Swiss Cheese And Debutante Daisey (Guitar Master GM-011/012/013)
Early + Late Show At Festhalle Mustermesse, Basel, Switzerland
DISC ONE [62:48]
EARLY SHOW At Festhalle Mustermesse, Basel, Switzerland 10-1-7401. Tush Tush Tush02. Stinkfoot03. Inca Roads04. Cosmic Debris05. Approximate06. Florentine Pogen07. Penguin In Bondage08. T’Mershi Duween
DISC TWO [73:57]01. Dog Breath Variations – Uncle Meat – Building A Girl02. Camarillo Brillo03. Oh No – Son Of Orange County04. More trouble every DayLATE SHOW At Festhalle Mustermesse, Basel, Switzerland 10-1-7405. Tush Tush Tush06. Stinkfoot07. RONZL08. Village Of the Sun09. Echidna’s Art – Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing?10. Montana
DISC THREE [50:00]1. Dupree’s Paradise – Tush Tush Tush2. Pygmy Twylyte3. Room Service – Tush Tush Tush
[Frank Zappa] – guitar, vocals [Chester Thompson] – drums [Napoleon Murphy Brock] – tenor saxophone, vocals [George Duke] – keyboards, vocals [Tom Fowler] – bass [Ruth Underwood] – percussion
“In his contract with Ryko, Frank Zappa had to put together 12 CDs worth of live material for the series “You Can’t Always Do That On Stage Anymore”. The fact that he decided to devote two of them (all of Vol. 2) to a Helsinki concert from 1974 illustrates how good and representative he thought it was — and he was right. This two-CD set features the 1973-1974 band (listed above) near the end of their tour, in a concert in faraway Finland on September 22, 1974″. [http://www.allmusicguide.com/]
“Stink-Foot” hails from Zappa’s 1974 classic ‘Apostrophe (‘)’ album featuring a great 6:00 + minute jam on this soundboard release. The instrumentation is downright solid. The lyrics on “Stink-Foot” are hilarious and guarantee to crack you up. George Duke gets a vocal on an extended 12:13 minute “Inca Roads'” which is another great primarily instrumental offering sounding like Mahavishnu Orchestra meets Airto + The Grateful Dead. This is definitely fusion with a kicker. Another ‘Apostrophe (‘)’ standout, “Cosmic Debris”, accentuates this phenomenal band. The sound is precise and incredibly clean on this 11:17 minute track. Zappa really takes off on the 9:10 minute “Florentine Pogen”.
The sounds that emanate from this band…never cease to amaze me. With the 8:10 minute “Penguin In Bondage”, as a case in point, let me tell all you Zappa critics on the fence that the music here up to this point in the concert is just brilliant, first class, with an impeccable sounding recording to boot. When Zappa and his band jam, they can take you into a zone with their sheer brilliance and complex level of musicianship. The rub, if you will, lies and/or surfaces with Zappa’s intermittent racy lyrics . Zappa is definitely an entertainer and incredibly funny at times. A musical genius.
Zappa races through “Band Introductions” at the speed of light, typical Zappa. I personally took a preference to the EARLY SHOW over the LATE SHOW as the band let it out and played extended jams from that show on “Tush Tush Tush”, “Stink-Foot”, “Inca Roads”, “Cosmic Debris”, “Florentine Pogen” + “Penguin In Bondage”. There was great intensity between the band on “RONZL”; between Zappa, Duke, Thompson + fueled by Fowler on that 10:38 minute track. “Echidna’s Art – Don’t You Ever Wash That thing?” + “Montana” featured extended jams from the 2nd show. Another highlight came from Disc 3, “Dupree’s Paradise – Tush Tush Tush” which was interrupted at the 31:51 minute mark with Zappa’s signature speedy “Band Introductions” and finally came to a grinding halt at 32:28.
Guitar Master – 011/012/013 is, to a large extent, vintage sounding Zappa capturing the fusion period with a powerful band and an incredibly pleasing first rate soundboard recording.
