NewsZappa / Beefheart / Mothers – Bongo Fury 50th anniversary box
Zappa and Beefheart hit the road in ’75
Ratings
5CD and blu-ray and vinyl formats
April 1975 was an excellent time for fans of unhinged blues-jazz-rock freakouts as Frank Zappa and the Mothers joined forces with Captain Beefheart for a two-month tour of the US. The tour was commemorated by Bongo Fury, mostly taken from two shows at the magnificently named Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas, on 20 and 21 May 1975 and released in October that year.
Though Zappa and Beefheart had shared the stage on occasion and worked together in the studio (Zappa produced the Captain’s weirdo triumph Trout Mask Replica, while Beefheart provided snarling and wild-eyed vocals to ‘Willie The Pimp’ on Hot Rats), the tour marked the first time the old high school chums had toured together. They were backed by a group of dyed-in-the-wool Mothers – Terry Bozzio (drums), Napoleon Murphy Brock (tenor sax, vocals), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), Bruce Fowler (trombone) and Tom Fowler (bass) – along with newcomer Denny Walley (slide guitar, vocals), a friend of Zappa’s younger brother Bobby.
Though the original Bongo Fury focused on new material, mostly sung by Beefheart, the tour featured plenty of material from the Mothers’ 1974 repertoire – including ‘Florentine Pogen’, ‘Stinkfoot’ and ‘I’m Not Satisfied’ – as well as a few golden oldies, such as ‘Sleeping In A Jar’ and ‘A Pound For A Brown (On The Bus)’, both of which hadn’t been played since 1971. There were also a couple of new songs played on the tour which, till this point, have remained unreleased – ‘The Velvet Sunrise’ and ‘Portuguese Lunar Landing’. Meanwhile, the regular encore was a blast through ‘Willie The Pimp’.
This new anniversary set marks the first time that 1975 recordings of all of these and more have been officially released. The only other song released from the Armadillo shows to date is an early take on Zoot Allures’ ‘The Torture Never Stops’, released on 1991’s 2CD live compilation You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol 4.
The new 50th anniversary super deluxe edition expands the original album with five CDs of material (roughly 80% unreleased) including studio outtakes and live tracks plus the two Armadillo concerts complete and remixed from the original 16-track masters. The blu-ray features new Dolby Atmos, 5.1 mixes, and high-resolution stereo audio with “bonus surround experiences” from Zappa’s vault. The set also includes a book including unseen photos and sleevenotes from Walley and the Zappa estate’s ‘Vaultmeister’, Joe Travers.
Vinyl collectors have the choice of a 2LP set – featuring an all-analogue mastering of the original album by Bernie Grundman plus a bonus disc featuring highlights from the super deluxe set – or a single LP featuring the new Grundman master, available on black or ‘orange & black galaxy vinyl’. All vinyl formats include a lithograph print and booklet.
This 50th anniversary reissue of Bongo Fury is released on 20 March 2026, via UMR. Vinyl links coming…
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Frank Zappa Captain Beefheart The Mothers
Bongo Fury - 5CD+blu-ray box
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Tracklisting
Bongo Fury 50th anniversary Zappa / Beefheart / Mothers / 5CD+blu-ray
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CD 1: Bongo Fury: The Album + Bonus Fury
- Debra Kadabra
- Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy
- Sam With The Showing Scalp Flat Top
- Poofter’s Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead
- 200 Years Old
- Cucamonga
- Advance Romance
- Man With The Woman Head
- Muffin Man
Bonus tracks
- Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy (Long Version)
- Man With The Woman Head (Isolated Vocal)
- Muffin Man / A Little Green Rosetta (Alternate Take)
- 200 Years Old (Long Version)
- Born To Suck (Vocal Session Snoop)
- Born To Suck
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CD 2: Armadillo World Headquarters – Live in Austin, TX, 5/20/1975
- 5-20-75 Show Start
- “Put A Shirt On Man”
- Apostrophe’
- Stink-Foot
- I’m Not Satisfied
- Debra Kadabra
- Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy
- The Velvet Sunrise
- Pound For A Brown – Part I
- Pound For A Brown – Part II
- Sleeping In A Jar
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CD 3: Armadillo World Headquarters – Live in Austin, TX, 5/20/1975 cont’d
- “Enjoy The Steambath”
- The Torture Never Stops (Original Version)
- Camarillo Brillo
- Muffin Man
- Advance Romance
- Montana
- Duke’s Things
- Sam With The Showing Scalp Flat Top
- Poofter’s Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead
- Echidna’s Arf (Of You) / Terry’s Solo
- The Ampeg Mini-Moog Controller Guitar Experiment
- Willie The Pimp
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CD 4: Armadillo World Headquarters – Live in Austin, TX, 5/21/1975
- “Good Evening, Ladies And Gentlemen”
- Apostrophe’
- Stink-Foot
- I’m Not Satisfied
- Debra Kadabra
- Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy
- The Velvet Sunrise
- Pound For A Brown – Part I
- “We’ve Had A Bomb Threat”
- Pound For A Brown – Part II
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CD 5: Armadillo World Headquarters – Live in Austin, TX, 5/21/1975 cont’d
- Advance Romance
- Florentine Pogen
- Montana
- Camarillo Brillo
- Muffin Man
- Willie The Pimp
- Claremont Rehearsal
- Poofter’s Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead
- Portuguese Lunar Landing
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Blu-ray
(ATMOS, 5.1 surround + HRA 192k/24b & 96k/24b)
- Debra Kadabra
- Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy
- Sam With The Showing Scalp Flat Top
- Poofter’s Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead
- 200 Years Old
- Cucamonga
- Advance Romance
- Man With The Woman Head
- Muffin Man
Bonus surround experiences
- The Torture Never Stops (Original Version)
- Debra Kadabra (1993 UMRK 6-Channel Mix)
- Poofter’s Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead (1993 UMRK 6-Channel Mix)
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CD 1: Bongo Fury: The Album + Bonus Fury
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By Jamie Atkins
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