Frank Zappa - A Token of His Extreme (1974) {DVD9 NTSC, Eagle Rock EV306159 rel 2013}
Frank Zappa - A Token of His Extreme (1974) {DVD9 NTSC, Eagle Rock EV306159 rel 2013}
DVD9 -> 5.87 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 4:3 | LinearPCM, 2 ch | ~ 90m | ISO Image
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 68 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1974, 2013 Zappa Family Trust / Eagle Rock | EV306159
Rock / Experimental Rock / Art Rock
EAGLE ROCK ENTERTAINMENT and the Zappa Family Trust are pleased to announce the first official release of A TOKEN OF HIS EXTREME, an original program created by FRANK ZAPPA for TV. Recorded on August 27, 1974 at KCET in Hollywood, A TOKEN OF HIS EXTREME features Frank Zappa with five incredibly talented band members for this extravaganza of live music. Never before available for commercial release A Token of His Extreme isn’t the Holy Grail Frank Zappa release, but it’s one of them.
The line-up exists of Frank Zappa guitar, percussion, vocals; George Duke keyboards, finger cymbals, tambourine, vocals; Napoleon Murphy Brock sax, vocals; Ruth Underwood percussion; Tom Fowler bass; Chester Thompson drums.
The Program, as edited and thoroughly tweezed & produced by FZ for Honker Home Video includes these delights: The Dog Breath Variations/ Uncle Meat, Montana, Earl Of Duke (George Duke), Florentine Pogen, Stink-Foot, Pygmy Twylyte, Room Service, Inca Roads, Oh No, Son Of Orange County, More Trouble Every Day, A Token Of My Extreme.
Stereo Mixes Produced by Frank Zappa with Kerry McNabb at Paramount Studios, 1974.
Mastered by Bob Ludwig, Gateway Mastering, 2009
FZ: This was put together with my own money and my own time and it's been offered to television networks and to syndication and it has been steadfastly rejected by the American television industry. It has been shown in primetime in France and Switzerland, with marvelous results. It's probably one of the finest pieces of video work that any human being has ever done. I did it myself. And the animation that you're gonna see in this was done by a guy named Bruce Bickford, and I hope he is watching the show, because it's probably the first time that a lot of people in America got a chance to see it.
- FZ appearing on the Mike Douglas Show, 1976
Because Token has never been commercially released until now, it is one of the most sought after Frank Zappa programs.
Frank Zappa - A Token of His Extreme (1974) {DVD9 NTSC, Eagle Rock EV306159 rel 2013}
In August 1974, Zappa and the Mothers of Invention could do no wrong. The maestro had assembled arguably the best lineup of the group since he first disbanded the group in 1969. He’d retire the name entirely in 1975 after Bongo Fury, his final collaboration with Captain Beefheart. For the rest of his career as a live performer he’d move through a series of lineups that offered varying degrees of awesomeness but few could match the unit he’d brought together for this recording on 27 August at KCET in Hollywood.
This is the same lineup featured on 1988’s You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore Vol. 2: The Helsinki Concert and more or less the same one found on Roxy and Elsewhere, most of which was recorded in late 1973 and released just a few weeks after this show took place. These were players—bassist Tom Fowler, percussionist Ruth Underwood, keyboardist George Duke, drummer Chester Thompson and vocalist/saxophonist Napoleon Murphy Brock—who had an incomparable musical rapport and their tenure with FZ has probably been under-documented in the wide Zappa oeuvre.
There’s a great fluidity to the performances. Brock and Duke offer some jaw-dropping turns and Underwood (who’d retire from music entirely not too long after leaving the FZ camp) plays with a seemingly impossible ease, maneuvering through snaky passages as she were merely batting an eye. Thompson, a gifted drummer who’d later tour extensively with Genesis, and Fowler also sound more than impressive throughout.
Zappa himself was at one of the many peaks in his guitar playing, looking and sounding relaxed with this unit. Here, he’s a member of the band almost more than he is the leader, a balance he didn’t always strike with later lineups. Several of the compositions are specifically associated with this era of the Mothers: “Florentine Pogen” and “Inca Roads” would appear, in slightly different form, on 1975’s One Size Fits All; “Stink-Foot” came from the Apostrophe LP and “Montana” from Over-Nite Sensation. But others, including “The Dog Breath Variations/Uncle Meat” and “More Trouble Every Day”, had been part of the repertoire for nearly a decade by the time FZ and Co. visited KCET in 1974.
According to an interview Zappa granted Mike Douglas in 1976—featured as bonus material here—the television program was “steadfastly rejected by the American television industry”, although it was well received in both Switzerland and France. Nearly 40 years after its recording, it’s evident that Zappa went all-out on this project, delivering not only a performance that warrants repeated listens but creating a visual product worthy of repeated viewings. (The animated segments, courtesy of Bruce Bickford, are splendid.) The audio—the One Size Fits All version of “Inca Roads” draws heavily from this gig—is good enough that a companion audio-only release seems in order.
The extras include a discography and videography, but the Mike Douglas Show performance of “Black Napkins” (while Zappa was promoting 1976’s Zoot Allures) is priceless.
Frank Zappa - A Token of His Extreme (1974) {DVD9 NTSC, Eagle Rock EV306159 rel 2013}
More INFO
tracklist:
01-02. The Dog Breath Variations / Uncle Meat
03. Montana
04. Earl Of Duke
05. Florentine Pogen
06. Stink-Foot
07. Pygmy Twylyte
08. Room Service
09. Inca Roads
10-11. Oh No / Son Of Orange County
12. More Trouble Every Day
13. A Token Of My Extreme
Frank Zappa - A Token of His Extreme (1974) {DVD9 NTSC, Eagle Rock EV306159 rel 2013}
Frank Zappa - A Token of His Extreme (1974) {DVD9 NTSC, Eagle Rock EV306159 rel 2013}
Frank Zappa - A Token of His Extreme (1974) {DVD9 NTSC, Eagle Rock EV306159 rel 2013}
Frank Zappa - A Token of His Extreme (1974) {DVD9 NTSC, Eagle Rock EV306159 rel 2013}
Frank Zappa - A Token of His Extreme (1974) {DVD9 NTSC, Eagle Rock EV306159 rel 2013}
Frank Zappa - A Token of His Extreme (1974) {DVD9 NTSC, Eagle Rock EV306159 rel 2013}
see also:
Frank Zappa - A Token Of His E...ppa Records ZR 20015 rec 1974}
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