(2020) Frank Zappa – Halloween 81


Review:
It wouldn’t be Halloween without a little Frank Zappa… and this year, Zappa Records and UMe are delivering once again with a frightfully entertaining new box set. October 2 will see the release of Halloween 81, following up the previous releases of Halloween 73 and 77. The 6-CD box set boasts 78 previously unreleased live tracks from three concerts for more than seven hours of listening. The bandleader’s New York Halloween shows were among his most anticipated as he blended his signature musical virtuosity with a heavily tongue-in-cheek dose of seasonal revelry. The 1981 stand at the late, lamented Palladium – a once-luxurious 1927 movie palace sadly demolished in 1998 to make room for new dormitories at New York University – was particularly special to Zappa’s fans as he had curtailed the 1980 shows earlier than expected as a result of illness. (Not to mention that there was no fall tour, and no Halloween show, in 1979.) Halloween ’81 would be even more special, however. Zappa had arranged for the midnight concert in front of the 3,000-capacity crowd to be recorded for both radio and television (the latter on a new channel called MTV) – reportedly the first live simulcast in cable television history. The early show at 8 pm was filmed, too, and multimedia auteur Zappa would put that footage to good use, too, on his home video releases of The Torture Never Stops (1982) and The Dub Room Special (1983) and on the audio releases of The Dub Room Special, One Shot Deal, and the You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore series. This new box set, however, marks the first time audio from the concerts has been released in its entirety. For the shows, Zappa was joined by his new band consisting of three new players – Scott Thunes on bass, Chad Wackerman, on drums and Robert Martin on keyboards – plus veterans Ray White on guitar, Ed Mann on percussion and Tommy Mars on keys. Steve Vai, affectionally referred to by Zappa as the “Little Italian Virtuoso,” appeared on his second tour as a band member. This unit had only been on the road for a month but played with the tightness of a seasoned troupe as they ran through Zappa’s intricate melodies both new and old. The tour supported the September 1981 release of You Are What You Is, and a number of that double album’s songs were featured including its title track, “Teen-Age Wind,” “Doreen,” “I’m A Beautiful Guy,” “Mudd Club,” “Dumb All Over,” “Suicide Chump,” and the Halloween-apropos, double entendre-laden “Goblin Girl.” The set has been produced by Ahmet Zappa and Vaultmeister Joe Travers, while the concerts have been newly remixed from the original 2-inch, 24-track analog masters by Craig Parker Adams.


Tracklist:

CD 1: 10/31/81 – 8pm Show 1
01.Chunga’s Revenge
02.“The Finest Night Of The Year”
03.You Are What You Is – Take 1
04.You Are What You Is – Take 2
05.Mudd Club
06.The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
07.Dumb All Over
08.Heavenly Bank Account
09.Suicide Chump
10.Jumbo Go Away
11.Envelopes
12.Drowning Witch
13.What’s New In Baltimore?
14.Moggio
15.We’re Turning Again
16.Alien Orifice

CD 2: 10/31/81 – 8pm Show 1 (continued)
01.Teen-age Prostitute
02.Flakes
03.Broken Hearts Are For Assholes
04.The Blue Light
05.Tinsel Town Rebellion
06.Yo Mama
07.Bobby Brown Goes Down
08.City of Tiny Lites
09.“We’re Not Gonna Stand For It!”
10.Strictly Genteel
11.Dancin’ Fool
12.Whipping Post

CD 3: 10/31/81 – 12am Show 2
01.Black Napkins
02.“A Historical Event”
03.Montana
04.Easy Meat
05.Society Pages
06.I’m A Beautiful Guy
07.Beauty Knows No Pain
08.Charlie’s Enormous Mouth
09.Fine Girl
10.Teen-age Wind
11.Harder Than Your Husband
12.Bamboozled By Love
13.Sinister Footwear II
14.Stevie’s Spanking
15.Commercial Break

CD 4: 10/31/81 – 12am Show 2 (continued)
01.Cocaine Decisions
02.Nig Biz
03.Doreen
04.Goblin Girl
05.The Black Page #2
06.Tryin’ To Grow A Chin
07.Strictly Genteel
08.The Torture Never Stops
09.“The Real Show Keeps Going”
10.Joe’s Garage
11.Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?
12.The Illinois Enema Bandit
13.“The Halloween Tradition”
14.King Kong
15.Auld Lang Syne

CD 5: 11/01/81
01.Zoot Allures
02.“The Last Of Our Halloween Shows”
03.I’m The Slime
04.Pound For A Brown
05.Dave & Al
06.Cosmik Debris
07.Montana
08.Easy Meat
09.Dumb All Over
10.Heavenly Bank Account
11.Suicide Chump
12.Jumbo Go Away
13.Envelopes
14.Drowning Witch

CD 6: 11/01/81 (continued)
01.What’s New In Baltimore?
02.Moggio
03.We’re Turning Again
04.Alien Orifice
05.Teen-age Prostitute
06.Sinister Footwear II
07.Stevie’s Spanking
08.Cocaine Decisions
09.Nig Biz
10.Goblin Girl
11.The Black Page #2
12.Whipping Post
13.Broken Hearts Are For Assholes
14.The Torture Never Stops



Media Report:
Genre: art rock
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits