![]() ![]() He was a genius and a visionary, and this music continues to affirm that fact credibly and completely. ![]() Zappa’s off-kilter attitude, frequent time signature changes, immaculate arrangements and demented discourse reflects the fact that he never conformed to any particular musical mantra. Not that Halloween isn’t utterly offbeat and outlandish. Frank Zappa Halloween 81 Highlights, Zappa/UMe 2020 Time has been kind to the Zappa catalog, and what once seemed decidedly brazen and bizarre now finds a comfortable fit within contemporary confines. Some of these songs are surprisingly accessible, a lot more so than they might have appeared in their original incarnations. The band is one of his best, with Steve Vai (guitar, vocals), Ray White (guitars, vocals), Tommy Mars (keys), Robert Martin (keys, sax, vocals), Ed Mann (percussion, vocals), Scott Thunes (bass, vocals), and Chad Wackerman (drums) ably attaining the exacting musical standards that their leader demanded of them. It’s especially fortuitous that the remastered sound on these recordings is so clear and refined that they could have been culled from actual studio sessions. So too, his views on the taking of one’s own life are also articulated on “Suicide Chump.” Zappa may indeed have been an overarched eccentric and insurgent, but he was also a pervasive pundit as well. The innards of Halloween 81 (Photo: Zappa Records/UMe) ![]() Of course, Zappa’s sarcasm and cynicism are, as always, the hallmark of these performances, and indeed, on the song “Dumb All Over,” he casts himself in the role of an especially eager evangelist, his derogatory view of mankind and religion expressed in no certain terms.Not so surprisingly then, the song that follows, “Heavenly Bank Account,” finds him railing against organized religion’s tax-free status. A frenzied take on the Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post” may seem a strange choice at first, but given closer consideration, it doesn’t appear odd at all given the band’s ability to adapt it to their own specific template. Naturally then, any number of Zappa classics are included over the course of these six discs - “Zoot Allures,” “Drowning Witch” (appropriately!), Chunga’s Revenge,” “Joe’s Garage,” “Dancin’ Fool,” among them, many of them repeated for the sake of the different shows. Indeed, over the decades, the Zappa estate has released a series of Halloween performances, and yet it’s Halloween 81, Live at the Palladium, New York City that ranks as the most expansive effort yet. That’s a talented man…one who was able to foresee a future that would transpire 40 years on. “You are in the right place at the right time,” Frank Zappa tells his audience during the lead-in to his first series of shows on Octoat New York’s famed Palladium. Frank Zappa Halloween 81, Zappa/Universal 2020 ![]()
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