Performance appears on upcoming Zappa ’80: Mudd Club/Munich album
A thrilling live performance of Frank Zappa’s “City Of Tiny Lites,” recorded July 3, 1980 at Olympiahalle in Munich, Germany, showcases the maestro leading his short-lived 1980 lineup through a rollicking version of the Sheik Yerbouti standout and live set fixture with a extended guitar workout that allows the band to stretch their musical muscles. The track, the next audio appetizer for the forthcoming album, Zappa 80: Mudd Club/Munich, is available to stream now and follows a scintillating performance of Joe’s Garage favorite “Outside Now” from the Mudd Club show.
Presenting two previously unreleased concerts from Zappa’s brief 1980’s band, the latest exciting live collection to be released from The Vault, Zappa 80: Mudd Club/Munich, offers fans an opportunity to hear two blistering shows recorded in two distinct settings: the intimate 240 capacity Mudd Club in New York City and the massive 12,000 seat German arena, Olympiahalle in Munich. Produced by Ahmet Zappa and Zappa Vaultmeister Joe Travers, this historically significant release, releasing digitally and on 3 CD on March 3rd via Zappa Records/UMe, marks the first time that full concerts have ever been released featuring the 1980 lineup of Zappa leading the five-strong band which included the dual vocal attack of Ike Willis and Ray White, Arthur Barrow on bass, Tommy Mars on keyboards, and newcomer David Logeman on drums. Additionally, this is the first posthumous release of this distinct, brief lineup, as Logeman, who replaced drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, would end up leaving when Colaiuta returned to the band. Previously only two tracks from these shows – “Love Of My Life” from Mudd Club and “You Didn’t Try To Call Me” from Munich – were ever released by Zappa on his CD live series, You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore.
The Mudd Club show was recorded on May 8, 1980 by Klaus Weidemann on a two-track Nagra tape recorder while the Munich show at Olympiahalle was recorded and mixed by engineer Mick Glossop direct to digital two-track stereo and has the distinction of being the first digital live recording of Zappa ever. The Maestro was early to embrace the emerging technology and would importantly shift to it as a result of this recording. Made on a Sony PCM 1600 recording system, the show was recorded on 3/4-inch U-Matic videotape, which at the time was state of the art but is now a relic of the rapid evolution of sound recording. The show was transferred from the original digital masters and audio drop-outs, a common issue with this format, were fixed by Travers using multiple tape backups, some analog, some digital, that Zappa worked on, signaling he was considering a potential release at some point. Both shows were mastered by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.
The Mudd Club and Munich shows will also be available separately on 180-gram vinyl, with the Mudd Club pressed on 2 LP at 45 RPM and Munich on 3 LP 33 1/3 RPM vinyl. uDiscover Music and Zappa.com are also exclusively offering a limited edition 180-gram color pressing of each title with Mudd Club on Coke Bottle Green and Munich on Transparent Orange vinyl, which both come with iron-on transfers. Like the CD and digital, the vinyl releases have also been mastered by Bernie Grundman.
