Frank Zappa Goes From Nightclub To Arena On ‘Zappa 80: Mudd Club/Munich’ Archival Release

Frank Zappa’s latest archival release, Zappa 80: Mudd Club/Munich, is set for release on March 3 via Zappa Records/UMe. The collection featuring FZ concerts in both an intimate nightclub and a massive arena is previewed with a performance of “Outside Now” from New York City’s The Mudd Club.

Produced by Ahmet Zappa and Zappa Vaultmeister Joe Travers with mastering from Bernie Grundman, Zappa 80: Mudd Club/Munich not only offers two previously unreleased concerts — save for “Love Of My Life” from Mudd Club and “You Didn’t Try To Call Me” from Munich — but is also the first release of complete concerts featuring Zappa’s shortlived 1980 band. The lineup consisted of Ike Willis, Ray White, Arthur Barrow, Tommy Mars and David Logeman.

The Mudd Club concert took place on May 8, 1980 and saw Zappa relishing in the intimacy and seediness of the 240-capacity club. Press materials for the collection described The Maestro’s affinity for the Lower Manhattan hangout:

Zappa loved the small, seedy club and the punks, posers and hipsters that called it home, and so made it a priority to play there while on tour, scheduling a performance on May 8th, 1980, at the tiny 240-capacity room, sandwiched between much larger arena dates in Cincinnati, Philadelphia and the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Long Island where he played two shows in one night to more than 20,000 fans total.

Those arena dates would continue in Europe, with The Maestro and company closing out the tour on July 3, 1980 at Munich’s 12,000-seat Olympiahalle arena. While the setlists were similar for both shows, Zappa 80: Mudd Club/Munich, gives fans a chance to hear the ethereal 1980 band at bookends of the tour and in two very different rooms drawing from Zappa’s landmark release the year before, Joe’s Garage, as well as Sheik Yerbuti, Freak Out!, songs that would appear on 1981’s You Are What You Is and more.

Additionally, The Mudd Club show was captured on a two-track Nagra tape recorder while Munich was the first Zappa concert to be recorded digitally and would signal FZ’s pioneering of the new technology. The Zappa 80: Mudd Club/Munich collection is tied together by liner notes from Travers, an essay by Zappa collaborator Steve Vai, rare and unseen photos from George Alper and more.

Zappa 80: Mudd Club/Munich is previewed with Joe’s Garage cut “Outside Now” from The Mudd Club. Find the recording below along with the tracklist for the collection:

Zappa 80: Mudd Club/Munich Tracklist:

Disc 1: Mudd Club New York, NY May 8th, 1980

1. Mudd Club Show Start
2. Chunga’s Revenge
3. Keep It Greasy
4. Outside Now
5. City Of Tiny Lites (Edited)
6. Pound For A Brown
7. You Are What You Is
8. You Didn’t Try To Call Me
9. I Ain’t Got No Heart
10. Love Of My Life
11. Easy Meat
12. Mudd Club
13. The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
14. Joe’s Garage
15. Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?

Disc 2: Munich, Germany Olympiahalle July 3rd, 1980

1. Munich ’80 Show Start
2. Chunga’s Revenge
3. Keep It Greasy
4. Pick Me, I’m Clean
5. City Of Tiny Lites
6. Pound For A Brown
7. Cosmik Debris
8. You Didn’t Try To Call Me
9. I Ain’t Got No Heart
10. Love Of My Life
11. You Are What You Is

Disc 3: Munich, Germany Olympiahalle July 3rd, 1980 (Continued)

1. Easy Meat
2. Mudd Club
3. The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
4. Joe’s Garage
5. Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?
6. Dancin’ Fool
7. Bobby Brown Goes Down
8. Ms. Pinky
9. Stick It Out
10. Nite Owl (T. Allen)
11. The Illinois Enema Bandit