than the version on Piquantique! Thanks, UG.

  2. Whoah….thanks for this. Piquantique is my all time favorite album so this mix will be heavenly….I’d seen the clip above before but never heard any of these Australian boots before. Thanks for making my day.

  3. Of course, there is this video, where the Piquantique version of “Farther O’Blivion” (with many gens. of ‘noise’ added unfortunately to that ‘boot’) originally is sourced from:

    http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/videography/Stockholm_73.html

    In addition to that Farther O’Blivion, this video also features great versions of Montana and Dupree’s Paradise, both of which have nice, long, amazing FZ guitar solos! Essential for fans of the pre-Roxy ’73 line-up!

  4. Yeah, I remember the first time I saw a couple of these clips on Youtube. I literally fell out of my chair………..interesting information though…especially the comments on the status of the video. Boy, I would love to get a copy of that!

  5. Also I hear so many people complain about the sound quality of that concert. That never was a problem for my ears because the quality of the music was so outstanding……..

  6. [quote comment=”16243″]Yeah, I remember the first time I saw a couple of these clips on Youtube. I literally fell out of my chair………..interesting information though…especially the comments on the status of the video. Boy, I would love to get a copy of that![/quote]

    For those of you who are “torrent friendly”, Zappateers has an excellent FM and TV version of “Frank Zappa Stockholm In Bondage” Opopoppa Concert, Soliden, Skansen, Stockholm, Sweden, 1973 08 21, currently seeding:

    http://www.zappateers.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=17642

    Set list:
    01 Intro (Claes “Clabbe” af Geijerstam) [1.49]*
    02 Cosmik Debris [8.01]*
    03 Eric Dolphy Memorial BBQ* [0.56]*
    04 Kung Fu [1.08]*
    05 Penguin In Bondage [4.06]*
    06 RDNZL [4.31]*
    07 Montana [8.38]
    08 Dupree’s Paradise [23.44]
    09 Preamble to Farther O’Blivion [0.55]
    10 Farther O’Blivion (incl. Join The March And Eat My Starch) [21.41]

  7. I have the Stockholm show on dvd from ‘teers. Highly recommended.
    What a legendary line-up! I couldn’t resist adding some of these shows to my growing ex. hardrive. That June 25th “Dog Meat” is just amazing.
    Thanks to UrbanG for the excellent mix and d/l tips. 🙂

  8. [quote comment=”16261″]I have the Stockholm show on dvd from ‘teers. Highly recommended.
    What a legendary line-up! I couldn’t resist adding some of these shows to my growing ex. hardrive. That June 25th “Dog Meat” is just amazing.
    Thanks to UrbanG for the excellent mix and d/l tips. :)[/quote]

    Of course, Zappateers is a must for any Zappa fan (though be prepared to invest in a second, or perhaps a third, external harddrive!)

  9. You got that right! I’m on my third ex. hd. And I’ve only been at it for a year now. Of course, you need an extra just for back-up. My first one starting failing after 6 short months!
    I can’t imagine how many hard drives you’ve been through, UrbanG?

  10. [quote comment=”16302″]You got that right! I’m on my third ex. hd. And I’ve only been at it for a year now. Of course, you need an extra just for back-up. My first one starting failing after 6 short months!
    I can’t imagine how many hard drives you’ve been through, UrbanG?[/quote]

    Too many. I learned my lesson, though, when my first external harddrive failed and I lost all my files. It took a long time to torrent all the Zappa shows I had lost. I vowed, though, it would never happen again, and have become religious when it comes to backing up my files. In addition to an external harddrive, I also invested in an external DVD drive to back up files on DVD-Rs. So now I have all my files backed-up both on harddrives as well as on DVD-Rs. Believe me, it’s come in mighty helpful, especially with corrupted files, etc…

  11. A soft, yet fierce and funky groove with exquisite violin and guitar improvisations on top – what more could you ask? According to Gail, we will hear more of this band soon. Will Ponty write the liner notes?

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