Frank Zappa's annual Halloween show from 1981 is being collected in a new six-disc box set due to arrive on Oct. 2.

Halloween 81 includes 78 previously unreleased tracks, as well as a Count Frankula mask and cape.

The set follows 2017's Halloween 77 collection and last year's Halloween offering from the 1973 concert, which was recorded on Oct. 31 in Chicago and packaged with Frankenstein monster-style mask and gloves.

This year's box gathers three complete concerts – two from Halloween and one on Nov. 1, all recorded at New York's Palladium. Zappa and his band played a four-night run that year, starting on Oct. 29.

The Halloween shows were recorded for a couple different purposes: The 8PM concert ended up as part of the '80s home-video releases The Dub Room Special and The Torture Never Stops. Some of the music was collected on albums over the years – particularly on You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, The Dub Room Special and One Shot Deal. This is the first time the complete shows from Halloween have been released.

The midnight concert was the first live simulcast in cable history; it aired on the radio as well as on MTV, which launched just two months earlier. You can see the complete track listing for Halloween 81 below.

The box includes a booklet featuring photos from the shows and liner notes by touring band member Robert Martin, among others. A single-disc version of the box, Halloween 81: Highlights From the Palladium, New York City, will be released on the same day, collecting 13 tracks from all three concerts – plus an exclusive song, “Strictly Genteel” from Nov. 1, not included on the box set.

You can listen to "I'm the Slime," found on both upcoming albums, below.

Zappa and band, which included guitarist Steve Vai, were on the road for about a month when they reached the Palladium for the Halloween concerts. It was the last time Zappa played the venue and his second-to-last Halloween show. He'd play the final one in 1984 at New York's Felt Forum, the location of his first Halloween show in the '70s.

Frank Zappa, 'Halloween 81' Track Listing
DISC 1

10/31/81 – 8pm Show 1
1. Chunga’s Revenge
2. “The Finest Night Of The Year”
3. You Are What You Is – Take 1
4. You Are What You Is – Take 2
5. Mudd Club
6. The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
7. Dumb All Over
8. Heavenly Bank Account
9. Suicide Chump
10. Jumbo Go Away
11. Envelopes
12. Drowning Witch
13. What’s New In Baltimore?
14. Moggio
15. We’re Turning Again
16. Alien Orifice

DISC 2
10/31/81 – 8pm Show 1 – cont’d
1. Teen-age Prostitute
2. Flakes
3. Broken Hearts Are for Assholes
4. The Blue Light
5. Tinsel Town Rebellion
6. Yo Mama
7. Bobby Brown Goes Down
8. City of Tiny Lites
9. “We’re Not Gonna Stand for It!”
10. Strictly Genteel
11. Dancin’ Fool
12. Whipping Post

DISC 3
10/31/81 – 12am Show 2
1. Black Napkins
2. “A Historical Event”
3. Montana
4. Easy Meat
5. Society Pages
6. I’m a Beautiful Guy
7. Beauty Knows No Pain
8. Charlie’s Enormous Mouth
9. Fine Girl
10. Teen-age Wind
11. Harder Than Your Husband
12. Bamboozled by Love
13. Sinister Footwear II
14. Stevie’s Spanking
15. Commercial Break

DISC 4
10/31/81 – 12am Show 2 – cont’d
1. Cocaine Decisions
2. Nig Biz
3. Doreen
4. Goblin Girl
5. The Black Page #2
6. Tryin’ to Grow a Chin
7. Strictly Genteel
8. The Torture Never Stops
9. “The Real Show Keeps Going”
10. Joe’s Garage
11. Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?
12. The Illinois Enema Bandit
13. “The Halloween Tradition”
14. King Kong
15. Auld Lang Syne

DISC 5
11/01/81
1. Zoot Allures
2. “The Last of Our Halloween Shows”
3. I’m the Slime
4. Pound For a Brown
5. Dave & Al
6. Cosmik Debris
7. Montana
8. Easy Meat
9. Dumb All Over
10. Heavenly Bank Account
11. Suicide Chump
12. Jumbo Go Away
13. Envelopes
14. Drowning Witch

DISC 6
11/01/81 – cont’d
1. What’s New In Baltimore?
2. Moggio
3. We’re Turning Again
4. Alien Orifice
5. Teen-age Prostitute
6. Sinister Footwear II
7. Stevie’s Spanking
8. Cocaine Decisions
9. Nig Biz
10. Goblin Girl
11. The Black Page #2
12. Whipping Post
13. Broken Hearts Are for Assholes
14. The Torture Never Stops

 

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