* The Beat Club, Bremen, Germany, 06-Oct-1968
* Unknown live 1980 (bonus track)

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention in session for the German TV show Beat Club, recorded on October 6, 1968.

For all the difficulties Zappa had getting The Mothers of Invention across to an audience in the U.S., they didn’t seem to have that problem in Europe. Whereas mainstream TV (and radio) in the States avoided The Mothers like the plague, they were often featured over the BBC and on French and German TV and they were hugely influential with the early progressive bands forming over there.

This session is primarily instrumental, and at a little over 33 minutes, concentrates on the musical aspects of what Frank Zappa was doing. There are few technical glitches here and there, mostly microphone problems and some mixing problems, but overall, the set is a wonderful example of vintage Frank Zappa during the period around Uncle Meat.

Tracks are live in Bremen 1968, and track 6 is a 1980s live bonus track. "Lohengrin" here is of course less than the whole opera. The Bremen show was televised in Germany, and the name of the program was Lieder Liches. Here is what it contained:

Setlist :

1. Improvisation
2. King Kong
3. A Pound for a Brown (on the Bus)
4. Sleeping in a Jar
5. Uncle Meat
6. Lohengrin [Wagner]
7. Let's Make the Water Turn Black
8. Octandre (Edgard Varèse)

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