ZAPPALAND & ELSEWHERE
ON MARCH 25, 1988, Frank Zappa played the final show of his latest U.S. tour. Backed by his current 11-piece band, and with a concert repertoire of some 100 songs, Zappa would be embarking on a European tour a few days later. All was well in Zappaland.
Today, the memory of that performance appears impossibly poignant; it was the last gig Zappa would ever played in the USA and, 33 years on, Zappa Records/UME have released a recording of the full gig as the very sensibly titled 4-LP Zappa ’88: The Last U.S. Show.
We get it all, from a few moments of the intro music to the farewell “America the Beautiful.” There’s a first-ever offi cial release for Zappa’s 10-minute Beatles medley, opening with an amusingly reworded “Norwegian Wood” (“isn’t it swell, Texas motel”). “Lucy in the Sky,” “Strawberry Fields” are all similarly
