cclxviii. ZAPPA, Frank: A Small Eternity with Yoko Ono

cclxviii. ZAPPA, Frank (1940-1993)

A Small Eternity with Yoko Ono (1971) (2022)
FZ, guitar, vocals
Mark Volman, lead vocals
Howard Kaylan, lead vocals
Ian Underwood, keyboards, wind, vocals
Bob Harris, keyboards
Jim Pons, bass, vocals
Aynsley Dunbar, drums
Don Preston, Minimoog
John Lennon, lead vocals, guitar
Yoko Ono, vocals, bag
(6:27)

from The Mothers 1971.

This 8-CD set contains the complete recordings of FZ's gig at the Fillmore East in June, 1971 -- one of the last concerts played there.

In August of that year, FZ released Fillmore East -- June 1971; sometimes known by Zappa fans as "the album with the pencil on the cover":

That album contained material culled from the four shows on June 5th and 6th, expertly razor-bladed by Zappa, the editor. It did not include anything from the (in)famous appearance of John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the Late Show of June 6th.

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Zappa and Lennon agreed to share the masters from that part of the show, and Lennon released his version on Sometime In New York City (1972):

That led to some unpleasantness between John and Frank, because John failed to give Zappa writing credit for the King Kong jam, which John called "Jam Rag," with writing credits to John & Yoko. They settled.

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Shortly before his death, FZ released an album called Playground Psychotics (1992):

This does contain the Lennon/Ono appearance, including this track.

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With the release of this massive 8-CD set, the hardcore Zappa fan gets to hear all four shows in their entirety. The clever title indicates that 6:27 does -- in fact -- constitute a "small eternity," but I include it here to make the point.

In fact, I'm a fan of Ono -- in general. I think her work on Double Fantasy (1980) [see Post cclviii] is pretty cool. And her conceptual art is sometimes quite interesting.

I leave it to the listener to decide what makes up a "small eternity."