Two Full 1970 Shows from Frank Zappa Released in “Road Tapes” Series

Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention: Road Tapes, Venue #3Not many full shows from Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention are available from mid-1970, making the Road Tapes, Venue #3 package a special one.

The set includes two complete July 5, 1970 shows from Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At the time, Jeff Simmons handled bass for the Mothers, which also included Flo & Eddie, George Duke, Aynsley Dunbar and Ian Underwood. Simmons also played bass on the Zappa/Mothers album Chunga’s Revenge, along with Max Bennett.

Admittedly, the shows were recorded to stereo reel-to-reel, but for Zappa fans, they have value.

The previous Road Tapes installments feature shows in Helsinki, Finland in 1973 (Road Tapes, Venue #2) and Vancouver, Canada in summer, 1968 (Road Tapes, Venue #1).

Road Tapes, Venue #3 is available on CD and digital download.

Road Tapes, Venue #3 Track List:

Disc 1
Show 1:

  1. Tyrone Start The Tape
  2. King Kong
  3. Wonderful Wino (Zappa/Simmons)
  4. Concentration Moon
  5. Mom & Dad
  6. The Air
  7. Dog Breath
  8. Mother People
  9. You Didn’t Try To Call Me
  10. Agon – Interlude (Stravinsky)
  11. Call Any Vegetable
  12. King Kong / Igor’s Boogie
  13. It Can’t Happen Here
  14. Sharleena

Show 2:

  1. The 23rd “Mondellos”
  2. Justine (Harris/Terry)

Disc 2:
Show 2, continued:

  1. Pound For A Brown
  2. Sleeping In A Jar
  3. Sharleena
  4. “A Piece Of Contemporary Music”
  5. The Return Of The Hunchback Duke (incl.: Little House I Used To Live In, Holiday In Berlin)
  6. Cruising For Burgers
  7. Let’s Make The Water Turn Black
  8. Harry, You’re A Beast
  9. Oh No/Orange County Lumber Truck
  10. Call Any Vegetable
  11. Mondello’s Revenge
  12. The Clap (Chunga’s Revenge)

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  1. I saw Frank Zappa live in concert in the mid 70’s (The Apostrophe album was my entry into Zappa) at the Cincinnati Gardens. He opened for Stevie Wonder (How weird was that?). I had been to many concerts at the Gardens by that time and it was the first time I ever saw it practically EMPTY. There were so few people there that I walked right up to the front of the stage in front of Zappa as he played. The song ended, he looked at me and said “We’re never playing Cincinnati again”, and he took off. Stevie Wonder came on. Lucky for me he couldn’t see how empty the place was or he might have booked up too. The promotion for that event was terrible. I remember hearing about it like 2 or 3 days before it happened. Back then, ticket prices for concerts was only $5 or $6.