| The Mothers 1970 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Box set by | ||||
| Released | June 26th, 2020 | |||
| Recorded | 1970 | |||
| Studio | Trident Studios, London (Disc 1) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 269:20 | |||
| Label | Zappa Records | |||
| Producer |
| |||
| Frank Zappa chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Loudersound |    |
The Mothers 1970 is a 4-CD box set celebrating the 50th anniversary of the short-lived 1970 line-up of The Mothers. It compiles 70 unreleased tracks recorded during this era of the band. [1]
The album contains three discs of previously unreleased material, The first disc features studio recordings from Trident Studios that would adventually evolve into Chunga's Revenge . These studio recordings were engineered by a then-unknown Roy Thomas Baker who would go on to be the producer for many bands such as Queen, The Cars, and Alice Cooper. The remaining three discs contain live concerts from this era, The first two discs contain the first official release of the bootlegged "Piknik" live broadcast as well as live concerts in Santa Monica, California, and Spokane, Washington. Due to not being entirely recorded, these concerts were put together in a hybrid concert. The third disc consists of live highlights that were recorded throughout the US occasionally broken up with candid moments recorded in dressing rooms, motel lobbies, and on stage. These were recorded by Frank Zappa who took his UHER recorder everywhere. All of these recordings were sourced from their original vault tapes and digitally compiled and transferred by Joe Travers in 2020. [2] [1] [3]
Writing for Loudersound, Hugh Fielder liked the album. He states that the first disc is "somewhat tentative" and states how the live discs show that this band line-up is far better than the album Chunga's Revenge's performances. He also states that the live concerts show the band moving towards what would eventually become 200 Motels . [4]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Red Tubular Lighter" | 4:51 |
| 2. | "Lola Steponsky" | 3:29 |
| 3. | "Trident Chatter" | 1:45 |
| 4. | "Sharleena (Roy Thomas Baker Mix)" | 4:04 |
| 5. | "Item 1" | 5:47 |
| 6. | "Wonderful Wino (FZ Vocal)" | 5:12 |
| 7. | "“Enormous Cadenza”" | 1:11 |
| 8. | "Envelopes" | 8:23 |
| 9. | "Red Tubular Lighter (Unedited Master)" | 9:25 |
| 10. | "Wonderful Wino (Basic Tracks, Alt. Take)" | 4:56 |
| 11. | "Giraffe - Take 4" | 8:12 |
| 12. | "Wonderful Wino (FZ Vocal, Alt. Solo)" | 5:55 |
| Total length: | 63:09 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Introducing...The Mothers" | 3:52 |
| 2. | "Wonderful Wino" | 4:54 |
| 3. | "Concentration Moon" | 2:30 |
| 4. | "Mom & Dad" | 3:13 |
| 5. | "The Air" | 3:18 |
| 6. | "Dog Breath" | 2:09 |
| 7. | "Mother People" | 2:10 |
| 8. | "You Didn't Try To Call Me" | 4:21 |
| 9. | "Agon (Stravinsky)" | 0:37 |
| 10. | "Call Any Vegetable" | 7:14 |
| 11. | "King Kong Pt. I" | 4:31 |
| 12. | "Igor's Boogie" | 1:09 |
| 13. | "King Kong Pt. II" | 7:09 |
| 14. | "What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are?" | 4:26 |
| 15. | "Bwana Dik" | 2:48 |
| 16. | "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" | 2:47 |
| 17. | "Do You Like My New Car?" | 4:28 |
| 18. | "Happy Together" | 2:00 |
| Total length: | 63:34 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | ""Welcome To El Monte Legion Stadium"" | 2:18 |
| 2. | "Agon (Stravinsky)" | 0:48 |
| 3. | "Call Any Vegetable (Edited)" | 8:28 |
| 4. | "Pound For A Brown" | 4:37 |
| 5. | "Sleeping In A Jar" | 2:45 |
| 6. | "Sharleena" | 4:07 |
| 7. | "The Air" | 3:56 |
| 8. | "Dog Breath" | 2:00 |
| 9. | "Mother People" | 2:05 |
| 10. | "You Didn't Try To Call Me" | 4:32 |
| 11. | "King Kong Pt. I" | 4:03 |
| 12. | "Igor's Boogie" | 1:11 |
| 13. | "King Kong Pt. II" | 8:28 |
| 14. | ""Eat Yourself..."" | 0:47 |
| 15. | "Trouble Every Day" | 4:05 |
| 16. | ""A Series Of Musical Episodes"" | 2:09 |
| 17. | "Road Ladies" | 3:57 |
| 18. | ""The Holiday Inn Motel Chain"" | 2:06 |
| 19. | "What Will This Morning Bring Me This Evening?" | 2:39 |
| 20. | "What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are?" | 3:27 |
| Total length: | 68:29 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | ""What's The Deal, Dick?"" | 1:25 |
| 2. | "Another M.O.I. Anti-Smut Loyalty Oath" | 2:26 |
| 3. | "Paladin Routine #1" | 1:24 |
| 4. | "Portuguese Fenders" | 2:48 |
| 5. | "The Sanzini Brothers" | 1:26 |
| 6. | "Guitar Build '70" | 5:17 |
| 7. | "Would You Go All The Way?" | 3:43 |
| 8. | "Easy Meat" | 5:44 |
| 9. | ""Who Did It?"" | 1:16 |
| 10. | "Turn It Down!" | 4:13 |
| 11. | "A Chance Encounter In Cincinnati" | 0:48 |
| 12. | "Pound For A Brown" | 5:58 |
| 13. | "Sleeping In A Jar" | 2:49 |
| 14. | "Beloit Sword Trick" | 1:01 |
| 15. | "Kong Solos Pt. I" | 15:23 |
| 16. | "Igor's Boogie" | 1:13 |
| 17. | "Kong Solos Pt. II" | 5:24 |
| 18. | "Gris Gris" | 8:39 |
| 19. | "Paladin Routine #2" | 1:38 |
| 20. | "King Kong - Outro" | 1:32 |
| Total length: | 74:08 | |
200 Motels is a 1971 surrealist musical film written and directed by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer, and featuring music by Zappa. An international co-production of United States and the United Kingdom, the film stars the Mothers of Invention, Theodore Bikel, Keith Moon and Ringo Starr.
Bizarre Records, self-identified simply as Bizarre, was a production company and record label formed for artists discovered by rock musician Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen.
Chunga's Revenge is the third solo album, and eleventh album counting the work of his band The Mothers of Invention, by Frank Zappa, released on October 23, 1970. Zappa's first effort of the 1970s marks the first appearance of former Turtles members Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan - nicknamed Flo & Eddie - on a Zappa record, and signals the dawn of a controversial epoch in Zappa's history. Chunga's Revenge represents a shift from both the satirical political commentary of his 1960s work with The Mothers of Invention, and the jazz fusion of Hot Rats.
Quaudiophiliac is a compilation album featuring music by Frank Zappa, released in DVD-Audio format by Barking Pumpkin Records in 2004. It compiles recordings he made while experimenting with quadraphonic, or four-channel, sound in the 1970s. Zappa prepared quadraphonic mixes of a number of his 1970s albums, with both Over-Nite Sensation (1973) and Apostrophe (') (1974) being released in discrete quadraphonic on Zappa's DiscReet Records label.
The Mothers of Invention were an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B band called the Soul Giants, the band's first lineup comprised Ray Collins, David Coronado, Ray Hunt, Roy Estrada, and Jimmy Carl Black. Frank Zappa was asked to take over as the guitarist when a fight between Collins and Hunt led to the latter's being fired. Zappa insisted they perform his original material — a decision that resulted in Coronado's leaving because he did not agree to the change — and on Mother's Day in 1965 the band changed its name to the Mothers. Record executives demanded the name be changed again, and so, "out of necessity", Zappa later said, "We became the Mothers of Invention".
One Size Fits All is the fourteenth album by the Mothers of Invention, and the twentieth overall album by Frank Zappa, released in June 1975. The album reached #26 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart in the United States in August 1975.
Bongo Fury is a collaborative album by American artists Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and Zappa's band the Mothers, released in October 1975. The live portions were recorded on May 20 and 21, 1975, at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas. Tracks 5, 6 and 9 are studio tracks recorded in January 1975 during the sessions which produced One Size Fits All (1975) and much of Studio Tan (1978).
Ian Robertson Underwood is a woodwind and keyboards player, known as a member of the original version of Frank Zappa's band the Mothers of Invention. Following the original band's split in late 1969, Underwood continued to work with Zappa extensively during the 1970s.
Zoot Allures is the 22nd album by the American rock musician Frank Zappa, released in October 1976 and his only release on the Warner Bros. Records label. Due to a lawsuit with his former manager Herb Cohen, Zappa's recording contract was temporarily reassigned from DiscReet Records to Warner Bros.
Läther is the sixty-fifth official album by Frank Zappa. It was released posthumously as a three-CD set on Rykodisc in 1996. The album's title is derived from bits of comic dialog that link the songs. Zappa also explained that the name is a joke, based on "common bastardized pronunciation of Germanic syllables by the Swiss."
Zappa in New York is a double live album by Frank Zappa released on his own DiscReet Records label, distributed by Warner Bros. Records. It was recorded in December 1976 at a series of concerts at the Palladium in New York City.
Orchestral Favorites is an album by Frank Zappa, released in May 1979 on his own DiscReet Records label. The album is entirely instrumental and features music performed by the 37-piece Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra. It reached No .168 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States.
Howard Kaylan is an American retired musician and songwriter, who was a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, with bandmate and friend Mark Volman, a member of the 1970s rock duo Flo & Eddie, where he used the pseudonym Eddie. He also was a member of Frank Zappa's band, The Mothers of Invention.
Jeffrey Lael Simmons is an American rock musician, best known as a former member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention.
Tinsel Town Rebellion is a double live album released by Frank Zappa in May 1981. The album was conceived by Zappa after he scrapped the planned albums Warts and All and Crush All Boxes, and contains tracks that were intended for those albums.
The Old Masters is a box set series by Frank Zappa, released in three volumes on Barking Pumpkin Records from April 1985 to December 1987, consisting of studio and live albums by Zappa and The Mothers of Invention originally released from 1966 to 1976 on other labels, as well as "Mystery Discs" which contained previously unreleased material. The graphics on all three sets was airbrush illustrated by Larry Grossman. 200 Motels was not included in the series, as it was the only Zappa/Mothers album for which Zappa was unable to secure the rights.
Road Tapes, Venue #3 is a posthumous album of Frank Zappa, released in May 2016, consisting of the recording of the two shows on July 5, 1970, at Tyrone Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, MN. The album was recorded as one of the first shows with the (then) newly formed Mothers of Invention featuring Flo & Eddie, Aynsley Dunbar, George Duke, Jeff Simmons and returning member Ian Underwood. This release is notable for being one of the few tapes in the Zappa Vault from this time period, and line up. It is the ninth installment on the Vaulternative Records label that is dedicated to the posthumous release of complete Zappa concerts, following the releases of FZ:OZ (2002), Buffalo (2007), Wazoo (2007), Philly '76 (2009), Hammersmith Odeon (2010), Carnegie Hall (2011), Road Tapes, Venue #1 (2012) and Road Tapes, Venue #2 (2013).
Halloween 81 is a live box set by Frank Zappa released posthumously on October 2, 2020. It is a compilation of live material in six CDs. Recorded between October 29 and November 1, 1981, it is the third album released in the Halloween box set series of live concerts that Frank Zappa performed yearly for Halloween. The live concert was the first live simulcast in cable history. It was also broadcast over the then-recently launched channel MTV. Material from these shows was used in later projects, such as The Dub Room Special and The Torture Never Stops.
Zappa/Erie is a live album by Frank Zappa, released posthumously on June 17, 2022. The album is a six CD boxset consisting of several shows performed in the Erie, Pennsylvania area in 1974 and 1976. All the material is previously unreleased, except for roughly ten minutes of audio that appeared on Roxy & Elsewhere (1974) in an edited form.
Funky Nothingness is an album by Frank Zappa, released on June 30, 2023. It is a 3CD set that primarily contains unreleased songs written and recorded in 1970, shortly after sessions concluded for the album Hot Rats.