Zappa ’80: Mudd Club/Munich features two concerts at intimate NYC venue & Munich

Frank Zappa fans are in for a treat as two previously unreleased live concerts from Zappa’s short-lived 1980s band get a dual release from The Vault on March 3rd via Zappa Records/UMe. 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 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.

Zappa ’80: Mudd Club/Munich, which is being previewed with a scintillating performance of Joe’s Garage standout, “Outside Now,” from the Mudd Club show, will be available digitally and as a 3 CD set with the 15-track Mudd Club performance in its entirety on disc one and the 22-track full Munich concert spread across discs two and three. The package features cover photography and a host of rare and unseen photos of Zappa and the band members in the accompanying 17-page booklet shot on tour by superfan George Alper. Alper, the son of seminal ‘60s photographer Joe Alper, who befriended Zappa and became part of his inner circle in NYC and eventually sold merch on tour, provides some of his personal memories in the extensive liner notes that also includes an introduction from Joe Travers, a detailed track-by-track of the setlists by band member, Arthur Barrow, who also offers up a reminiscence about the tour and 1980 lineup, and is rounded out with an illuminating essay by Steve Vai who attended the Mudd Club show as a 19-year-old fan who was hired by Zappa to transcribe recently recorded guitar solos and drum tracks. A few months later Vai was invited to join the band and as the virtuoso guitarist/songwriter pens in the liners, “From that point on, the whirlwind world of Frank Zappa that I embarked on for the next three years was intense, funny, terrifying at times, but deeply and soulfully rewarding.”

In addition to the 3 CD set, 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. Vinyl has been pressed at Optimal Media in Germany.

In conjunction with the album, a series of exclusive merch commemorating the 1980 tour has just been released.

CD 1: Mudd Club New York, NY May 8th, 1980

1. Mudd Club Show Start
2. Chunga’s Revenge
3. Keep It Greasy
4. Outside Now
5. City Of Tiny Lites (Edited)
6. Pound For A Brown
7. You Are What You Is
8. You Didn’t Try To Call Me
9. I Ain’t Got No Heart
10. Love Of My Life
11. Easy Meat
12. Mudd Club
13. The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
14. Joe’s Garage
15. Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?

CD 2: Munich, Germany Olympiahalle July 3rd, 1980

1. Munich ’80 Show Start
2. Chunga’s Revenge
3. Keep It Greasy
4. Pick Me, I’m Clean
5. City Of Tiny Lites
6. Pound For A Brown
7. Cosmik Debris
8. You Didn’t Try To Call Me
9. I Ain’t Got No Heart
10. Love Of My Life
11. You Are What You Is

CD 3: Munich, Germany Olympiahalle July 3rd, 1980 (Continued)

1. Easy Meat
2. Mudd Club
3. The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
4. Joe’s Garage
5. Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?
6. Dancin’ Fool
7. Bobby Brown Goes Down
8. Ms. Pinky
9. Stick It Out
10. Nite Owl (T. Allen)
11. The Illinois Enema Bandit