as far as i'm concerned when it comes to the stage series this set comes second only to volume2. There are so many great bits here. cd1 is the better disc, for sure. It contains humour, instrumental music, great guitar and super solos from other band members.

We have the hilarious 'little rubber girl' to begin with from 1979. Guess what this one is about? Hilarious vocals from frank and..denny i think. i'm not sure. Stick together is not a great song, but nice singing by ray. My guitar and willie the ... are cool, especially the ray white singing on .... These are from the 84 band, as is a portion of montana. Frank combines the 84 band and the 73 band(roxy&elsewhere band) to great effect. There's a great 73 guitar solo, followed by 84 band playing. Then 2 thing fish classics. Brown Moses sung by ike and ray is lovely.84 band again. And 1984 also provides us with an awesome 'evil prince'. It's a top tune sung by the great Ray White.(Yes, i love the guy). This version is in contrast to the nappy brock version on thing fish, which is understated. The live version really rocks. Great rhythm playing by scott and chad, and a guitar solo from heaven, one of Frank's best (he's got a lot of 'best' solos!!). One of stage's highlights. A 79 approximate is brilliantly played and has the classic 'heinz make food' line. Love of my life is a nice little song from the 80 band. 1984 brings us the great Archie Shepp, a famous free jazz sax virtuoso. He has a great solo on 'let's move to cleveland solos'. Alan zavod has a great jazzy piano solo. Then a classic 69 mothers instrumental, abstract, improvised stuff. Special guest star on vibes. A 1978 pound for a brown solos shows tommy mars and peter wolf getting some spotlight. It has a wonderful groove to it. This segues into the awesomeness that is 'the black page'. It is a high tempo performance from the 1984 band, and is fantastic. There is a great solo from Frank with some echo effects, building up to a shattering climax. Of special note is scottt hunes remarkable bass playing during the solo - a bass solo in itself. Then the 88 band get to shine, with the side-splitting baseball tune..'ehhhhh, one run games jim'. And an awesome big band filthy habits. Frank solos with burning intensity. Brilliant playing again, another one of his best solos! Along with black page and evil prince!! A 76 torture with beefheart wraps up the disc. Great vocals great song.

on disc 2 no instrumentals but great comedy and guitar. church chat has frank endearing himself to a french audience-'there is no hell, there is only France!' An amazing 10 minute stevie's spanking with megaton guitar soloing. outside now is beautiful with a great guitar solo,disco boy teenage wind are cool and hilarious truck driver divorce from 84 more great guitar and a 2 band florentine pogen. hilarious wank tribute song is followed by some george duke treasures from 74. it's funky and funny. carolina is the business followed by zappa heckles the audience and doo wop lucky bag. Thank you

The fourth out of six double CD live compilations featuring a wealth of unreleased performances spanning Zappa's 25+ year career. True to Zappa form, this is an eclectic collection, but all the more pleasing due to its mix and match nature. Appearing here are alternate live versions of many favourites, as well as some extended jams, and a gorgeous doo-wop medley to round off the set. Many of Zappa's bands are showcased here, including some bizarre material from the original Mothers of Invention, and the fabulous 1988 touring band. Tracks from each group of players are interspersed with and juxtaposed against one another, but it does not detract from the listening experience of hearing many fine talents doing justice to some much loved tunes. For Zappa newbies, this is a nice place to start, as it shows off such a variety of sides to the moustachioed one's musical persona, and is a heck of a lot of fun at the same time. Some conceptual in-jokes may be lost to those who are uninitiated, but for those interested, there's always time to bury down deep into the vast Zappa catalogue and catch up on some wildly diverse musical madness. Personal favourites on this volume are: Montana, Brown Moses/The Evil Prince, Church Chat, Truck Driver Divorce, Florentine Pogen, Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy and Little Girl Of Mine. There are some weak points here and there, but overall, the sheer variety of the other stuff more than makes up for this.

I assume everyone interested in this CD is a Serious Zappaphile. It's great, you should buy it... but know that Volume 2 of this series, the Helsinki Concert, is the best.

'Tiny Sick Tears' really stood out for me on the first listening - it's got a sort of Jim Morrison reference that had me rolling on the floor laughing. Nice version of 'Willie the Pimp', too.

The great thing about this series is that it's the Ultimate Guide to Conceptual Continuity. We can hear how the different bands played the various songs, and how Frank's musical conception changed over time. There is a theory that says that Frank only wrote one song, but it's REALLY LONG. This collection gives me an idea of how that could be.

This is probably the most consistently enjoyable of the entire YCDTOSA series, barring Vol. 2 -- The Helsinki Concert -- which doesn't really count since that particular volume was all from one show and sort of defies the concept of the series to begin with. Volume 4 has a little bit of everything: experimental madness from the 60s Mothers incarnations; hilarious, tight funk from the 70s period featuring the likes of George Duke and Napoleon Murphy Brock; late 70s Halloween madness at the NYC Palladium; goofy, humor-drenched stuff from the oft-maligned 1984 tour; and even a few surprises from the unbelievably talented 1988 combo. Highlights for me include "Brown Moses," (Frank's guys sure could sing!) "Take Me Out To the Ballgame," (laugh-out-loud funny and extremely odd) "Filthy Habits" (quite impressive with the 1988 horn section), and the 50s doo-wop medley (Ray White is simply astounding as one of the 1984 band's vocalists). This is a good example of why Frank and his musicians made for such a musically satisfying live show. There was everything...humor, great playing, and some things that you'd never see anywhere. Not a bad place for newbies to start. Tis is

Together with volume 3, this is the most accessible of the YCDTOSA series, and, as such, a nice place to start for Zappa newbies. Personal favorite is Stevie's spanking which has amazing guitar playing over a perfect 'vamp'. Also the segue Willy the pimp / Montana, the 50's medley, Carolina hard core ectasy and Filthy habits are great. Well I could go on: this volume perhaps shows best that although the song selection could be discussed, the YCDTOSA series really offers some amazing versions of songs, and amazing performances of any touring (rock) band Zappa ever worked with