Eddie, are you kidding?

Is Zappa Records revisiting Frank Zappa's October 11, 1971 concerts at New York's Carnegie Hall?  Yes, indeed.  When Frank Zappa and his Mothers of Invention took the stage at that historic venue nearly fifty (!) years ago, the performances were recorded for possible future release on the artist's then-home of Warner Bros. Records.  Back in 2011, Zappa Records issued a "warts and all" ticket to both complete shows performed on that date as a 4-CD box set simply entitled Carnegie Hall.  Offered exclusively at Zappa's online store, it quickly sold out and began to fetch high prices on the secondhand market.  Now, this Friday, April 17, the label will reissue Carnegie Hall on 3 CDs, eliminating the opening set by The Persuasions but retaining all of the FZ content.

Before that evening in 1971, had Carnegie Hall ever before seen the likes of Frank Zappa?  Though the hall periodically hosted rock shows, Zappa's oeuvre defied such simplistic description.  Perhaps a more "typical" Carnegie Hall debut was made the same year as Zappa's, that of Yo-Yo Ma.  But nothing about the man born Frank Vincent Zappa was typical.  In his short 52 years, Zappa furiously broke down the walls between rock, pop, jazz and classical music, releasing some 62 albums during his lifetime.  A passionate defender of freedom of speech and denouncer of censorship of any kind, Zappa melded intricate, experimental melodies and arrangements with incisive, forthright lyrics that were often humorous and frequently off-color.

By 1971, Zappa had already made his mark on the industry with a number of influential records.  The Mothers of Invention's 1966 Freak Out! was a radical answer to the pop music of the day, combining experimental sound collages with R&B and doo-wop pastiches and absurdist elements.  It still sounds like no other rock album, but it was just a portent of things to come from Zappa.  Absolutely Free (1967) not only targeted the authority but the counterculture as well; Zappa beat to the sound of his own drummer.  Lumpy Gravy (1968) was credited to Zappa solo, and took things a step further.  It was an ambitious mélange of orchestral arrangements, spoken word and electronic experiments; through his use of the Synclavier, Zappa would be a pioneering musician in the latter field right up to the time of his death.  Two more albums from the same year, We're Only In It For The Money and Cruising with Ruben and the Jets, saw the auteur both expanding his sound palette and referencing the beloved music of his youth, respectively.  The former was a wicked parody of flower power, complete with Sgt. Pepper-spoofing cover, while the latter was a spot-on doo-wop homage that showed Zappa fully understood the rules of pop music before breaking them.

The original Mothers of Invention disbanded in 1969, with the prolific composer and songwriter continuing to record solo works (such as the jazz-inflected Hot Rats, the sessions of which yielded a deluxe box set in 2019) and tackling his first major symphonic work, conducted by Zubin Mehta.  When Zappa reformed the Mothers in 1970, three alumni of the Turtles joined him: bassist Jim Pons and vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, a.k.a. Flo and Eddie.  Ian Underwood, Don Preston and Aynsley Dunbar completed the line-up that joined Zappa that evening at Carnegie Hall.

The Kaylan/Volman line-up of the Mothers made its debut on 1970's Chunga's Revenge and appeared in Zappa's ambitious 200 Motels film project alongside such musician friends as Ringo Starr and Keith Moon.  (And original Sound of Music star, folksinger Theodore Bikel!)  The band could also be heard on the albums Fillmore East - June 1971 and Just Another Band from L.A. (1972).  Extended, irreverent, theatrical set pieces were the order of the day for this iteration of the Mothers.  "Billy the Mountain" was a roughly half-hour long rock opera parody about a talking mountain named Billy and his wife Ethell (a tree "growing off of his shoulder," natch).  Zappa spoofed one of his favorite targets, Los Angeles, as well as American society and culture in general.  The intricate piece combined dialogue and song as well as recurring musical motifs including references to "The Tonight Show Theme," "Over the Rainbow" and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes."

Even more infamous than "Billy the Mountain" was "The Mud Shark."  Based on the famous story of a rock band bacchanal that needn't be repeated here, it found Kaylan, Volman and Zappa at their most outrageous.  (It emerged from the same explorations of "a rock band's life on the road" as 200 Motels.  Zappa revisited certain themes numerous times, an example of his "conceptual continuity" that enabled smaller pieces to be viewed as part of a larger whole.)  The complete "Mud Shark" sequence, in which a band negotiates with some groupies for an evening of pleasure, included such pieces as "Bwana Dik" and even an ironic reprise of The Turtles' "Happy Together."  These Mothers had perfected the art of juxtaposing the high and the low, the sophisticated and the puerile.

Yet by the end of 1971, The Mothers of Invention were, once again, no more.  Zappa suffered critical injuries when an audience member pushed him into the orchestra pit of London's Rainbow Theatre, leaving him wheelchair-bound and unable to perform for nearly a year.  Flo and Eddie struck out on their own, and eventually began touring once again under the Turtles moniker for audiences eager to hear "Happy Together," "She'd Rather Be With Me" and "It Ain't Me Babe" revisited.  Zappa continued to use Mothers name on and off until abandoning it for good in 1976.  The workaholic producer, composer, activist, writer and individualist would continue to entertain his dedicated audience, infuriate his critics, speak out against censorship in music, and break new ground in any number of musical idioms until his untimely death in 1993.  He even scored a Top 40 hit single in 1982 with "Valley Girl."

The two Carnegie Hall concerts of October 11, 1971 feature distinct setlists encompassing music from albums such as Freak Out!, Absolutely Free, Uncle Meat, Hot Rats, and Chunga's Revenge as well as then-new material.  Collectively, they show a band at its intricate musical peak, taking chances and delivering laughs, great playing, and great singing on one of the world's most revered concert stages.  The 3-CD Carnegie Hall box set, featuring the 2011 mono master sans The Persuasions' opening set, is due on Friday from Zappa Records/UMe.  Does humor belong in music?  You can decide for yourself.  You'll find pre-order links below.

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Carnegie Hall (Vaulternative Records VR-2011-1, 2011 - reissued Zappa Records/UMe, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

3-CD set includes:

Show 1:

1. Hello (To FOH)/Ready?! (To the Band)
2. Call Any Vegetable
3. Any Way the Wind Blows
4. Magdalena
5. Dog Breath
6. Peaches en Regalia
7. Tears Began to Fall
8. She Painted Up Her Face/Half a Dozen Provocative Squats/Shove It Right In
9. King Kong
10. 200 Motels Finale
11. Who Are the Brain Police?

Show 2:

1. Auspicious Occasion
2. Divan: Once Upon a Time
3. Divan: Sofa # 1
4. Divan: Magic Pig
5. Divan: Stick It Out
6. Divan: Divan Ends Here
7. Pound for a Brown
8. Sleeping in a Jar
9. Wonderful Wino
10. Sharleena
11. Cruising for Burgers
12. Billy the Mountain (Part 1)
13. Billy the Mountain (The Carnegie Solos)
14. Billy the Mountain (Part 2)
15. The $600 Mud Shark Prelude
16. The Mud Shark