The Room Where it Happened

‘Crowded House’ was the band’s first and most commercially successful effort, with two of its singles reaching the American Top Forty – ‘Something So Strong’ and ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’. Reviewers commonly refer to the music of Crowded House as either new wave or something close to that – songs that are short in length, short on instrumental solos, and, to an extent, compatible with music videos. Much of that is actually true of ‘Crowded House’, but the only real description gets offered by stopping the talk, and turning on the music. The album is one snappy yet alluring melody after the next, music that variously earns the description of soulful, emotional, often a celebration but sometimes solemn. Beneath it all, one detects in Neil Finn’s music a passion and meticulous respect for the art he is creating. The lofty quality of his work not only applies to the music – his deceptively simple lyrics always emerge from the music, never the other way around.

Frank Zappa - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore. Vol. 1-6 [Purple Box] (1995) {Rykodisc}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 5.40 Gb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 186 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1995 Rykodisc / The Zappa Family Trust | RCD 10561~72
Rock / Experimental Rock

To simplify my life considerably, I'm going to combine the "reviews" of all six Stage releases into a single entry, even though they were released individually. Also, to save a lot of time and effort, I'm not going to give complete track listings of the twelve discs, or do song-by-song reviews (hey, we're talking over 800 minutes of music here, give me a break). If you need to know the track listings, they're probably available through an on-line music sales site like CDNow, or an information site like the All Music Guide. There's probably a few other Zappa sites that list them as well. Maybe one day when I have the time, I'll come back and expand this section to really cover all twelve discs in detail. Until then, I'll just give some general facts and opinions, focusing on highlights and material unique to the Stage series.