Missing Persons Report

The week between the big holiday and the New Year is here, and I want my MTV.

OK, maybe not. But I do want my pre-broadcast vinyl, you can always bet on that horse.

Today we have both, kinda. One of the classic early-1980s groups, recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour just as 1982 was about to become 1983.

This band's first record was as good as anything out at the time, and in this set they play the whole platter and more.

Born from the touring band of Frank Zappa at the end of the 1970s, these guys featured super-proficient musicianship in a New Wave context, with the then-spousal team of Dale and Terry Bozzio at the front and the back, respectively.

Terry -- then and now one of the world's most fluid and revered drummers -- turned 70 yesterday, and we celebrated that in earnest. I see no compelling reason to stop celebrating, is there one I'm missing?

I remastered and re-edited this show direct from the ABC Radio LP to flow super-smoothly, and to be a little more balanced between the vocal and the instruments.

I think it sounds more "live" now, as opposed to the somewhat processed, skewed sound on the raw LP. The last song seems to have some issues with the drum mics, which might be why this was only ever partially broadcast.

Missing Persons

Warfield Theater

San Francisco, California USA

12.28.1982

01 Mental Hopscotch

02 Noticeable Ones

03 Words

04 Tears

05 Rock & Roll Suspension

06 It Ain't None of Your Business

07 Bad Streets

08 U.S. Drag

09 Windows

10 Here and Now

11 Walking In L.A.

12 I Like Boys

13 Destination Unknown

14 No Way Out

Total time: 54:35

Dale Bozzio - vocals

Warren Cuccurullo - guitar & vocals

Patrick O'Hearn - bass & synthesizer

Chuck Wild - keyboards & vocals

Terry Bozzio - drums. percussion & vocals

KBFH preFM vinyl from ABC Radio Networks, slightly re-edited & remastered by EN, December 2020
362 MB FLAC/December 2020 archive link

I will be back -- weather permitting -- for the last two days of this unbelievable year, with some Bluesier blessings to help usher in 2021, which we hope will be better than what we all just survived... or at least not The Year Of The Plague, anyway, we'll settle for that sort of improvement.

Do get down to this wild MP set though.... it's one of the few healthy ways to play mental hopscotch, if you ask me.--J.