The Mothers of Invention – Live at the Rockpile, Toronto, 23 February 1969

I have been enjoying the ongoing Project/Object summer series over at Birds With Broken Wings, especially the Stuffing Up the Cracks compilation and its “Porn Wars” project pivot. I thought I might help out by providing some fresh sources of Zappa material for future mixes and was happy to find this nice soundboard recording of The Mothers of Invention at The Rockpile (the old Masonic Temple on Yonge Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) from 23 February 1969.

This recording is from the early show and was recorded just weeks prior to the departure of Lowell George, who would go on to form Little Feat. The last show with LG was also at the Rockpile on 24 May 1969: early show | late show.

“The String Quartet” was an early number, which contained the melodies of “A Pound for a Brown on the Bus” and “Sleeping in a Jar”. (And “Charles Ives” is a piece written by Frank Zappa.) The old R&B numbers make this a real stand-out show.

Personnel: Frank Zappa, Lowell George, Ian Underwood, Bunk Gardner, Buzz Gardner, Jim “Motorhead” Sherwood, Roy Estrada, Don Preston, Jimmy Carl Black and Arthur Dyer Tripp III.

The Mothers of Invention at the Rockpile, Toronto, 23 February 1969

1) Intro
2) Bacon Fat [Andre Williams / Brown]
3) [Those] Lonely, Lonely Nights [John Vincent]
4) Corrido Rock [A. Egnoian/J. Balcom]
5) Pachuko Hop [C. Higgins/V. Haven]
6) Behind the Sun [The Rocking Brothers?]
7) The String Quartet
8) Charles Ives
9) WPLJ [Dobard/McDaniels]
10) In the Sky ["Oh, in the Sky"]
11) All Night Long [Harris Woody]