Playground Psychotics [Live] [Original recording remastered]

From the Label
You wanted more old Mothers, you got 'em: This "archival" double CD, originally released in 1992, features performances and assorted dialogue snippets from the early 70s version of The Mothers, recorded onstage at NYC's Fillmore East, UCLA's Pauley Pavilion and The Rainbow Theatre in London, and offstage in various locales. This was the Flo & Eddie version of the band, with the ex-Turtles lending their quintessential California harmonies to some of the Mothers' funniest moments as well as their most straight-ahead rockers.

Of special interest is the John Lennon & Yoko Ono guest appearance at The Fillmore in 1971. It had been Lennon's first onstage appearance in nearly two years and his last for a long while, performing the blues standard "Well (Baby Please Don't Go)" and a long jam during which Yoko was tied up in a sack. This performance was heard in excerpted form on Lennon/Ono's album SOMETIME IN NEW YORK CITY; now it can finally be heard in context.

Playground Psychotics,Frank Zappa & the Mothers,Rykodisc,Comedy Rock,Pop,Prog-Rock/Art Rock,Rock,Rock/Pop

Playground Psychotics [Live] [Original recording remastered]

Average customer rating:

Zappa's 62nd release - get the other 61 FIRST
A "Must" For Zappa Completists: Contains 2 Treasures
Loud, raunchy, and sloppy. And many other good things.
A great CD
Here's the thing....

Playground Psychotics
Frank Zappa & the Mothers
Manufacturer: Zappa Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000009TL
Release Date: 1995-05-30

Tracks:

Here Come The Gear, Lads
The Living Garbage Truck
A Typical Soundcheck
'This Is Neat
The Motel Lobby
Getting Stewed
The Motel Room
'Don't Take Me Down'
The Dressing Room
Learning 'Penis Dimension'
'You There With The Hard On!'
Zanti Serenade
Divan
Sleeping In A Jar
'Don't Eat There'
Brixton Still Life
Super Grease
Wonderful Windy
Sharleen A*
Crusin' For Burgers
Diptheria Blues
Well
Say Please
A A A Wk
Scumbag
A Small Eternity WIth Yoko Ono

Tracks:

Beer Shampoo
Champagne Lecture
Childish Perversion
Playground Psychotics
The Mudshark Interview
'There Is No Lust In Jazz'
Botulism On The Hoof
You Got Your Armies
The Spew King
I'm Doomed
Status Back Baby
The London Ca8 Tape
Concentration Moon, Part One
The Sanzini Brothers
'It's A Good Thing We Get Paid To Do This'
Concentration Moon, Part Two
Mom & Dad
Intro To Music For Low Budget Orchestra
Billy The Mountain
He's Watching Us
If You're Not A Professional Actor
He's Right
Going For The Money
Jeff Quits
A Bunch Of Adventures
Martin LIckert's Story
A Great Guy
Bad Acting
The Worst Reviews
A Version Of Himself
I Could Be A Star Now

Customer Reviews:

Zappa's 62nd release - get the other 61 FIRST.......2007-04-09

Or you're bound to be disappointed. Well, let's not exaggerate - have at least 40 Zappa albums in your collection before you think of getting this one. It's more of historical interest and won't be something you put on at parties, unless you want an early evening. Otherwise, for the fan it can be interesting to listen to, although some parts more than others, in particular the historic performances mentioned by reviewers below. Other parts you may not want to publicly admit you listen to.

A "Must" For Zappa Completists: Contains 2 Treasures .......2005-12-17

If you are not a die-hard fan or only a casual FZ fan, then it is recommended that you wait and purchase this album at a later time.

The two teasures in this album are:

1. "Scumbag" - the infamous Jam between FZ, John Lennon & Yoko Ono from 1971. Lennon put this song on his "Sometime In New York" album but removed Flo & Eddie's backing vocals. This is the original version that the fans were meant to hear.

2. "Billy The Mountain" - This is the 30 minute version that includes the electric piano solo not included in the 24 minute version released on the "Just Another Band From L.A." album. There are also less out-dated references in this version, making this the "superior" version of this story song about a mountain named Billy, his tree-wife Ethel and the disasters and murder they cause. If you're reading this article, you probably already know the story.

The rest contains snippets of dialogue from the Flo & Eddie period of the "Mothers" Band (1970-71) that is somewhat intersting but nothing amazing or essential, save the "Mudshark Interview" with an Edgewater Inn employee that further explains the meaning of the "Mud Shark" dance/song found on the Fillmore East album.

If you hate the Flo & Eddie period of FZ's music, stay away from this one.

Loud, raunchy, and sloppy. And many other good things........2005-07-21

Howard Kaylan has to be the WILDEST sounding vocalist I've ever heard. It's hard to believe that's the same set of pipes that originally sang "Happy Together." The partnership between him and Mark Volman began with The Turtles, and continues to this day, two of the funniest guys in the world. And such strange sounding harmonies.

I think some people don't like this because they are expecting pure music, for music's sake. But I see this as a document to life on the road in the early '70's, as the sleeve notes say. This recording is a guided tour of the behind-the-scenes goings-on by this particular line-up of the Mothers, as well as what they put on the stage for their audiences, a "warts-and-all" depiction of the positive and negative sides of life on the road as these guys experienced it.
Someone here said it tries to do what "200 Motels" did, only not as good, or something to that effect. I have to disagree; "200 Motels" was a combination of fantasy, comedy, and documentary, staged by the cast, crew, band, dancers, and extras, while "Playground Psychotics" is the real thing. And it includes script-reading for "200 Motels" as well. To listen to it from the beginning, you meet the guys in the band at an airport, at their destination, at a photo-shoot, in the hotel bar, their arrival at the venue of their performance for the night, and various on-stage and back-stage activities, part one climaxing at the Fillmore in New York, right through the encore section of the show that gave us "Live At Fillmore East, June 1971."

The second half is a little darker, you can hear it in the band members' attitudes toward each other, and their resentment of Zappa's absolute control of the band. He and Mark Volman made many candid recordings of the band's conversations while touring, and I think Zappa was a really good sport, because these conversations were what fueled most of the dialogue for "200 Motels." And his "spying" on the band has been fodder for Frank's material all along anyway.

I probably should have given this a five-star rating, because the performances are killer every time, but some of the material seems to have worked better with other line-ups. The TERRIBLE vocals in the second part of "Concentration Moon" is a good example; because I "get" the point when a good band plays badly on purpose, sometimes something just doesn't cut it when it's technically correct. Some of the humor in the banter between the guys, is decidedly juvenile, locker-room humor, and it can pull things down a peg or two, and on the whole, I really like this whole recording, but something I can't really explain just keeps me from putting a full five stars on it; maybe four and a half (three quarters?).

But, as long you know what you're buying, it is time and money well-spent.

A great CD.......2005-02-10

Argue about Zappa's pros and cons all you want. I just want to draw attention to one thing. On Disc 2 the band performs "Mom & Dad", which was originally on We're Only In It for the Money. Listening to it on the original album, it gives you a weird feeling of foreboding of the Kent State Massacre. On the live version, recorded after the shooting, the band turns the song into a powerfully moving tribute. Forget the hippie sentimentality of "Ohio", this recording is powerful!

Here's the thing...........2004-06-16

There are two kinds of people that hate this album/compilation - the folk that don't really dig Zappa so much to begin with; and most of his fans. The general complaint is that this is the Flo and Eddie "vaudeville" or "comedy rock" band which a) has been documented on three (well, three and a half) albums already; and b) didn't really showcase "Zappa the musical genius." But the sad truth is, and believe me, back when i went through my Zappa phase I never would have admitted this, Zappa really wasn't a musical genius. He was at his best when he was skewering the rock form, like he did with this band. His jazz rock stuff is pretty dated sounding and his orchestral stuff is basically exactly what Varese did, except Varese already did it, so it isn't so interesting this time around. Dig?