Zappa ’80: Mudd Club/Munich combines two historical performances from the spring/summer 1980 band. The first is from a set at FZ’s favorite NYC nightclub – the famous Mudd Club. Presented from a hi-res transfer of the original master tape. The second, from Olympiahalle in Munich, is the first ever live direct to digital stereo recording of Zappa. Mastering by Bernie Grundman, 2022.
In a climate-controlled, ofttimes sterile studio environ, Freddy Cole's recordings strive for perfection, perhaps a bit too much. So it's great to hear him at age 75 in live performance at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola in Lincoln Center, N.Y.C. with an excellent backup quintet, cutting loose a bit. His dusky, slightly raspy, well-weathered voice has an universal, sophisticated appeal that transcends the standards he sings, while his choice of material allows for no modicum of surprise.
Culture Club is a Grammy Award-winning British pop group that formed in the early 1980s. The band consisted of Boy George (lead vocals), Mikey Craig (bass guitar), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), and Jon Moss (drums and percussion). From the time of the band's first album release in 1982 to its dissolution in 1986, Culture Club had amassed hits in several countries around the world, including ten Top Forty hits in the US, most of which went Top Ten. They went on to have subsequent hits in the UK during a reunion period of 1998-2002, where they scored a #4 single and a #25 single. Culture Club has sold approximately 22 million albums worldwide.–-Wikipedia
Few new wave groups were as popular as Culture Club. During the early '80s, the group racked up seven straight Top Ten hits in the U.K. and six Top Ten singles in the U.S. with their light, infectious pop-soul. Though their music was radio-ready, what brought the band stardom was Boy George, the group's charismatic, cross-dressing lead singer. George dressed in flamboyant dresses and wore heavy makeup, creating a disarmingly androgynous appearance that created a sensation on early MTV.