FRANK ZAPPA

Zappa ’88: The Last US Show ZAPPA RECORDS

Frank’s final American concert, genital warts and all.

Frank Zappa’s very last American tour has been documented multiple times. Recorded at New York’s Nassau Coliseum, Zappa ’88 hopes to distinguish itself by offering a complete, unredacted performance, including Zappa’s opening speech encouraging attendees to register to vote and singing Happy Birthday to drummer Chad Wackerman.

The first set is the stronger of the two included here, with the band firing through The Black Page and Inca Roads and going into doo-wop for Love Of My Life. With a five-piece horn section, this was one of Zappa’s biggest bands and the arrangements are impressively lavish. The second set is heavy on covers, with bonus performances from earlier dates of Whipping Post and Stairway To Heaven, which can’t decide if it wants to be taken seriously or not.

The album contains the first official release of Zappa’s Beatles Medley; unfortunately, that’s where his humour is at its most puerile, singing ‘Lucy and a hooker with herpes’ to Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. While that’s redeemed by the absolute shred-fest of City Of Tiny Lites, there’s definitely an outstanding single album to extracted from this.