Frank Zappa
April 29th, 1988
Jaeaehalli
Helsinki, Finland

So, here's another "long time in the making" show - but hopefully this one will be a lot more interesting than an inoffensively forgettable March 1980 show!

Ladies and gentlemen: The last remaining "missing" show from the very highly-regarded 4/22 - 5/11 Scando-German run of 1988 shows!

While tonight's secret word content isn't up to the level of the Ring of Fire, SCHAUSEGCH!!, or Dragonmaster shows, we do get the occasional Reindeer here and there. Big Swifty, tonight's monster song, is a relatively brief 11 minutes, but we get some interesting Fowlerhorn with Chaddrums and Scottbass. Very jazzy - put on your berets and find one of those fancy cigarette holders. The conventional (but very well-played) avant-jazz is interspersed with Synclavier interludes, much like some of the more spooky backgrounds for CP III without the hyperactive noodlings, or the sorta chaotic mellowness of the Bongo Fury intro improvs, or the Knick Knack People openers from the Belew tours. Finally, we get some of the good old-fashioned Synclavier sampled meltdowns (Kinison screams, snorks, and that one Ike Willis-sounding sample ("A-ROW-A-ROW-A-ROW"). It's certainly not one of the top ten Monsters from this tour, but it's no slouch.

This show is more interesting as a whole than as a collection of parts. The setlist is great, very music-heavy. And we get the legendary Helsinki premier of the infamous Whipping Post! Too bad the official recording truck broke down, leaving this show officially un-documented - this would have been a sure candidate for the Stage series.

All the pieces are here, all the pieces fit wonderfully. If I was making a 1988 mix CD, I don't think I would include anything from this show, but on the other hand, if something from this show was already included on the mix CD, I wouldn't take it off. An altogether great slice of 1988, and an excellent choice for those who just want to hear the 1988 horns and mellow guitar, without having to skip through a Bobby Brown or Keep it Greasy.

Really, Jon Naurin's review (written over ten years ago!) pretty much hits the nail on the head:

JON NAURIN REVIEW:
The show starts off with five FZ solo vehicles in a row, none of which gets overly exciting. "Trouble Every Day" (with the 13 vamp) and "Green Hotel" both have nice solos, and the rest are OK, but it seems FZ isn't really warmed up. Next, it's time for one of my absolute favorites in the entire FZ catalogue: the 1988 arrangement of "Sinister Footwear II." The composed themes are grandious as always, while the first two horn solos sound a bit hesitant, as if the soloists were unsure about the vamp. The main solo vamp is one of the best FZ wrote, and we get two great, though too short, horn solos.

And as if that weren't enough, it's just a few minutes before it's time for another of my all time faves: "Big Swifty!" Unfortunately, the head of the song and a short bit of the improvisations are ruined by the tape flip. Most of the improvisational part consists of jamming with the synclavier, horn section + Ed, Chad and Scott. Though the musical outcome of these jams varies - much of it is awesome, while some don't go anywhere - I'm constantly amazed by the precision and skill with which they're performed. 5-6 people might be improvising at the same time, and it all sounds organized in some way, though FZ must be too busy to conduct them all the time. A good and impressive Monster, but not one of the scariest.

The setlist continues in good fashion with "Peace Corps," the Orange County Medley (great "Oh No" solo) and "Find Her Finer," before hitting another peak with the Green Genes/OSFA medley. And by now, FZ has really found inspiration and delivers 3 great solos. "Inca Roads" nearly becomes the highlight of the show, much because of Scott Thunes. His playing is great, with some cool interplay with FZ (based on the "Florentine Pogen" melody), and he adds energy to the sax solo, which is possibly the best moment in the song - an excellent, unusually lenghty excursion.

After "Sofa" (which includes a quote from "Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer", referring to tonight's underused secret word: Reindeer) and "Dancin' Fool" it's time for the moment we've all been waiting for: the Helsinki premiere of "Whipping Post!" FZ explains the background, and many in the audience seem to remember the 1974 incident. And, fittingly enough, we get one of the best renditions I've heard. I've never been too found of this song as a solo vehicle, but this one's really good. The rest of the show consists of unremarkable takes of the usual encores.

A very good show, but I must say that I expected more when I looked at the setlist, which indeed is great. It shows that FZ didn't think highly of the Finns' English comprehension - much instrumental stuff, and not less than 11 guitar solos. However, some parts, especially from the first half of the show, are a bit disappointing, and we get very little onstage antics and secret words abuse. But this was about to change for the next concert.

- JN


LINEAGE:
Main source:
cassette -> Nakamichi DR-10 -> Terratec DMX6 Fire 24/96 soundcard -> Adobe Audition 2.0 -> WAV -> Flac Frontend encoding level 5 -> ZP -> decoded -> WaveLab (speed corrected per flambay) -> Goldwave (patches added, see below lineages) -> CDWAV (tracks split, saved as .FLAC level 8 ) -> foobar2000 (tags + ReplayGain) -> You, the undersigned

Fills source (Drew):
unknown generation audience tape from Tim McGarey (RIP) > ? > Maxell XLII-S Cassettes > Sony TC-WE8258 cassette deck > Gina20 > Sound Forge 7.0 (record/edits) > FLAC Level 8

Fills source (ZP edits):
> FLAC frontend (decoded) > Wavelab (pitch corrected per flambay) > Goldwave (merged with main source)

FZSHOWS:
1988 04 29 - Jaeaehalli, Helsinki, Finland
145 min, Aud, B+

The Black Page, Trouble Every Day, Penguin In Bondage, Hot Plate Heaven At The Green Hotel, What's New In Baltimore?, Sinister Footwear, Packard Goose Medley, Big Swifty, Who Needs The Peace Corps?, The Orange County Lumber Truck Medley, Find Her Finer, Mr Green Genes, Florentine Pogen, Andy, Inca Roads, Sofa, Dancin' Fool, Whipping Post, I Am The Walrus, The Illinois Enema Bandit, Bolero, Stairway To Heaven

FZShows errata:
"Inca Roads" should be "Inca Roads (Q: Florentine Pogen)".
"Sofa" should be "Sofa (Q: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer)".
Any other quotes buried in this one, eagle-ears?


REVISED FZSHOWS:
1988 04 29 - Jaeaehalli, Helsinki, Finland
145 min, Aud, B+

The Black Page, Trouble Every Day, Penguin In Bondage, Hot Plate Heaven At The Green Hotel, What's New In Baltimore?, Sinister Footwear, Packard Goose Medley, Big Swifty, Who Needs The Peace Corps?, The Orange County Lumber Truck Medley, Find Her Finer, Mr Green Genes, Florentine Pogen, Andy, Inca Roads (Q: Florentine Pogen), Sofa (Q: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer), Dancin' Fool, Whipping Post, I Am The Walrus, The Illinois Enema Bandit, Bolero, Stairway To Heaven


TRACKLIST:
01. Intro
02. The Black Page
03. Trouble Every Day
04. Penguin in Bondage
05. Hot Plate Heaven at the Green Hotel
06. What's New In Baltimore?
07. Sinister Footwear
08. Packard Goose Medley
09. Big Swifty
10. Who Needs the Peace Corps?
11. I Left My Heart in San Francisco
12. Let's Make the Water Turn Black
13. Harry You're a Beast
14. The Orange County Lumber Truck
15. Oh No
16. Son of Orange County
17. Theme from Lumpy Gravy
18. Find Her Finer
19. Mr. Green Genes
20. Florentine Pogen
21. Andy
22. Inca Roads (q: Florentine Pogen)
23. Sofa (q: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer)
24. crowd
25. Dancing Fool
26. Whipping Post
27. I Am the Walrus
28. The Illinois Enema Bandit
29. crowd
30. Bolero
31. crowd
32. Stairway to Heaven


None of the patches were cross-faded. I went for edits that were as clean as possible (on measures when possible). So there's a bit of material present on the main source that was edited out here in favor of a better transition - at most, twenty seconds worth. The "unpatched" tracks are excerpts without patches, with enough redundant material to recreate your own patches should you so wish.


REQUESTS:
Do not buy low, do not sell high. Trade only as .FLAC. Beroendefrankallandy.


CREDITS:
Unknown tapers: Taping
WIU2B: Transfer
LudzNL: Mailing
Drew: Fill transfer
flambay: Pitch correction
ZP: Patching, pitch correction application, seeding
FZ: Twenty-five years of extraordinary composition


Keep circulating the tapes.

Seeded to Zappateers on August 31st, 2009