On June 18, Frank Zappa’s historic, final American show will be released for the first time as the new live album, Zappa ’88: The Last U.S. Show via Zappa Records/UMe. The first posthumous archival release from the ‘88 touring band, the album features 29 unreleased performances including two additional performances from the same tour: Zappa’s wild interpretations of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Whipping Post” from the March 16 show in Providence, R.I., and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” from the March 23 Towson, Md. show. The record is also notable for containing the first official release of the much talked about “The Beatles Medley.”

Zappa ’88: The Last U.S. Show will be released digitally, on 2 CD or as a 4LP 180-gram vinyl box which will be available on both black vinyl or as a limited edition 180-gram purple vinyl variant, exclusively via the official Frank Zappa online store or uDiscover. Fully authorized by the Zappa Trust and produced by Ahmet Zappa and Zappa Vaultmeister Joe Travers, the recordings have been newly mixed by Craig Parker Adams in 2020 from the 48-track digital master tapes.

The shows were recorded using two Sony 3324 DASH PCM 24 track tape recorders synced together using a Lynx Time Code Module, thus providing 48 track recording capabilities. The album is rounded out with detailed liner notes by Travers and Zappa ’88 drummer Chad Wackerman, who celebrated his 28th birthday on stage and is serenaded by Zappa and the crowd, as well as photos from the tour by Peder Andersson.

Nobody knew, not even Frank Zappa, as he led his 11-strong band through a celebratory version of “America The Beautiful” to close out his show at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY on March 25, 1988, that it would be the last time he’d ever play in the United States.

Days later, the ’88 band would trek to Europe for a multi-country tour, only to implode on the road before they could make it back to the States for another round of scheduled shows. Despite the growing tensions in the band, the ensemble was considered one of the best Zappa ever put together, a skilled mix of extremely talented musicians made up of both longtime members that had played with The Maestro from the early days alongside exciting new additions, bolstered by his favorite new instrument, the Synclavier.

A well-oiled machine armed with an extensive 100-song repertoire, the adroit band were equally as adept at playing Zappa’s complex and challenging, genre-defying songs as they were performing classical compositions by the likes of Bartók, Ravel and Stravinsky.

Zappa ’88: The Last U.S. Show includes all of this and many more highlights such as fan favorites, “Peaches In Regalia,” “The Black Page” “Inca Roads,” “Sharleena” “Sofa #1” and “Pound For A Brown.”

It also includes a horn-laden cover of The Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus,” and the first official release of the highly sought after “The Beatles Medley,” which features the band performing the music of The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood,” “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” with the lyrics completely changed to reflect the then-recent sex scandal of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart.

The bawdy lyrics poke fun at the hypocritical minister and was part of Zappa’s agenda to demystify televangelists.

Just as Zappa felt it was important to rail against toxically prude self-appointed culture protectors and whatever hypocrisy or hypocrite rankled him that day, he was also a motivator of positive action – passionate about causes, especially voting rights, making it his mission to get his audiences to register to vote.

With a presidential election looming, Zappa offered voter registration on the tour, aided by The League of Women Voters. Fans were encouraged to vote before the show or during a special 20-minute intermission in the middle of the two-hour plus concert, which would start with Zappa triggering the Synclavier to play a piece of music. In Uniondale it was “One Man, One Vote.”

Notably, the version here is a different mix than the studio version released on Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention. Zappa 88: The Last U.S. Show kicks off with Zappa extolling the importance of voting and encouraging the unregistered to sign up at the show by registering someone live on stage.

It was followed by a representative from Governor Mario Cuomo’s office reading a message congratulating “Mr. Zappa for the important work you are doing encouraging your audiences and others to register and vote.” The album’s first single, the previously unreleased performance of “I Ain’t Got No Heart,” is available to stream now. First appearing in 1966 on Zappa’s Mothers of Invention debut album, Freak Out! then later in 1981 with an updated faster arrangement on “Tinsel Town Rebellion”, the ‘88 version takes the song to another level with the addition of a 5-piece horn section.

As Travers writes in the liner notes, “Start with the fulcrum of the 1981-1984 touring bands (Robert, Scott & Chad), bring back Ike Willis, add the Synclavier digital workstation, a 5-piece horn section with multi-instrumentalist Mike Keneally and you have what FZ famously described as “The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life.”

While saying “never heard” might have been a bit of hyperbole, it wasn’t far off as the short-lived band (four months of rehearsal in 1987/1988, followed by a tour from February through June 1988) only played a few dozen shows on the East Coast and Europe before disbanding. Nonetheless, the shows they did play together were electrifying and a masterclass in musicianship.

With Zappa on lead guitar, vocals, and wielding his new obsession the Synclavier, he led the proceedings through a career-spanning set, backed by a stellar cast of veteran band members and newly added members: Mike Keneally, Scott Thunes, Ike Willis, Chad Wackerman, Ed Mann, Robert Martin and the cracking horn section of Walt Fowler, Bruce Fowler, Paul Carman, Albert Wing and Kurt McGettrick.

The band prepped nearly 100 songs and the sets were wide ranging, spanning tunes from the first Mothers of Invention albums, but with characteristically updated and often times ever-evolving arrangements (“I Ain’t Got No Heart,” “Love Of My Life,” “Who Needs The Peace Corps?”), to new compositions created for the ‘88 tour (“Jesus Thinks You’re A Jerk” and “When The Lie’s So Big”) as well as classical compositions (Bartók, Ravel, Stravinsky) that Zappa liked to play to expose his audiences to music he appreciated.

In addition to the inclusion of the 5-piece horn section and it being Keneally’s only tour, the concerts also included extensive use of sampling through the then current machine, the Synclavier, which Zappa took on the road for the first time, as well as percussionists Mann and Wackerman’s use of electronic sounds in their set ups. Fortunately, Zappa’s final U.S. show, like so many others of his, was documented and can now be experienced in its glory more than three decades later. Zappa 88: The Last U.S. Show is out on June 18.

Udiscovermusic.com – Tim Peacock

Delbert McClinton, the Texas roots musician who enjoyed a banner year in 2020 when he turned 80 and earned his fourth Grammy Award, has announced his retirement. The announcement, on April 22, 2021, noted that for the first time in six decades, the Americana and blues performer had been off the stage for more than a year. “Here I sit, 80 years old, in the middle of a pandemic,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “This is not how I envisioned playing out my final years as an entertainer. Music has been my total being for my whole life. I had been considering finishing this year with a modest number of shows. But the more I thought about it, and the more obstacles that have been placed in front of me, the less my heart was in it.”

He continued: “I don’t want to get up in front of audiences who might be the cause of my incapacity or death just because I want to play music. I don’t want to listen to anyone who won’t wear a mask or get a vaccine. We all have different values, and they are inarguable.” In modest fashion, he added, “I have had a decent career, and I have accomplished more than I ever dreamed I would. With that in mind, this is a good time to retire.”

McClinton earned his fourth Grammy in 2020 for Best Traditional Blues album for Tall, Dark & Handsome, made with his band, Self-Made Men + Dana. His big year also included the Americana Lifetime Achievement Award.

“I’m leaving the stage with no regrets,” he wrote. “I’ve done all that I set out to do and more. Retirement will allow me to enjoy my family and travel a bit as it becomes safer. It’s been a great ride.”

McClinton was born on Nov. 4, 1940, in Lubbock, Tex., and moved with his family to Fort Worth. After several album releases in the early 1970s, he earned his first real acclaim for penning “Two More Bottles of Wine,” a #1 country single for Emmylou Harris in 1978. His sole mainstream success was with his 1980 song, “Giving It Up For Your Love,” a #8 pop hit from the album, The Jealous Kind.

He earned his first of four Grammys in 1992 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo for his recording, “Good Man, Good Woman,” with Bonnie Raitt.

by Best Classic Bands Staff

Meat Loaf reflected on his nearly 50-year relationship with friend and collaborator Jim Steinman, who died Monday at the age of 73, in a new interview. The Bat Out of Hell singer met Steinman in 1973 while auditioning for the musical Steinman had written, More Than You Deserve. “I sang a Motown-style song called ‘(I’d Love to Be) As Heavy as Jesus,’” Meat Loaf told Rolling Stone. “I didn’t know him. He didn’t know me. But when I was done, he walked by me and said, ‘By the way, you’re as heavy as two Jesuses.’”

Steinman and New York’s Public Theater head Joe Papp promptly invited Meat Loaf to take part in the More Than You Deserve preview showcase. “When we started, we only played to about 100 people a night,” Meat Loaf said. “When I sang Jim’s song, everyone stood on their feet and went crazy. That happened every night, all week.

By the end, I was going, ‘Maybe I should work with this guy Steinman. People tell me I can sing, but I’ve never sang like that.’” The duo continued collaborating for the next several years, working on the Rockabye Hamlet musical and performing in the National Lampoon road show. Simultaneously, they conceived songs that would appear on Meat Loaf’s 1977 debut album, Bat Out of Hell.

“People kept saying, ‘Listen, this guy Steinman, you can’t be with him. You’re too good,’” Meat Loaf recalled. “They wanted me to go with [Ted] Nugent and REO Speedwagon, all these people. I went, ‘Stop it! This is not happening! I’m not leaving Jim!’ They go, ‘Then you’ll never make a record.’”

Meat Loaf and Steinman stuck to their guns and clearly had the last laugh. Bat Out of Hell became an enormous success, selling 14 million copies in the United States alone and spawning the FM rock staples “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth,” “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” and “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.” Its 1993 sequel, Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, topped the Billboard 200 and sold an additional 5 million copies in the U.S.

Meat Loaf paid tribute to Steinman earlier this week with two Facebook posts, the latter of which read, “Jim will always live in my heart and my soul. I will miss you.”

Steinman also recalled being bowled over by Meat Loaf during their first meeting. "From the minute he walked in, I was stunned," the songwriter said in a 2003 interview. "I thought he was astonishing. He's just one of those people who walks in and it's the equivalent of an enormous cat pissing on the door. Just stakes territory immediately."

Credits: Ultimate Classic Rock – Bryan Rolli