Zappa Top Ten Tracks on the You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore series

[@davecrowson448]

These were coming out when I was first getting into Zappa, so they were invaluable to forming my love of Frank. Especially Vol. 2 and 4. Some tracks remain my favorite versions to this day.

[@johnoldcastle789]

For me, the funniest and most successful social commentary from Frank. Brutal and prescient. And brave. It's such an attack, I have a hard time believing that he really intended this to make it to Broadway. It's in my top 10.

[@johnoldcastle789]

This was supposed to go under the Thing Fish review, but the player went to the next vid as I was finishing the comment.

[@theopinionatedhippie470]

I assumed it was a comment about The Evil Prince….but thanks for clarifying. Sigh…in theory, I agree with everything you said. In actuality, when I have to listen to the album…..nope. 😀

[@dumbguydepot304]

I just did a few vids of my fav drumming tracks on This series. I Thirteen is great and so is TBP2 from Volume 5. The Vol 4 version from Vol 4 was cool too. Pound for Brown also from Vol 4 was great. Excellent mix on that.

[@billkeon880]

Very entertaining and informative. I’ve had all 6 volumes since they came out and like them all but especially Vol 2, my favourite and 1&3 are next on the list. I have the vinyl of Vol 1 and hope to get the vinyl of vol 2 on eBay. I’ve only been watching your channel for a few weeks but already bought a half dozen live albums that I didn’t know existed because I saw them here. Just subscribed. Thanks

[@theopinionatedhippie470]

Thanks for the comment. I hope I steer you in the right direction....Also, if you are a vinyl collector, the original 88 YCDTOSA sampler was re-released last year. It repeats tracks from the volumes but if you can find it cheap, it is a neat little vinyl curio.... recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/12249

[@mokitty]

Frank's solo on TTNS on Vol 1. is my favorite Frank solo that I have heard. I agree with your opinion completely. One that should also be on there IMO is the Don't Eat the Yellow Snow on Vol 1. The audience participation time with the vamp in the background with a Frank monologue is soooo good. It crashes into an amazing version of St Alphonso that is also soooo good!

[@cully465]

Brilliant stuff. Great selections. I need to go back and listen to the Vol 1 Torture solo as it wouldn't have been in my top 10- but it may well after a re-listen! Two of your list were on the Sampler album- Evil Prince and Montana and they would have made my list as well. In fact, I think some of King Kong might have been on the Sampler too? Solo at the end has the same backing as last track on Guitar (Ain't Necessarily...) so presumably that's also a King Kong solo? Volume 2 is incredible- very hard to choose other individual tracks. Other highlights from the series for me: Vol 1 Zomby Woof; Volume 4 Zavod's solo on Let's Move to Cleveland; Vol 5 Pound for a Brown guitar solo; Vol 6 Shove It Right In sequence- great harmonies. Love that this channel exists.

[@theopinionatedhippie470]

King Kong was on the sampler- The Mystery Word section from the Stage III King Kong. And that Torture solo from Stage is just...perfect. That and Rat Tomago, another 78 Torture solo. A lot of great tracks I had to leave off.....

[@Ricky2374]

Hey Shaggy really enjoying the channel, discovered it about a month ago. Been piecing together Zappa collection for 10 years or so now. It’s so vast and a minefield Anyways I just bought Vol 4 today to complete the series. Vol 2 Is in my top 10 Zappa albums, of the 35 or so i own. Interesting to hear your takes on it all. Informative and helps me decide where maybe to go next….

[@theopinionatedhippie470]

Thank you for the comment, sir. Very much appreciated.

[@philcremer4709]

Thanks Hippie. Even though you're completely wrong on Thing-Fish and Flo & Eddie - you speak my language. You're somebody else who understands my obsession.

[@theopinionatedhippie470]

I will admit that Mothers 71 has had me re-evaluate my opinion on Flo n Eddie….wondering if the right curated box set can ever change my opinion on that other one. I doubt it….😀

[@itssimple7285]

Thanks Shaggy, but I can't make that list in ten songs. There would have to be more. Big Swifty from #1, Once Upon A Time, OH No, Plastic People from #1, Approximate from #2, Outside Now and Carolina, Torture w/ Beefheart, Tiny Sick Tears, Take Me Out to the Ballgame and Church Chat from #4, King Kong #3 like you, Underground Freak Out Music and What's New In Baltimore from #5, Thirteen like you plus 200 Motels Finale/Strictly Genteel for #6. That's 17 and I know I missed a couple. Making lists are easy, prioritizing or cutting some out are what's hard :)

[@stevescott200]

yeah that guitar solo, on Torture, absolute killer.

[@plopcoen6222]

Very interesting, as usual, to hear you poot forth on this excellent selection of tracks (now loaded up as a playlist and being listened to as I sip my second coffee here in Java). Initial thought: I don't think Frank is only "fooling around" on Thirteen; indeed I think it is a kind of truncated Yo Mama type solo. I think your overall comment on the slight underwhelmingness of this series is valid. I was blown away by Volume 1 which hit me in my lowly bedsit in London in 1988. I loved Volume 2 to bits but it ought to have been branded and released differently as it sticks out as the odd one out in the whole set. I enjoyed them all, but I think Frank might have slightly lost interest in maintaining the idea started and realized by the first one. A spontaneous 'revenge' 10 track list coming up after I have listened to yours and done a bit of memory-refreshing digging around and revisiting.

[@theopinionatedhippie470]

I love the term ‘revenge’ list. Hoping it makes me listen to something with more appreciation. Looking forward to it.

[@plopcoen6222]

@@theopinionatedhippie470 Unlike you, Shaggy, I have gone for what I frothed over 30 years ago when these sets came out rather than how it fits into Zappa's OOFFRAY - as I think you put it - as we now have it 60+ posthumous releases to chew on. A lot of this is guitar atrocities-driven because, when push comes to show AND when clutching stuff en route to the proverbial desert island, my fetal-position Zappa music is him playing the guitar... Reverse order 10- Easy Meat YCDTOSA 5 09- Filthy Habits YCDTOSA 4 08- Truck Driver Divorce YCDTOSA 4 07- Pygmy Twylyte YCDTOSA 2 06- Thirteen > Lobster Girl YCDTOSA 6 05- Big Swifty YCDTOSA 1 04- Hands With a Hammer > Zoot Allures YCDTOSA 4 03- Drowning Witch YCDTOSA 3 02- Don't Eat The Yellow Snow YCDTOSA 1 01- The Torture Never Stops YCDTOSA 1

[@theopinionatedhippie470]

A lot of these would have made my list if I was not considering the rest of the discography, Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow and Easy Meat, in particular. Not sure where- DETYS, probably 2 or 3- but because of Chicago ‘78 and other releases, I demoted them. Also not sure what I would knock off my list but I definitely cannot argue with any of these. Making lists is hard 😁

[@geenadasilva9287]

well i’m going to listen to volume 1 disc 2 now…

[@Grithron2]

OK - he braces himself before trying to post these comments - 1. I don't think it's cheating when you're merely combine two parts of the same song, separated by Frank due to indexing-convenience and publishing-royalties issues - i.e Pygmy Service. 2. Combining Brown Moses and The Evil Prince may be a cheat, but they were sometimes performed en-bloc, and they were the only fully-fledged live renditions of excerpts from that-unnamed-musical. (Those instrumentals don't qualify). 3. I'm not a huge fan of the '82 tour but I've heard enough to know that Which Black Page Is It is actually unexceptional as loops-orgy moments go. 4. The as-issued Booger Man is of course frustrating to everyone who's heard the complete event, where it leads to the "I'll never wash my beard again" version of Marty's Dance. 5. I think it's Chester who fucks up on Montana - it's a male voice that initially says "George has a tape of it" It's hard for this writer to pick out favorites because he's now acutely aware of what's badly edited as well as what's missing. Tracks which used to be highlights are now tracks i prefer to hear on audience-boots and other ROIOs.

[@billkeon880]

Are you pretty positive Halloween 78 will be released in the near future...?

[@theopinionatedhippie470]

Nope. Just conjecture...BUT we know the shows were recorded and the sound is excellent- Stage VI, Halloween- and the precedent has been set with the other Halloween releases AND these are the best of the Halloween lot, IMO. My prediction: Halloween 84 this year, 78 next year.

[@theopinionatedhippie470]

I also predict that in early July they announce a 200 Motels 50th Anniversary Box Set....THEN Halloween 84

[@billkeon880]

@@theopinionatedhippie470 thanks. Can't wait. I just bought more of the Halloween 77 and since I haven't seen it so far in the post FZ releases countdown, I'm assuming it's coming in the top 10 so I felt more assured buying them.

[@theopinionatedhippie470]

I HIGHLY recommend Halloween ‘77

[@billkeon880]

@@theopinionatedhippie470 I get it

[@mosesbacke2311]

The best track on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore is Shove it right in from vol 6. It's really She painted up her face/Half a dozen provocative squats/Shove it right in from 200 Motels with out the orchestral parts, but it works fantastic,. That's partly because you can focus on the bands work and the lyrics that actually is kind of serious under the slight mockery ("It's about unhappiness", Frank said). But the main thing about it is that Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman never were better than on this track. Never. Not with Zappa, not with The Turtles, as Flo and Eddie or with any other band. This is their best moment, this is the high point.