Dale Bozzio - lead vocals; Terry Bozzio - drums; Warren Cuccurullo - guitar, vocals; Patrick O'Hearn - bass, vocals; Chuck Wild - keyboards
Captured here is another quirky and very entertaining show from California's Missing Persons, the popular '80s new wave act that was known for its syncopated pop and outrageous hair and fashions. Recorded in 1985, long after the band had seen its creative peak and only a year before it disbanded, this show lacks the intensity of the 1982 show also featured here at Wolfgang's Vault. Still, these are great musicians and there are plenty of memorable performances. The show features a healthy mix of classics from the first two albums when the writing and arranging was still very fresh. The year following this tour, the band would make its final album. Color In Your Life under duress, and they soon split up.
Among the highlights are "Mental Hopscotch," "Noticeable Ones," "The Closer That You Get," "Give," "Clandestine People," "No Way Out" and the band's three biggest radio hits: "Walking In L.A.," "Destination Unknown," and "Words."
When Frank Zappa's late '70s drummer met up with Dale Consalvi at a recording studio in Los Angeles in early 1980, they immediately hit it off. Consalvi, a former Playboy bunny, was an aspiring vocalist who was deeply caught up in the growing new wave music scene. Bozzio, one of the best drummers on the planet at that time, had left Frank Zappa's Mothers the prior year, and just finished an album and tour with U.K., a British progressive rock trio that featured John Wetton of King Crimson (and later Asia) and Eddie Jobson from Roxy Music.
Tiring of complex art rock, Terry Bozzio was looking to do something new. Dale gave him the ticket, with her quirky vocals and techno-rock songs that were not unlike the music Devo was making at the time. Now as a married couple, they formed a band, initially called US Drag. Afraid of being known as a gay act, they changed the name to Missing Persons, after asking guitarist Warren Cuccrullo, another Zappa alumnus, to join. Bassist Patrick O'Hearn and keyboardist Chuck Wild, both studio pros, filled out the lineup.
Although the group made some very interesting and memorable music, it was Dale Bozzio's bent for outrageous hair and fashion that took the band to the top of the MTV video charts during 1981 and 1982. Blending a look that was part space age and part porn star, Missing Persons was just what the doctor ordered when America embraced the new visual medium as a way to discover new music and artists.
Missing Persons stayed together for another two albums and four years before breaking up after the Bozzios filed for divorce. Terry went on to play with several established artists including Jeff Beck, while Dale Bozzio and Patrick O'Hearn each released a couple of solo albums. Cuccurullo spent several years in one of the non-original lineups of Duran Duran. Dale reformed the band, with hardly any of the original members, and still tours occasionally.