The band who became known as "The Roxy Band" for their performances on the
Roxy and Elsewhere album is nearly universally loved by
Zappa fans. This set captures them at the very beginning with a pair of shows recorded in Chicago, just the second stop on the tour for this new group, who had started rehearsing just over a month earlier. As you'd expect, the band is tight and
George Duke and
Ruth Underwood shine throughout. Highlights include
Duke's Moog freak-out intro to "Dupree's Paradise" and
FZ's guitar solo on "Big Swifty." It's interesting to compare the set list to the Roxy shows, recorded about a month and a half later. Both "The Eric Dolphy Memorial BBQ" and the "Farther O'Blivion" extended jazz suite were dropped from the set by the Roxy shows, and here we hear the intro and outro to "Village of the Sun" that were later cut from the tune. The rehearsal material features "Magic Fingers," which never actually made it to the live set list, and there are additional musical elements used in the "Penguin in Bondage" rehearsal that were not used later. While the shorter tunes from the rehearsal material are full, uninterrupted performances, there are a number of false starts on "Inca Roads" and "Farther O'Blivion." Those are really fun because we hear the rapport between
Frank,
George, and
Ruth as they crack each other up.
Ruth's laugh is particularly wonderful. It's so obvious that they're enjoying themselves.
Sound quality is excellent even though this is just a three-track recording. The mix is not always perfect, but that's a small gripe and fans will just be happy to have more high-quality material from this amazingly talented band.
Halloween 73 is another excellent treat from the
Zappa vaults. ~ Sean Westergaard