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them nostalgic for a time that never existed .” – Jeff Elbel
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FRANK ZAPPA Frank Zappa ’ 88 : The Last U . S . Show Zappa : Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Deluxe
( Zappa / UMe )
The Zappa Family Trust has released a pair of vinyl box sets in quick succession , marking an excellent season for Zappa fans , collectors , and adventurous newcomers with a bit of mad money . Zappa OMPS Deluxe captures the soundtrack of director ( and Bill & Ted actor ) Alex Winter ’ s worthy November 2020 documentary film Zappa , providing an overview of the artist ’ s prolific , wide-ranging , and norm-shattering career . As advertised , Frank Zappa ’ 88 presents the bulk of Zappa ’ s final U . S . concert , augmented with a handful of tracks from Maryland and Rhode Island shows during the same run . Zappa OMPS ’ 69 tracks span 10 sides of vinyl , including 24 Zappa favorites spanning nearly 30 years in addition to 12 previously unreleased tracks . Early days and 1966 debut album Freak Out ! with the Mothers of Invention are represented by the shimmering pop of “ Any Way the Wind Blows ,” offering barely a hint of the sonic challenges to come . The album ’ s off-kilter “ You ’ re Probably Wondering Why I ’ m Here ” is another story entirely . Live cuts include a 1978 performance of “ Dancin ’ Fool ” from Saturday Night Live . A blazing version of “ Apostrophe ’” was captured during a 1974 rehearsal in Los Angeles . Zappa ’ s commercial peak is captured with the inclusion of “ Valley Girl ” featuring daughter Moon Unit ’ s totally tubular vocal from 1982 ’ s Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch . Zappa ’ s later career is typified increasingly challenging compositional work . The dervish composition “ G- Spot Tornado ” is performed in its The Yellow Shark arrangement with the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt , Germany , having originally been considered too difficult for human hands to play . The set ’ s final two sides features John Frizell ’ s ambient film score underscoring documentary scenes like Zappa ’ s anti-censorship speech combating the Parent ’ s Music Resource Center during “ Frank Addresses Congress ” and underscoring Zappa ’ s decline with “ Frank Getting Sick .” The soundtrack concludes with a live 1978 performance of Joe ’ s Garage Acts II & III track “ Watermelon in Easter Hay ,” recorded during guitarist and singer Adrian Belew ’ s brief but memorable run in Zappa ’ s band . The Last Concert was staged at New York ’ s Nassau Coliseum on March 25 , 1988 , the last North American date of
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continent-hopping tour dubbed “ Broadway the Way .” Diagnosed in 1990 , Zappa became too ill from prostate cancer to tour afterward . He died on December 4 , 1993 , two days before his 53rd birthday . Zappa ’ s band on this final tour included a dozen top-caliber players . Veteran Ike Willis sang . Robert Martin returned as keyboardist . Newcomer and Drop Control wunderkid Mike Keneally played guitar , Scott Thunes played bass , and Bruce Fowler played trombone . There were no weak links , and most players covered multiple instruments . Drum virtuoso Chad Wackerman provides liner notes for the box . The band clashed infamously , but these four heavyweight vinyl platters testify to their combined prowess . Zappa begins by promising a “ big show ” before leaving home turf , and devotes the opening minutes to a voter registration campaign with onstage demonstration before transitioning into “ The Black Page ,” led by Fowler ’ s supple trombone and other solos from the sparkling fivepiece horn section . The set list resurrects old favorites like memorable instrumental “ Peaches en Regalia ” and propulsive rocker “ City of Tiny Lites ” ( with Zappa ’ s fretboard-shredding solo ). “ Now , a song that is older than you are ,” says Zappa while introducing “ I Ain ’ t Got No Heart .” The song ’ s acid jazz transitions to the breezy doo-wop of “ Love of My Life .” New fare including the Gospel song-quoting “ Jesus Thinks You ’ re a Jerk ” was developed for the powerhouse group . “ Would He really choose Tammy [ Faye Bakker ] to do his work ?,” sings Zappa , criticizing hypocritical televangelists and self-righteous cultural watchdogs alongside the NRA , the KKK , and those who would take the Lord ’ s name truly in vain while pursuing power or the almighty dollar . The blends into the heavenly bliss and beatific swing of “ Sofa # 1 ” featuring saxophonists Paul Carman and Albert Wing . Surprising covers included Ravel ’ s “ Bolero ,” Led Zeppelin ’ s “ Stairway to Heaven ,” the Beatles ’ “ I Am the Walrus ,” and a recurring Zappa favorite in the Allman Brothers ’ “ Whipping Post .” Zappa ’ s razor wit , provocative social commentary , and theatrical bent are evident during “ I Left My Heart in San Francisco .” Percussionist Ed Mann plays complex marimba lines in unison with the horn section during “ Inca Roads .” The bluesy “ Dickie ’ s Such an Asshole ” segues into new song “ When the Lie ’ s So Big ,” recalling the hypocrisy of the Nixon White House and crumbling trust in the American myth . Bassist Thunes drives the soulful reggaejazz fusion of “ Sharleena .” Zappa and Keneally make thrilling displays of guitar heroics throughout the set . The dazzling classical flourishes , tightly composed Carl Stalling-inspired interludes are a
Zappa ’ s longstanding habit of recording his shows to mine for album releases pays dividends 33 years later with this concert release . There ’ s never been an experience to match Zappa ’ s band before or since . Listening to Frank Zappa ’ 88 will make you jealous that you weren ’ t in the room , but glad that you ’ ve got the next best thing . Taken together , these boxes paint a picture of an artistic iconoclast in the truest sense , and one of America ’ s most gifted composers .
– Jeff Elbel
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Frank Zappa ’ 88 : The Last U . S . Show
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today . They ’ re a generation facing no shortage of staggeringly exhaustive and seemingly insurmountable crises that seem poised only to get worse . None of which is lost on McIlrath . “ I feel very lucky to have that microphone and be able to — like , if we can help somebody along on their journey with some of the things that we ' ve figured out over the last 20 years , some of the things our fans have figured out , then that ' s pretty cool ,” McIlrath shares . “ And then I feel very lucky to have that connection to our younger audience to sort of see the world through their eyes , in a way . There ' s this generation has a lot of complaints . You know , they have a lot of fears and anxieties about what tomorrow is going to look like . And they ' re looking for someone to listen to them .”
“ I don ' t think enough people from my generation or older are doing enough listening ,” the frontman continues . “ We do a lot of dismissing ; we do a lot of millennial jokes and that kind of thing . And this record was my way of kind of shutting up and listening , and just like , ‘ Let ' s hear what they have to say .’ And then realizing
like , yeah , this generation is going through something that a lot of previous generations haven ' t gone through . We ' re not looking at upward mobility anymore . We ' re looking at downward mobility . I was raised in a time where a single-income family could live a middle-class lifestyle . Does that still exist now ? Concentrated wealth was nothing like it is now . The rise of the 1 %. Environmental degradation , social media , school shootings , all of it . They ' re going through these things that we didn ' t really go through . And to dismiss them is just insult to injury . To say , ‘ Yo , ( you ) just gotta pull yourself up by your bootstraps and figure it out .’ They ' re done hearing that . They ' re sick of hearing that . So they no longer have a lot of faith and trust in the institutions meant to serve them and help them thrive . They ' re losing that faith . And so I feel like the first step is just to start listening .”
The question of whether anyone is listening is a sentiment found front and center on " Talking to Ourselves ," another of Nowhere Generation ’ s standout tracks . With a chorus of “ I never wanted to disturb the peace / But it feels like no one ' s listening / Are we talking to ourselves ?“ McIlrath ’ s sentiments about the current generations
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struggling to be heard in a meaningful way are loud and clear . The song also unintentionally brings to mind the lost year so many spent in lockdown due to the pandemic , talking to themselves while isolated from friends and loved ones . “ So many of these songs took on new meanings for me after we finished them , and then the world went through so much , and (“ Talking To Ourselves ”) was definitely one of them ,” McIlrath confirms . “ I ' m surprised how these lyrics are really talking about what we ' re going through . And I think that one of the ways to explain that is to think about Rise Against as a dystopian band or a band that traffics in dystopian lyrics and that kind of thing . And like any good dystopian art , you ' re describing a world that might exist if we keep going down the road that we ' re going down , right ? And that ' s what we sing about . And I don ' t think any of us anticipated that we would be arriving at those destinations as fast as we did . Things got accelerated a little bit , but when I went back and listened to the songs , I was like , ‘ Oh yeah , these cracks in society all ... already existed . The
pandemic in so many ways just exacerbated them and put pressure on them . These issues were here , but now a lot of them have just been kind of amplified .” “ Tim ' s like a prophet or something ,” Principe offers . “ It ' s definitely eerie , the fact that a lot of these songs ( were ) written pre-pandemic .”
Looking to the near future , Rise Against are set to hit the road with the Descendents and The Menzingers starting July 30th in New York , with the run closing out in Chicago on August 28th at Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island . For Principe , the return to writing , recording , and touring — Rise Against ’ s default mode — is a welcome one . “ I ' m ready ,” he declares . “ We spent this last year sitting at home , so I definitely have like 15 or 20 new Rise Against songs that are waiting to be shown to the rest of the guys . I ' m sure Tim has the same . But ... I think that taking ( that ) much time off was unnerving .”
Spoken like a true punk-lifer eager to return to the stage and deliver connection and community to a generation dying to be anywhere but nowhere . For Rise Against , there ’ s always work left to do .
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