This is the first installment of FZ's mammoth live retrospective, proving he could do anything on stage and did. Each set contains over 2 hours of music on 2 CDs; all performances are previously unreleased. Zappa intentionally didn't organize the material chronologically, pointing out in the liner notes, "The performance of any band from any year can be (and often is) edited to the performance of any other band from any other year, sometimes in the middle of a song." Indeed, some of the after-the-fact musical segues (everything runs continuously) are no less ingenious than the playing.
Volume One includes material ranging from a 1969 performance of "Plastic People" (to the tune of "Louie, Louie," of course) dating from Little Feat founder Lowell George's brief stint with the Mothers; to a trio of YOU ARE WHAT YOU IS numbers performed for an early MTV telecast ("It's unlikely they'll ever let us get away with that again," notes Zappa in the liners). In between come a 20-minute performance of "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" with spontaneous audience interaction; and a lengthy "The Torture Never Stops" with suitably vicious guitar solo.

Along with the musical highlights come emblematic moments in the history of the Mothers. Flo & Eddie's "Groupie Routine," the infamous highlight of the FILLMORE EAST album, is included in an alternate live version; there's also an archival tape of that band getting hassled at the airport. One track ("Sofa #1") was recorded a week after the casino fire described in Deep Purple's "Smoke On the Water"; while "Zomby Woof" was recorded during an outdoor show in Milan, where the band was deluged by mosquitos during the entirety of their set.