#81

By 1981, Frank Zappa’s Halloween shows in New York were already legendary – a rock and roll bacchanalia of jaw-dropping musicianship, costume-clad revelry, spontaneous theatrical hijinks and of course a heavy dose of Zappa’s signature virtuosic guitar workouts. Eagerly anticipated every year, fans never knew exactly what was in store but knew it would be of epic proportions and one-of-a-kind experience that only Zappa and his skilled group of musicians could provide. When Zappa returned to The Palladium in NYC in 1981 for a five-show four-night run from October 29 to November 1, the nearly-annual tradition was even more anticipated than usual as the 1980 concerts were cut short due to Zappa falling ill. Curiously there was no fall tour the previous year and thus no Halloween shows.

Three CDs. Madison Square Garden, the world-famous New York City arena, was a home away from home for The Grateful Dead, a reliable sanctuary where the band would ultimately play 52 shows, a record at the time. The venue's fine acoustics combined with the fans' unbridled energy consistently brought out the best in the Dead. At the band's 2015 induction ceremony into Madison Square Garden's Walk Of Fame, Bobby Weir said "This place was both horrifying and titillating with an audience that was discerning but ravenous. We had to rise to the occasion every time."

The Lounge Lizards - Live 79-81 (1990) {DanceTeria DANCD046}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 233 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 90 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 31 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1979-81, 1990 ROIR / DanceTeria | DANCD046
Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Creative / Avant-Garde Jazz

The Live 79/81 cassette (later issued on CD as well) features sharp performances from New York (including their first gig), Cleveland, London and Berlin. The core of the debut lineup (the Luries, Fier and bassist Steve Piccolo) remains intact, but two other guitarists besides Lindsay divvy up the tracks. Nine originals, plus covers of Thelonious Monk's "Epistrophy" and Earle Hagen's classic "Harlem Nocturne."

La Monte Young - The Well-Tuned Piano 81 X 25 (6:17.50 - 11:18:59 PM NYC) (1987) {5CD Gramavision 18-8701-2 rec 1981}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.03 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 708 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 221 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1981, 1987 La Monte Young / Gramavision | 18-8701-2
Classical / Modern Classical / Modern Composition / Microtonal / Piano

The Well-Tuned Piano is La Monte Young's magnum opus, the work in which many of his theories are crystallized and laid out for the listener. It's a massive solo piano performance, lasting a little over five hours, during which Young displays virtually every combination of chords that he deems special, seguing one into another. At the end of the day, the question is: Given the formal system and obviously huge amount of time devoted to its investigation, is the resultant music beautiful enough to justify the large amount of hype accompanying the project? The first thing that strikes the listener is the sound of the piano itself, a Bosendorfer that has been tuned in just intonation.