The Lays of Beleriand

Compiled by Frank Zappa for broadcast on WLIR-FM in Garden City, New York on New Year's Eve 1973, this remarkable set offers a cross-section of his recent live performances with the Mothers Of Invention, and finds him at his wittiest and most inventive. A treat for serious fans, the entire WLIR-FM set is presented here, digitally remastered.

Compiled by Frank Zappa for broadcast on WLIR-FM in Garden City, New York on New Year's Eve 1973, this remarkable set offers a cross-section of his recent live performances with the Mothers Of Invention, and finds him at his wittiest and most inventive. A treat for serious fans, the entire WLIR-FM set is presented here, digitally remastered.

A monster bit of funk that's unlike anything else we can think of! Their number 15 pop smash "Funky Nassau Part 1 & 2" is the cream of this hands-on production by the Bahamas natives. The nine cuts fuses island rhythms and American jazz/funk into a doable, choppy mixture featuring guitars, bass, drums, and scratch vocals. Misclassified as a disco band, the Beginning of the End served up breezy Phil Upchurch-esque sounds, with "Come Down" and "Surrey Ride" being prime examples.

The original 12-song LP has been expanded to 20 tracks for this CD. The original material comprised a very pleasant and diverting psychedelic pop release, strongly reminiscent at times of the early Bee Gees from Horizontal, interspersed with some heavier-sounding tracks that were closer to the World of Oz's actual sound on-stage. The bonus cuts are single edits and mixes of tracks that were already represented on the album, so there's nothing new to hear except for a punchier, more compressed sound on some of the better songs. The sound quality is most impressive, however, and given the sheer rarity of the original LP, the chances of anyone having the latter already lying around to be heard are next to non-existent - so this CD ends up being essential listening for almost anyone fascinated by the commercial side of British psychedelia.

In 1968, an ad from Frank Zappa in the L.A. Free Press read: “The Mothers of Invention cordially invite you to join them on Tuesday, July 23, 1968 when they will be taking over the Whisky a Go Go for 5 full hours of unprecedented merriment, which will be secretly recorded for an upcoming record album. Dress optional. Starting sometime in the evening. R.S.V.D.T.” That album ultimately ended up remaining mostly unheard, until now. The live collection Whisky a Go Go, 1968 is set to finally be released June 21st, 2024, via Zappa Records/UMe.