Frank Zappa
5/21/82
Sporthalle
Koln, Germany

Source: AUD > ? > CDR > EAC > SHN

Disc 1:
01. Tuning
02. Zoot Allures (incl. When No One Was No One)
03. Sofa
04. Fine Girl
05. Easy Meat
06. Dead Girls Of London
07. Shall We Take Ourselves Seriously?
08. What's New In Baltimore?
09. Moggio
10. Drowning Witch (incl. But Who Was Fulcanelli?)
11. Envelopes
12. Bamboozled By Love

Disc 2:
01. Let's Move To Cleveland
02. Tinseltown Rebellion
03. Approximate
04. Cosmik Debris
05. Doreen
06. Goblin Girl
07. Black Page #2
08. Sharleena
(Encore)
09. Strictly Genteel
10. No No Cherry
11. Man From Utopia
12. Whipping Post

Lineup:
Frank Zappa - guitar, vocals
Chad Wackerman - drums
Ed Mann - percussion
Tommy Mars - keyboards
Robert Martin - keyboards, tenor saxophone, vocals
Scott Thunes - bass, vocals
Steve Vai - guitar
Ray White - guitar, vocals
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Review from Zappa Tape Reviews
http://zappastuff.iwarp.com/tapes.htm

May 21st, 1982
Sporthalle, Koln, Germany


About 15 min into the show, FZ says "That's not safe, put it down!" to someone. The funny thing is, while listening to this tape, I felt an urge to yell back the same thing to Frank several times, in reference to his guitar. No folks, FZ does *not* play it safe tonight - fact is, he does things with his axe tonight that make Charles Manson look like a little school-girl in comparison. I hadn't listened to this show for quite a while, and though I remembered it was one of the better '82 shows, I didn't expect it to be this astounding. This is Zappa's night - 10 solos, while we only get one solo from another bandmember.

The show kick-starts with Zoot Allures, which gives a strong hint that Frank is having one of *those* nights tonight. The first part of the solo is "When No One Was No One", but the mix on Guitar doesn't do it justice, in this reporter's opinion. On this tape, where Frank's Strat is crisp and cutting, the solo becomes much more touching. For the first three minutes, he keeps playing creative and beautiful melodies (including two nice "Squirm" teases), then he seems to be planning where to go next for a minute. The direction he chooses, is one he would follow for much of the evening: loop madness! For three minutes, Frank mangles out chords and noises, from which he makes loops, tries out various combinations and plays melodies on top (some of this can be heard on Guitar). Quite cool, and only the beginning.

The band plays nice versions of Sofa and Fine Girl, before it's time for the second guitar-tour-de-force: Easy Meat. The first lines in Frank's solo are so beautiful, we begin to believe he's about to compose a new Sinister Footwear. Then, abruptly, he kicks off one of his thunder-like loops, adds another one, and on top of this chaos, he reprises the great first melody. The rest of this great solo continues like this - a big variety of loops, mixed with neat melodies. The beauty and the beast in one!

Dead Girls Of London is nice, and even a song like Shall We Take Ourselves Seriously? is unusually interesting tonight. FZ tells the full story behind it, how German concert promotor Fritz Rau once made a fuzz about people eating asparagus. One Peter Eggers in invited onstage to translate Frank's words into German, and he also get to do Fritz Rau impersonations during the song, cracking up the vocalists (which is probably while Bobby Martin sings some ugly out-of-tune harmonies). What's New In Baltimore?, a song that would rarely disappoint on this tour, comes with another great guitar solo, which deviates into a boogie jam. Moggio is just as tight as we've come to expect from these guys, and leads us right into the next highlight of the show.

Drowning Witch brings us two awesome solos. Frank squeals out some typical Eastern-European-influenced melodies on the first one, utilizing his "Bulgarian Bagpipe" and feedback techniques to great effect. The second one is even better, much because some brilliant support from Thunes. Frank used half of it on Guitar as "But Who Was Fulcanelli?", but he should have used it in its entirety. And once again, I prefer the sound on this tape.

This is one of the best years for Bamboozled By Love (in my opinion, nobody sang it better than Bobby, though I know I'm in minority here). The vamp, a groovy mix of blues and reggae, brings a short and good FZ solo. It feels like he was simply catching his breath here - we're just about to get another one of Dr Zappa's cruel guitar treatments. The Young & Monde solo (which can be heard on "As An Am") is...well, I can't think of a better word than "violent". For the first half it's a regular - though very nasty - solo, and for the second half, Frank once again freaks out with his loops. I'm trying to imagine the looks on the faces in the audience - this must have been quite a thing to experience live.

Tinseltown Rebellion gives us some comic relief, with another one of those weird, but hilariously funny Grandma Variations, and the equally weird segue into Approximate. In Cosmik Debris comes the only non-FZ solo of the show, a really good Vai solo. Doreen is always great to hear, and the Goblin Girl/Black Page segue on this tour is one of my favorites ever. However, the BP solo does turn out disappointing. Maybe my expectations were to high, and maybe my ears were saturated with nasty FZ notes, but this solo doesn't come near the heights the previous ones did. Frank is back in gear for Sharleena, though. This time he chooses a straighter R&R-approach, though he skillfully avoids becoming predictable - on the contrary, he uses the old blues scale in very creative ways, over Scott's bouncy bass.

The encores are of the unsurprising kind: Strictly Genteel, No No Cherry, Man From Utopia, and Whippin' Post. Frank's final solo is not one of his best of the evening, but good for a WP, one of the worst guitar vehicles of the 80s, if you ask me. Some loops near the middle, but not as deranged as the previous orgies. Well, there is actually one more surprise tonight, when WP ends on a big C major chord, instead of the expected Am. A strange ending to a sick show.

'Nuff said - this is one of the very best '82 tapes, and hence, one of the most essential of all Zappa tapes. If you don't already have it - go get it!

--JN