Playground Psychotics is a two-CD live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

 by Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...

 and The Mothers of Invention

The Mothers of Invention

The Mothers of Invention were an American band active from 1964 to 1969, and again from 1970 to 1975.They mainly performed works by, and were the original recording group of, US composer and guitarist Frank Zappa , although other members have had the occasional writing credit...

. It was originally released in 1992 through his mail order label, Barking Pumpkin, and was re-released in 1995 through Rykodisc

Rykodisc

Rykodisc Records is an American record label. It is owned by Warner Music Group, operates as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance.-Company history:...

. The album features recordings of Zappa and his band, the Mothers of Invention around the time of the film, 200 Motels

200 Motels

200 Motels is a 1971 American-British musical surrealist film cowritten and directed by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer and starring The Mothers of Invention, Theodore Bikel and Ringo Starr. The film covers a loose storyline about The Mothers of Invention going crazy in the small town Centerville...

. The live material on Playground Psychotics is interspersed with excerpts from taped conversations among band members whilst on tour, and the release includes three conceptual sections: A Typical Day on the Road, Part 1, a collage of dialogue which opens the first disc; A Typical Day on the Road, Part 2, which opens the second disc and The True Story of 200 Motels, which appears at the end of disc two. The album also includes a live session with John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

 and Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

 — an alternate mix of which appears on Lennon's Some Time in New York City

Some Time in New York City

Some Time in New York City was released in 1972 and is John Lennon's third post-Beatles album, fifth with Yoko Ono, and third with producer Phil Spector...

(1972).

Disc one

A Typical Day on the Road, Part 1 incorporates tracks 1 to 11. Tracks 22 to 26 were recorded at the Fillmore East

Fillmore East

The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...

, New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 on June 6, 1971.

1. "Here Comes the Gear, Lads" – 1:00
2. "The Living Garbage Truck" – 1:20
3. "A Typical Sound Check" – 1:19
4. "This Is Neat" – 0:23
5. "The Motel Lobby" – 1:21
6. "Getting Stewed" – 0:55
7. "The Motel Room" – 0:29
8. "Don't Take Me Down" – 1:11
9. "The Dressing Room" – 0:24
10. "Learning "Penis Dimension"" – 2:02
11. "You There, with the Hard On!" – 0:25
12. "Zanti Serenade" (Ian Underwood
    Ian Underwood
    Ian Robertson Underwood is a woodwind and keyboards player. He began his career by playing San Francisco Bay Area coffeehouses and bars with his improvisational group the Jazz Mice in the mid 1960s before he became a member of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in 1967 for their third studio...
    
    , Don Preston, Zappa) – 2:40
13. "Divan" – 1:46
14. "Sleeping in a Jar" – 1:30
15. "Don't Eat There" – 2:26
16. "Brixton Still Life" – 2:59
17. "Super Grease" (Mothers of Invention, Zappa) – 1:39
18. "Wonderful Wino" (Jeff Simmons
    Jeff Simmons (musician)
    Jeff Simmons, born May 1949 in Seattle, Washington, is a rock musician and former member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. Simmons provided bass, guitar, and backing vocals for the group between 1970 and 1971. He left The Mothers just prior to the filming of 200 Motels in mid 1971...
    
    , Zappa) – 4:52
19. "Sharleena" – 4:23
20. "Cruisin' for Burgers" – 2:53
21. "Diphtheria Blues" (Mothers of Invention) – 6:19
22. "Well" (Walter Ward) – 4:43
23. "Say Please" (John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Zappa) – 0:57
24. "Aaawk" (Lennon, Ono, Zappa) – 2:59
25. "Scumbag" (Lennon, Ono, Howard Kaylan
    Howard Kaylan
    Howard Kaylan is an American rock and roll musician, best known as a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s band, The Turtles, and "Eddie" of 1970's rock band Flo & Eddie.-Early days:...
    
    , Zappa) – 5:53
26. "A Small Eternity with Yoko Ono" (Lennon, Ono) – 6:07
    • Note: An alternate mix of tracks 22 through 26, at times with different titles, appears on the John Lennon and Yoko Ono album, Sometime in New York City.

Disc two

A Typical Day on the Road, Part 2 occupies tracks 1 to 10; The True Story of 200 Motels runs from track 20 to track 31.

1. "Beer Shampoo" – 1:39
2. "Champagne Lecture" – 4:29
3. "Childish Perversions" – 1:31
4. "Playground Psychotics" – 1:08
5. "The Mudshark Interview" – 2:39
6. "There's No Lust in Jazz" – 0:55
7. "Botulism on the Hoof" – 0:47
8. "You Got Your Armies" – 0:10
9. "The Spew King" – 0:24
10. "I'm Doomed" – 0:25
11. "Status Back Baby" – 2:49
12. "The London Cab Tape" (Mothers of Invention) – 1:24
13. "Concentration Moon, Part One" – 1:20
14. "The Sanzini Brothers" (Underwood, Mark Volman
    Mark Volman
    Mark Volman is an American rock and roll singer, best known as a founding member of the 1960s band The Turtles. At times during his career he has used the pseudonym "The Phlorescent Leech"...
    
    , Kaylan) – 1:33
15. "It's a Good Thing We Get Paid to Do This" – 2:45
16. "Concentration Moon, Part Two" – 2:04
17. "Mom & Dad" – 3:16
18. "Intro to Music for Low Budget Orchestra" – 1:32
19. "Billy the Mountain
    Billy the Mountain
    "Billy the Mountain" is a Frank Zappa song first made available on the album Just Another Band from L.A. in 1972. The original recording of this song, which took more than a half-hour to perform, was from a live tour performance on August 7, 1971 in Los Angeles, performed by Zappa with his band The...
    
    " – 30:25
20. "He's Watching Us" – 1:21
21. "If You're Not a Professional Actor" – 0:23
22. "He's Right" – 0:14
23. "Going for the Money" – 0:12
24. "Jeff Quits" – 1:33
25. "A Bunch of Adventures" – 0:56
26. "Martin Lickert's Story" – 0:39
27. "A Great Guy" – 0:30
28. "Bad Acting" – 0:10
29. "The Worst Reviews" – 0:20
30. "A Version of Himself" – 1:02
31. "I Could Be a Star Now" – 0:36

External links

• Release details