THE TUBES
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM LIVE"
1978
NOV 1977
POLYGRAM
78:38
LIVE
1 Overture: Up from the Deep/Young and Rich/Madam I'm Adam/Mondo Bondage (Anderson, Cotten, Foster, Prince, Spooner, Steen, Waybill, Welnick) 6:51
2 Got Yourself a Deal (Spooner, Waybill) 4:54
3 Show Me a Reason (Steen) 3:32
4 What Do You Want from Life? (Evans, Spooner) 5:19
5 God-Bird-Change (Lewis) 4:49
6 Special Ballet (Cotten) :57
7 Don't Touch Me There (Doomacker) 3:55
8 Mondo Bondage (Anderson, Cotten, Prince, Spooner, Steen, Waybill, Welnick) 4:01
9 Smoke (La Vie en Fumer) (La Vie En Fumer) (Cotten, Spooner, Welnick) 8:16
10 Crime Medley: Sound Effect-Siren/Theme from "Dragnet"/Theme from "Peter Gun" (Mancin, Riddle, Schuman, Steiner4:28)
11 I Was a Punk Before You Were a Punk (Evans, Spooner, Waybill) 5:01
12 I Saw Her Standing There (Lennon, McCartney) 2:55
13 Drum Solo (Lewis, Prince) 4:31
14 Boy Crazy (Spooner) 2:19
15 You're No Fun (Cotten, Tubes, Welnick) 4:17
16 Stand Up and Shout (Condello, Trainer) 3:38
17 White Punks on Dope (Evans, Spooner, Steen) 8:55
Rick Anderson / Bass, Vocals
Michael Cotten / Synthesizer
John Curd Concert Presentation
Mingo Lewis / Percussion, Drums, Vocals
Prairie Prince / Drums
Bill Spooner / Guitar, Vocals
Roger Steen / Guitar, Vocals
Re Styles / Vocals
Fee Waybill / Vocals
Vince Welnick / Keyboards, Vocals
REVIEW
by Donald A. Guarisco
Although their studio albums were often hit-and-miss affairs, the Tubes could always be counted on for a good live show during their mid-'70s heyday. In fact, they became a legend in the rock & roll world for their glitzy shows, which included half-nude women performing elaborate dance routines and a variety of characters invented by frontman Fee Waybill, like punk rocker "Johnny Bugger" and blissed-out glam rock icon "Quay Lewd." What Do You Want from Live can't reproduce all this visual stimuli but it does show what many critics forgot to notice about the Tubes, i.e., the fact that they were a really sharp and exciting live band. Stripped of their outre visual surroundings, songs like "Mondo Bondage" and "I Was a Punk Before You Were a Punk" still pack a visceral punch thanks to their effective combination of gonzo humor and catchy melodies. Elsewhere, the Tubes get to show off their surprisingly impressive chops on "Overture," a fast-paced medley that transforms the instrumental highlights of six different songs into one head-spinning pomp-rock blitz, and "Crime Medley," a witty tapestry of crime jazz woven from television theme songs like "Theme from Peter Gunn" and "Theme from Dragnet." The downside of What Do You Want from Live is that some of the numbers are less potent without the choreographed routines surrounding them: "Smoke (La Vie en Fumer)" and "What Do You Want from Life" both feature Fee Waybill talking about the visual chaos surrounding him and this leaves the listener feeling like they're only witnessing part of the joke (if only someone would put out a video of one of the Tubes' shows from this era). Despite this caveat, What Do You Want from Live remains a witty and entertaining live album. It may not win any new converts to the Tubes' camp, but fans of the group will definitely want to check out this entertaining souvenir from the group's wildest era.
FORMED 1972 IN SAN FRANCISCO, CA
DISBANDED 1986
BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
The Tubes were arch satirists of popular culture whose outrageous performance-art concepts — which swung wildly from soft-core pornography to suit-and-tie conservatism — frequently eclipsed their elusive musical identity. The beginnings of the group originate in Phoenix, Arizona in the late '60s, where guitarist Bill Spooner, keyboardist Vince Welnick and bassist Rick Anderson formed as the Beans (alternately billing themselves as the Radar Men from Uranus). After moving to San Francisco in 1972, the Beans recruited guitarist Roger Steen and drummer Prairie Prince (from Red, White & Blues), and later became the Tubes with the addition of Michael Cotten on keyboards and former roadie Fee Waybill on lead vocals.
Over the course of the next few years, the Tubes earned a devoted cult following on the strength of Spooner's parodic songs and the group's surreal live shows, which featured Waybill adopting a variety of personas including the "crippled Nazi" Dr. Strangekiss, country singer Hugh Heifer and Quay Lewd, a drug-addled British pop star. After signing to A&M in 1975, they released their self-titled debut, followed a year later by Young and Rich; while both failed to transfer the manic energy and theatrical complexity of their live set onto record, the single "White Punks on Dope" became a minor hit and a radio staple.
After 1977's failed concept record The Tubes Now, the group toured England, where a series of banned performances made them a media sensation. However, during the recording of the concert LP What Do You Want From Live? Waybill broke his leg onstage while acting out his punk character Johnny Bugger; the remainder of the tour was cancelled, and with it died the band's chart momentum. After returning to the U.S., they recruited producer Todd Rundgren and recorded 1979's Remote Control, a concept album exploring the influence of television; when it met a similar commercial fate as its predecessors, the Tubes were dropped by A&M.
After signing to Capitol, they recorded 1981's Completion Backwards Principle, an album based on an actual sales training instruction manual; both "Talk to You Later" and "Don't Want to Wait Anymore" earned significant radio play, and the LP became the Tubes' first Top 40 hit. Thanks to its provocative video, the single "She's a Beauty" reached the Top Ten, and pushed the 1983 LP Outside/Inside into the Top 20 Albums chart; after 1985's Love Bomb stiffed, however, the Tubes disbanded, and Welnick later joined the Grateful Dead. In 1993, the Tubes reunited; consisting of Waybill, Steen, Anderson, Prince and new keyboardist Gary Cambra, they toured the U.S. and Europe before releasing a new LP, Genius of America, in 1996. Spooner also issued his own solo record, Mall to Mars. In 2000, the Tubes embarked on another extensive tour, issuing the greatest-hits-live album Tubes World Tour to commemorate the event.
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