By Jim Rowland
Frank Zappa and The Mothers’ ‘Fillmore East June 1971’ is one of the classic live albums from the huge catalogue of albums released during Zappa’s lifetime. That single, 40-minute album provides the starting point for this new massively expanded eight-disc, ten hour, lavishly packaged box set ‘The Mothers 1971’, dusting down all the original tapes from which that album was created, plus a whole lot more.
Back in those days it was commonplace for bands to play two sets a night, so what you get here are the complete recordings of shows one and two at New York’s Fillmore East venue recorded on 5 and 6 June 1971 – the four shows from which the original album was created, the first time the complete back-to-back double-header Fillmore East concerts have been released in their entirety. One of these features a six track encore featuring a guest appearance from John Lennon and Yoko Ono, which is surprisingly good and a lot more than just Ono shrieking. In addition, there’s the entire performance from 10 December 1971 at The Rainbow in Finsbury Park, London, an unreleased hybrid concert culled from 1 and 3 June 1 1971 performances in Scranton and Harrisburg, PA, and the extensive collection is rounded out with the original rare single for ‘Tears Began To Fall’ and its non-album-track B-side ‘Junier Mintz Boogie’ signifying the single’s first re-release in 50 years and digital debut, as well as a homemade radio spot and its related outtakes. That’s a lot of crazy music.
The band in 1971 consisted of Ian Underwood (winds/keyboards), Aynsley Dunbar (drums), Jim Pons (bass/vocals/dialogue), Bob Harris (keyboards/vocals) and was rounded out by Howard Kaylan (lead vocals/dialog) and Mark Volman (lead vocals/dialog), aka Flo & Eddie of The Turtles, with special guest Don Preston, who replaced Harris full time by the time they got to Europe towards the end of the year. As with all of Zappa’s bands, the musicianship is top notch and quite stunning, although not all Zappa fans are so keen on this band due to Flo & Eddie’s slightly over the top nature. Still, if you like the original ‘Fillmore East’ album you’re going to like this for sure, with improved sound quality compared to the original album.
The Finsbury Park Rainbow show in particular is excellent, and even features the audio (for the first time) of the infamous chaotic event at the end of the gig, after a rendition of The Beatles’ ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, where Zappa was attacked by a crazed audience member and pushed into the orchestra pit, sustaining serious injuries that would put him out of action for a year, and mark the end of this particular band.
This type of extensive box set appears to be getting a lot more common these days, with literally hours and hours of recordings released from which single albums were once compiled. It’s the latest in a growing number of Zappa ones, with the likes of ‘The Roxy Performances’, ‘The Hot Rats Sessions’ and ‘The Mothers 1970’ having come out in recent years. It does beg the question, how often are you really likely to listen to the whole thing, and indeed how many renditions of the sprawling ‘Billy The Mountain’ do you really need? (there’s five here). But nobody is forcing you to buy it, you pay your money and you take your choice. You do have to be a serious Zappa fan to go for this.
As it happens, I am, and I love it, although I’m not going to be listening to five different renditions of ‘Billy The Mountain’ too often. Especially when you consider the vast ocean of Zappa material out there to listen to – you could spend a lifetime collecting and listening to all of it.
If the eight CD box is too much for you, vinyl lovers will also be able to get their fill via a pair of concurrently released individual three LP configurations. Firstly, the expanded 50th anniversary three LP vinyl edition of ‘Fillmore East June 1971’ will have a remaster of the original 1971 live album on LP1 along with two LPs of bonus tracks, including the John Lennon and Yoko Ono encore and the complete ‘Billy The Mountain’. Secondly, ‘Rainbow Theatre’ is the three LP vinyl equivalent to the CD box’s contents, featuring a brand new 2021 mix and liner notes by Eddie Kramer.
- ‘The Mothers 1971’ is released today (Friday 18 March). You can get your copy HERE.
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