Frank Zappa in Edinboro: The Mothers of Invention's 1974 show review, letter response
This review was first published on May 9, 1974, in the Erie Daily Times.
Edinboro State's McComb Fieldhouse was invaded last night by musical mayhem in the form of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Their lengthy concert performance was filled with numerous high points, but also had a few glaring disappointments.
Probably the most exasperating facet of Zappa's show was the 10 minutes he spent tuning his guitar after he had made his stage entrance.
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There is absolutely no excuse in the world why a performer should be tuning his instrument once he has led his audience to believe the show was about to begin. Certainly Zappa could have been considerate enough to do his tuning before the concert started.
As for the music itself, two main problems presented themselves. The sound in McComb was rather poor (ESC's fieldhouse would serve better as an airplane hangar than a music hall), and both the instrumentation and the vocals were somewhat distorted.
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Secondly, the Mothers seemed to overuse solos to the point where the audience's snoring became a problem. When are rock groups going to wake up to the fact that bass solos are second only to Dr. Joyce Brothers for inducing yawns? Besides, Frank, those hard bleachers can make anybody restless, even if your guitar is walking by itself to keep us entertained.
Frank Zappa is the master of on-stage sarcasm and parody. After opening with "Cosmic Debris" and three shorter numbers, Zappa plunged into "Montana," filled with such deep, meaningful lyrics, "Going to Montana soon, gonna be a dental floss tycoon."
At this point, Zappa satirized nightclubs by having band play a little after-dinner music. About his smooth guitarist the Mothers leader said, "His guitar is so laid back, it's almost invisible," and of his trombonist, "Here's a little ditty which you'll probably forget anyhow."
Zappa exhorted the crowd to "drink." A few yelled back. A few laughed. Most everyone else just sat in his seat looking bewildered and not knowing what to make of the stage antics.
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The Mothers stage performance is truly unique. They combine music and movement in a manner which no other rock act can duplicate. Most of the theatrics used by rock musicians today consist mainly of wild clothes and smoke bombs. The Mothers dress like they're going to mow the lawn. Oh, sure, they brought along a menagerie of gadgets (smoke bombs included), but the charisma which surrounds them, and most especially Frank Zappa, is usually enough to carry them through a performance.
After devoting the first half of their show to recent material, the Mothers unleashed some of their oldies on the audience, including "It Can't Happen Here," "Wowie, Zowie," "I Ain't Got No Heart" and "Let's Make the Water Turn Black," all of which were superbly done.
The Edinboro concert ended with "Camarillo Brillo," which got everyone to his feet and left the crowd feeling a little tired, but happy nonetheless after viewing one of the premier rock acts of the day.
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May 24, 1974, letter to the editor: Rock Critic
Dear Mr. Schonthaler: This letter refers to your review of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at Edinboro College. To review Frank Zappa properly, one must first understand the meaning of the word sarcasm. Mr. Zappa tries to give us a representation of everyday absurdities. Lyrics don't necessarily have to make or break the song, it's how well the band plays that makes the difference.
If Erie would build a public hall that had good sound acoustics and a large seating capacity, musicians coming to Erie would not be subjected to play under these conditions. Therefore, we wouldn't have had the difficulities that prevailed at McComb Fieldhouse. In general, if one had ever studied music, one would know that said music has to be brought off with the utmost precision and concentration. Therefore, again, your comment on overused solos was to be expected.
The so-called cocktail music was played because the audience bored Frank Zappa beyond relief. Mr. Zappa is extremely sarcastic in his musical statements and without a doubt his sarcasm you missed. But then it's expected when one goes to see him just because his name is Zappa and does not care if he is good or bad. So it's no wonder that Frank Zappa would even care if he sounded bad. In the future when you do a concert review please try to refrain from promoting yourself as a rock critic, because a rock critic you are not.
Steve Harris & Bob Long
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