Frank Zappa’s connection to New York City reached its peak in the late 1970s with a series of legendary annual Halloween concerts. Universal Music, working with Ahmet Zappa and vault-meister Joe Travers, has carefully unearthed and meticulously restored these recordings for their first official release.
The latest — and fourth — installment in the series of Halloween-themed super-deluxe Zappa sets features the full, nearly four-hour October 31, 1978 concert, which Zappa himself called ‘The Big One!’ The set spans 3 CDs, with two bonus CDs of the October 27 opening-night performance completing the collection.
The five CDs of Halloween ’78 come stored in a rich, black leatherette, hardcover book with beautifully illustrated thick cardboard pages. Glossy printed, replete with gothic lettering, it not only tells the story behind the concerts and the making of the collection but also includes fantastic photos from the 1978 Palladium shows. Some extra special love and care no doubt went into this set’s making!
As with the previous Halloween concert editions (1973, 1977, and 1981), these recordings come in a playful box inspired by vintage costume packaging. Each year, Zappa’s likeness is rendered as a plastic mask, with ghoulish personas such as 1973’s FRANKenZAPPA and 1981’s Count Frankula. For Halloween 1978, Zappa takes on a distinctly red-devilish look, and the set includes a plastic pitchfork (assembly required) equipped with a UV light to reveal hidden messages and images in the accompanying book. Even St. Alfonzo’s sleazy pancakes will glow for you!
Halloween 1978 was a doozy of a concert, and it sounds fantastic. All the music has been freshly mixed from the original 24-track multi-channel recordings, carefully transferred from fragile, aging analog tapes to high-resolution digital, allowing for thorough modern restoration.
The album’s more than 60 songs span Zappa’s career, including some tracks that had not yet been released at the time, such as the then-future hit “Dancin’ Fool” (later on Sheik Yerbouti) and the impossibly beautiful instrumental “Watermelon in Easter Hay” (from Joe’s Garage).
While I am still working my way through this massive set, certain moments certainly stand out such as the nearly 20 minute version of “Packard Goose” and a fantastic “A Pound For A Brown” featuring terrific solos by special guest violinist L. Shankar along with Zappa. There are even expanded instrumental takes of classic early Zappa tunes such as “Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance.”
If you never got to see Zappa live in concert — especially on Halloween — I highly recommend you seek out his concert film Baby Snakes documenting his 1977 Halloween festivities (available on Amazon for $19.99). It is a fantastic snapshot of what a Zappa show was like back in the day and will help you appreciate Halloween ’78 even more.
Zappa’s Halloween shows were hugely popular, typically selling out in no time. The most sought-after ticket was always for the late show on Halloween night. As a teenager, I was thrilled just to snag any ticket for these runs; I first saw him in 1976 at New York’s Felt Forum, then in 1977 and 1978 at The Palladium, and finally in 1984 back at the Felt Forum.
Seeing Zappa live in concert was always an event, but on Halloween in New York, he pulled out the stops, transforming the concert into the best of celebrations. The Big Apple welcomed Zappa with open arms. I’m grateful I was there. Now everyone can experience those wondrous and wild concert experiences in these fantastic deluxe box sets.
Halloween ’78 is available from Zappa’s official website for $179.98 and the 2LP color vinyl highlights sets range from $37.98 to $45.98..
Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.
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