Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention “The Lost Broadcast: The Beat Club '68” Entire Performance Released On DVD!
London, UK – For the first time ever,
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention “The Lost Broadcast: The
Beat Club '68” entire show will be released on DVD by Gonzo
Multimedia in December 2015!This DVD contains a filmed rehearsal of
Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention at the legendary Beat Club
in Bremen, Germany, on 6th October 1968. It was part of the band's
second European tour, the first having occurred a year before,
although this was their first visit to Germany.
What can be observed during this event
is a typical rehearsal scenario, where the band is eating, drinking,
tuning up their instruments, enjoying some laughs, having cosmetics
applied and gradually beginning to rehearse. The music is largely one
long improvisatory continuous performance rather than a run-through
of their greatest hits, but occasionally Zappa directs the band into
the opening themes of some of his more well-known pieces. The
ensemble performs interesting renditions of “King Kong”, “A
Pound For A Brown On The Bus”, “Sleeping In A Jar” and “Uncle
Meat”, all of which would be included on the “Uncle Meat”
album, which had already been recorded but would not be released for
another six months. Also played was an instrumental version of “Let's
Make The Water Turn Black”, a version of “Prelude To The
Afternoon Of A Sexually Aroused Gas Mask”, a stab at the “Prelude
To Act 3 of Lohengrin” by Richard Wagner and a nod towards
“Octandre” by Edgard Varese.
The footage shows Frank's use his
famous hand signals to great effect, conducting and controlling the
direction of the music, instructing the musicians when to start,
stop, punctuate, slow down, speed up, improvise, play in different
time signatures etc.
Ten days later, the Mothers of
Invention were due to play at the Berlin Sportpalast. Prior to the
show, Zappa was approached by students who, presumably still fired up
by events the previous summer in Paris, where a revolution had almost
taken place, asked him to declare his opposition to capitalism from
the stage and, by extension, to further the cause of the armed and
violent revolution that they believed was necessary to transform
society. The students, wrong-footed by the band's long hair, freaky
appearance and reputation, assumed that an anarchic look
automatically foreshadowed an anarchic attitude. Zappa, far too
intelligent a man to be swayed by their ill-conceived arguments,
refused. The student leaders suggested that, in that case, Frank
could lend support for their cause by encouraging them to set fire to
public buildings.
On the night of the gig, the audience
pelted the group with fruit, eggs and paint and shouted out that the
band should be renamed the Mothers Of Reaction. Naturally enough, the
band were deemed to be in an unsafe environment and the show ended
early. As a result of the experience Frank presented everyone in the
band with a Berlin Survival Award 1968 medal, and also wrote “Holiday
In Berlin”, later to appear on the “Burnt Weeny Sandwich”
album.
Frank Zappa had a relatively short life
but a long career. He left a large body of work due to the fact that
he hardly ever stopped composing, recording, playing and gigging.
While there is much footage of Zappa available, the early stage of
his career is more sparsely documented than most.
The Mothers of Invention at the time of
this filming: Frank Zappa, Ian Underwood, Bunk Gardner, Don Preston,
Roy Estrada, Jimmy Carl Black, Art Tripp, Motorhead Sherwood
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of
Invention - The Lost Broadcast: The Beat Club '68 (Full Show) (DVD)
was released on Dec 5, 2015.
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