Frank Zappa Albums (69)
What The Critics Say
Since the untimely death of Frank Zappa in 1993, fans of his music have patiently awaited the release of additional unissued tracks from his huge personal archives in his home studio. Imaginary Diseases features a series of live recordings from a 1972 tour by Zappa's so-called Petite Wazoo band, a ten-piece group that was full of potential but never sufficiently documented on commercial albums during his lifetime. The miniature "Oddients" has an avant-garde flavor with a bit of encourage audience participation in the vocal chants. "Rollo" was often performed as the finale to the suite of songs heard on the first side of the album Apostrophe, though this version omits the vocals heard on some bootleg issues. "Farther Oblivion," a song recorded as a part of that suite, is very different in this conception, including snippets that would later be incorporated into the magnum opus "Gregerry Peccary" and songs like "Bebop Tango" and "Cucamonga," also showcasing Tom Malone's effective tuba. "Been to Kansas City in A Minor" is an extended blues workout with a blistering solo by the leader. "D.C. Boogie" initially has a Middle Eastern flavor, though it gradually shifts into a driving boogie, contrasting Zappa's invigorating fuzz tone with Tony Duran's rocking slide guitar. "Imaginary Diseases" features another blistering Zappa solo, bracketed on each side by a peppy showcase of brass and reeds. Zappa has the only solo in the cooking jam "Montreal." The sound on these 1972 concert recordings is at times a little rawer than typical Zappa live albums of the era. But it seems likely that he worked on them briefly before turning his focus to various other projects, leaving them for Zappa Records "vaultmeister" Joe Travers to uncover and prepare for release. ~ Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
After being thrown 15 feet off of the Rainbow Theater stage in London on December 10, 1971 by unstable concert attendee Trevor Howell, Frank Zappa spent the better part of the following winter and spring in rehearsals for what would become the Waka/Jawaka (1972) and Grand Wazoo (1972) platters and related live shows. Joe's Domage (2004) -- the second in a series of never-before-available material from the luminous Frank Zappa tape vaults -- gathers 50 minutes from these closed-door sessions, during which Zappa was confined to a wheelchair as he recuperated. The incident left the guitarist with some permanent damage, with a lower voice from a partially crushed larynx, and a fractured right leg which ended up shorter than the left, as referenced in the lyrics of "Zomby Woof" and "Dancin' Fool." Being off the road resulted in some of the Zappa's most involved fusions of jazz and rock. These rehearsals were most likely not meant for public consumption, having been sonically remastered from a decidedly lo-fi cassette. For all intents and purposes, this is an examination of the modular process that Zappa used when creating his extended works and intricately detailed compositions, including contributions from an impressive lineup of Zappa (guitar/spoken instructions), Tony Duran (guitar), Ian Underwood (organ), Sal Marquez (trumpet), Malcolm McNabb (trumpet), Kenny Shroyer (trombone), Tony Ortega (baritone sax), Aynsley Dunbar (drums) and Alex Dmochowski (bass) -- the latter often credited under the pseudonym Erroneous. Granted, the fidelity is distorted and typical of what a cassette from 1972 might sound like. However, tucked into the otherwise grungy audio and the incessant start/stop methodology of these preliminary run-throughs, Zappa's hands-on involvement becomes exceedingly evident to the lay person. He methodically teaches his highly advanced rhythms and time signatures with a definite and well-thought-out sense of the bigger picture. Fragments and in-progress snippets of "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary," "Big Swifty," "It Just Might Be a One-Shot Deal," "Blessed Relief," "Grand Wazoo" [aka "Think It Over"] and an "Interlude" that Zappaphiles refer to as "Twinkle Tits" are among the songs that would eventually surface from the music heard here in their primordial forms. ~ Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
While no specific designation has been given to Joe's Corsage (2004), the liner notes indicate that this is the debut of an "exciting new series." The title is undoubtedly a clever play on Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage (1979), but the "Joe" in this case is audio archivist Joe Travers, who has been involved with the Zappa Family Trust (ZFT) since the triple-CD release Läther (1996). Granted, exceptions exist, however for the most part the earliest incarnations of the Mothers of Invention are included here with Zappa (guitar/vocals), "Baby" Ray Collins (vocals/tambourine/harmonica), Roy Estrada (bass), and Jimmy Black (drums). "Pretty Pat" fittingly commences the proceedings with a brief interview clip as Zappa explains the evolution of the Mother's name to MOI prior to seminal readings of "Motherly Love" and "Plastic People" -- presented in a medley -- along beside "Anyway the Wind Blows" and "I Ain't Got No Heart." These late 1965 demos are historically (if not musically) significant as the first recordings to have emerged featuring future Canned Heat guitarist, Henry Vestine (guitar), whose tenure with the rockin' teen combo lasted merely months. Although the selections predate Freak Out! (1966), aside from slight alterations to the respective arrangements -- especially notable during "Motherly Love" -- the songs are already fully formed. It is easy to hear what attracted Zappa to Vestine's earthy and bluesy guitar craft. The next three cuts capture the primary lineup as a live band on a driving cover of the Righteous Brothers' "My Babe" and a soulful workout on Marvin Gaye's "Hitch Hike." They are linked by a brief instrumental variation of the traditional "Wedding Dress Song" and "Handsome Cabin Boy" folk melodies. The sophisticated score would be revisited when Zappa worked up a studio version with Art Tripp (marimba, vibes), Don Preston (keyboards), and Jimmy Carl Black (drums), eventually surfacing on The Lost Episodes (1996) . Keen-eared listeners will detect that the distinct "Louie Louie" ending perfectly segues into the aforementioned "Hitch Hike." Kicking off the final batch is "I'm So Happy I Could Cry," a primordial incarnation of a tune that would resurface with new lyrics as "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance" on We're Only in It for the Money (1968), and reworked sans vocals for the ambitious Lumpy Gravy (1968). Both the doo wop-inspired "Go Cry on Somebody Else's Shoulder" as well as "How Could I Be Such a Fool?" are closer to their familiar counterparts with Zappa's guitar overdubs standing out as one of the distinguishing factors of these pre Freak Out! takes. The artist has the last word as "We Made Our Reputation Doing It That Way..." is a lengthier excerpt from an interview with Zappa detailing the methodology behind how the Mothers music was created. Albeit brief, Joe's Corsage is a hardcore enthusiast's dream, displaying the genesis of Zappa's genius in a rock & roll setting. Let's hope Travers continues to produce a multitude of further and equally diverse installments. ~ Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
This two-CD set represents almost all of Frank Zappa's concert on January 20, 1976, at Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, Australia. The only problem is that there was only one reel-to-reel machine to record the concert, necessitating missing portions of several songs to change tapes; these gaps were replaced by excerpts from a pitch-corrected bootleg from the same tour, with an obvious drop in sound quality but little loss in continuity. This particular band -- with tenor saxophonist Napoleon Murphy Brock, bassist Roy Estrada, drummer Terry Bozzio, and keyboardist Andre Lewis (in his only tour with Zappa) -- has only been represented sporadically on Zappa's earlier releases. It's a great opportunity to hear songs in early incarnations, such as "Canard Toujours" (which went through a series of revisions before appearing as the lengthy "Let's Move to Cleveland"), the blistering instrumental "Filthy Habits," the hilarious "The Illinois Enema Bandit," and several tracks which first appeared on Zoot Allures in different form ("Zoot Allures," "Black Napkins," "Wind up Workin' in a Gas Station," "Find Her Finer," and "The Torture Never Stops"). One song, "Kaiser Rolls," makes its first appearance with two versions, a concert rendition with a missing portion added and a rehearsal recorded just prior to the tour. Zappa also revisits earlier pieces ("Stinkfoot," "Lonely Little Girl," "How Could I Be Such a Fool?"), as well as extended treatments of "Chunga's Revenge," "Advance Romance," and a brief reggae version of "Take Your Clothes off When You Dance." Zappa's guitar solos are of the usual high caliber, and his band is well rehearsed, though some numbers would have benefited with the presence of a slightly larger group, as the sound sometimes seems a little thin. Available exclusively through http://www.zappa.com, this release will be of considerable interest to serious Zappa collectors. ~ Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
'Everything Is Healing Nicely'
Release Date 1/1/1999
Tracks 13
Label Zappa Family Trust
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Late in his life, Frank Zappa hooked up with the small German avant-garde orchestra the Ensemble Modern for what are said to have been the most enjoyable encounters with an orchestra he had in his career. The combination resulted in the last album Zappa released during his life, The Yellow Shark. This album, issued seven years later by the Zappa Family Trust, chronicles some more of the sessions. "These are recordings from Frank Zappa's rehearsals with the Ensemble Modern in preparation for The Yellow Shark, writes Todd Yvega, who also served as a recordist on the project. In some cases, such as "Whitey (Prototype)," an early version of "Get Whitey," the tracks are actual run-throughs of material that would turn up on The Yellow Shark. Others find Zappa conducting the orchestra through improvisations. With his usual sense of humor, and with sympathetic classical musicians for once, he combines experimental music with other found sounds, including recitations by pianist Hermann Kretzschmar, who begins by reading the information from his library card and later in the album reads letters to the editor from Piercing Fans International Quarterly ("Keep up the great work. I don't know what to pierce next.") The juxtapositions of spoken word and orchestral sounds is reminiscent of Lumpy Gravy, while Kretzschmar's German accent recalls Theodore Bikel in 200 Motels. But the unusual percussion effects bespeak the continuing influence on Zappa of his early mentor Edgard Varhse, bringing these late recordings full circle to some of his first compositions. (www.zappa.com) ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Between 1985 and 1987, Frank Zappa released a pair of mail-order vinyl box sets called Old Masters that contained remastered and restored versions of all of his albums between Freak Out! and Zoot Allures. Each box contained an album of previously unreleased material called a "mystery disc." Although he eventually reworked and remixed a handful of these cuts for subsequent releases, the majority of these recordings were never again released in any form. As part of their exhaustive reissue of the entire Zappa catalog, Rykodisc tackled the mystery discs, releasing 35 of the 37 tracks (the remaining two, "Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?" and "Big Leg Emma," are included as bonus cuts on the Absolutely Free CD) as the single-disc collection Mystery Disc in the fall of 1998. Only two of these cuts were released in identical forms on another album -- eight other songs were available in different edits or mixes, while the other 25 tracks were never released on disc. For diehard fans -- and there really aren't any other kind -- the Mystery Disc material is essential listening, since it chronicles the original Mothers of Invention in a variety of live performances, outtakes, alternate takes, rehearsals and radio shows, all recorded between 1962 and 1969, with the exception of one cut from 1972. It's material that will only be of interest to serious listeners, but there are enough revelations to make the Mystery Disc worth careful listening. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Prophetic Attitude'
Release Date 11/11/1997
Tracks 16
Label L'Empreinte Digitale
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The soundtrack to Frank Zappa's strange early-'70s film 200 Motels was always doomed to be a peripheral entry in his discography. The movie's story was not easy to follow, and neither is the record (not that plot was ever a big focus of the production). It's typically wacky Zappa of the era, with unpredictable sharp turns between crunchy rock bombast, orchestration, and jazz/classical influences, as well as interjections of wacky spoken dialogue. Those who like his late-'60s/early-'70s work -- not as song-oriented as his first albums, in other words, but not as "serious" or as silly as his later records -- will probably like this fine, although it's not up to the level of Uncle Meat. It's funny in spots as well, especially the part where a disgruntled sideman gets tempted away from the band to do his own thing (a libretto that was, apparently, based on real-life incidents concerning Zappa sideman Jeff Simmons, who left during the project). On the other hand, there's a growing tendency to deploy the smutty, cheap humor that would soon dominate much of Zappa's work. Originally released in 1971, this didn't make it onto CD until 1997, in a two-disc package that included a bit of bonus material, although this was merely four promotional radio spots for the film and the single edit of "Magic Fingers." ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
A 30-track compilation of rarities, spanning much of his career, but in the main confined to the 1960s and early '70s (some date from as early as the late '50s!). Much of it's previously unreleased, or extremely hard to locate. It's not just a collection of fan-oriented odds and ends, though. The material, for one thing, is extremely diverse, ranging from collaborations with Captain Beefheart and primitive teenage garage recordings to comic dialog to progressive instrumentals and orchestral pieces. The pre-Freak Out stuff in particular is revelatory, in the sense that it finds Zappa's sophisticated compositional and arrangement skills in full bloom years before he made his proper debut. There's also good old rock and roll, in an early version of "Any Way the Wind Blows," and an early '60s take of "Fountain of Love" with explosive fuzz bass. The cuts range in duration from 11 seconds to 11 minutes, often connected by amusing bits of spoken patter or nifty instrumental links. The effect is somewhat like Uncle Meat or Lumpy Gravy, meaning that those who appreciate that period of Zappa's evolution will find an immediate affinity with this anthology. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
