Credits:

Frank Zappa

Description:

The most prolific live performance in Zappa's history in the Netherlands in 1980, a perfect, guitar-focused, rock-oriented show! This is a classic live recording for Zappa fans. Zappa, known for his prolific output, released no albums for only two years, 1980 and 1990. 1990 may have been affected by his presidential run (which he eventually declined) and his terminal prostate cancer diagnosis, whereas 1980 was a kind of preparatory period for his next step. In 1978, Zappa launched the Zappa label, which collapsed after only two years, and launched the Burning Pumpkin label, and the year 1980 was in between. The band began a US tour in March, followed by a European tour in late May. This was the second of those shows. Originally, this show was scheduled to be a part of the Holland Festival with an orchestra, and they had even rehearsed for it in the first half of May, but it was cancelled due to various troubles.Instead, it was performed with six members, including Zappa, a compact formation for Zappa. The performance is easy to understand and rocking in that the triple-guitar formation of Zappa, Ike Willis, and Ray White puts more emphasis on the guitar. Half of the songs played were previously released songs, mainly from recent albums such as "Sheikh Yabouti" (1979) and "Joe's Garage" (1979), and half were new songs that would be made into works on "Tinsel Town Rebellion" (1981) and "You Are What You Are" (1981). Three songs from the Mathers era are also performed. The quality of the performances and the sound quality are superb.