Halloween is over, and the last remnants of leftover Mars bars may still remain, but for Frank Zappa fans, every day is Halloween. Frank Zappa’s Halloween shows (which sometimes lasted more than just Halloween night) in New York, at the Palladium, are not just legendary among Zappa fans, but caused quite a stir in the music world at the time and paved the way for many others to do annual theme shows or take up annual residencies in various locales.
What unofficially began in 1972 and more or less went on (although not every year) until it unofficially ended in 1981, is now part of the Zappa mythical allure. While some entertainers are associated with Christmas, and others, like Guy Lombardo and then later Dick Clark, are associated with New Year’s Eve, Zappa became the musical ringleader for nights that brought out the freak in his fans.
This is the fourth in a series of archival Zappa Halloween releases that have included Halloween 77 (which also spawned the movie Baby Snakes), Halloween 73, and Halloween 81. For those who followed Zappa’s live Halloween concert bag of tricks, they know 1978 was the peak, making this release a real treat.
There are several editions of this new release, including an Expanded Super Deluxe Costume Box Set, which features 62 tracks across five CDs. The set comes with a pop-out mask of Zappa resembling the Devil (which was not a stretch), complete with a pitchfork and a UV light, and showcases some supernatural (or unnatural) artwork. There is also a Grimoire book, a book of spells, that includes photos and memorabilia.
Also released digitally and on a CD sampler, there are two 180-gram vinyl editions. One is a two-LP Blood Splatter edition, and the other is the one we will cover here: a two-LP Candy Corn color edition that comes with a color pop-out paper mask and a beautiful album-size color booklet featuring an embossed cover, with the records housed in poly-lined sleeves.
The two LPs feature one disc of the standard Zappa touring set list of the time and the other of live recordings of songs he rarely performed, which is part of what made these shows so special and why Zappa’s fans so highly value these archival Halloween releases. It also helps if you were at one of these shows, especially for those who, for some reason, might have forgotten what was played.
While this two-LP set only includes a sampling of the marathon four-hour concert, listening to this music on vinyl just feels right, and the sound is excellent.
Zappa’s ravenous appetite to play with an ever-shifting cast of the best musicians from a variety of genres and countries is on full display here with such musicians as iconic drummer Vinny Colaiuta, Patrick O’Hearn (one of two bassists) and L. Shankar, a member of Shakti, who also played with Peter Gabriel and contributed to the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ.
After a lengthy and amusing opening spoken introduction by Zappa, side one includes one of Zappa’s near-hits, “Dancing Fool.” Side two features two long pieces that highlight Zappa’s guitar prowess, although in a somewhat abbreviated form. Side three is like a greatest-licks extravaganza and worth the price of admission alone and includes “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow,” “Nanook Rubs It,” “St. Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast,” “Father O’Blivion,” “Rollo,” “Camarillo Brillo,” and “Muffin Man,” which is just about as good as it gets for Zappa fans. Side four is comprised of “Black Napkins/The Deathless Horsie.”
Some of the music here has been previously released, including on the 2003 DVD Audio release Halloween (Frank Is Back), which also features material from Zappa’s appearance on Saturday Night Live.
Music from Zappa’s vaults and upgraded and expanded editions with beautiful packaging of many of his classic releases continue to come out at a frantic pace, and this one is scary good and a must for Frank-philes.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
