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Frank Zappa’s Legendary 1973 “The Roxy” Performances Captured On Definitive 7 CD Boxed Set

It was a few months ago that I shared some press about the issuing of Frank Zappa’s legendary “Halloween ’77” performances and if you missed that notice somehow please click HERE to be up to speed on it. This is especially important if you consider yourself any kind of study in Frank’s contributions to music. Yesterday, the world learned that a brand new release was coming care of “The Roxy Performances” which is a series of gigs delivered back to back over a couple of nights. It is the first time ever that they have been presented in the fashion in which they happened. Take a look at the lengthy press release and song listing down below. I’ll close out with some thoughts at the end.

The Press Release:
43 years ago in December 1973, Frank Zappa played a series of legendary concerts at the famed Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. Considered a high-water mark of his career, owing to the incredible, virtuosic performances of himself and his stellar band The Mothers, the five shows – across three nights – included a private invite-only performance/soundcheck/film shoot followed by back-to-back doubleheaders. A few days later, continuing this incredibly prolific week, Zappa brought his band and camera crew to Ike Turner’s Bolic Sound in Inglewood for a filmed recording session. In typical Zappa fashion, he recorded it all.

On February 2, 2018, Zappa Records/UMe will release The Roxy Performances, a definitive seven-CD box set that collects all four public shows from December 9-10, 1973, and the December 8th film shoot/soundcheck, each presented in their entirety for the first time, along with bonus content featuring rarities from a rehearsal, unreleased tracks and highlights from the Bolic Studios recording session. This complete collection, totaling nearly eight hours, documents the Roxy shows as they happened and presents brand new 2016 mixes by Craig Parker Adams from new 96K 24 Bit transfers of the multi-track masters. The set is rounded out with a 48-page booklet that includes photos from the performances, extensive liner notes by Vaultmeister Joe Travers, essays from Zappa family friend, Australian writer Jen Jewel Brown, and American singer/songwriter Dave Alvin, who give their firsthand recollections about the shows, and a selection of archival press reviews. Those who digitally pre-order the box set will receive an instant grat download of “RDNZL.” Culled from the very first show on December 9, the track is a live version of the classic song featuring the never-before-heard 2016 mix that exemplifies the sonics of the new box set. Pre-order The Roxy Performances now: http://ume.lnk.to/FrankZappaRoxy

“This is one of my favorite FZ line-ups ever. This box contains some of the best nights of music Los Angeles has ever seen with their ears at an historic venue,” says Ahmet Zappa, who co-produced the collection along with Travers, “Hold on to your hotdogs people. This box is the be-all-end-all. This is it. This is all of it. It’s time to get your rocks off for the Roxy.”
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Frank Zappa’s Legendary 1977 “NYC Halloween” Residency Coming In Boxed Set

If you are any sort of music history buff that pays mind to the legends of Rock’s past then you might have heard about the legendary Frank Zappa Halloween shows that took place in NYC’s Palladium. Considering my own vintage these were just tales relayed to me by my older friends of the time but now we are all going to get an idea as to what went down. Take a look at the full press release below.

The Press Release:
By 1977, Frank Zappa’s Halloween shows were already the stuff of legends. While the shows began in the late ’60s, around 1972, these monumental performances would become annual events, initially in Passaic, NJ and Chicago, IL before moving to New York City in 1974, where they’d remain. NYC (and its audience) had become a special place for Zappa and the synchronization of Halloween in NYC proved to be the perfect match. From October 28-31, 1977, Zappa and his band played six historic shows at the 3,000 capacity Palladium. All the performances were recorded with four being filmed, resulting in Zappa’s mammoth film project, “Baby Snakes.”

Following the news that Frank Zappa will be going back on tour, the Zappa Family Trust and Universal are proud to announce that Zappa’s legendary Halloween residency of 1977 will be released for the first time in its entirety on October 20 via Zappa Records/UMe just in time for the 40th Anniversary of these shows. The Halloween 77 box set will include all six concerts with 158 tracks (mixed in 2016 from original vault masters) loaded onto a “Zappa’s Oh Punky” fun size candy bar-shaped USB drive in 24-bit WAV audio. The package will also include a 28-page digital booklet featuring never-before-seen photos and liner notes from Vaultmeister Joe Travers, co-producer of the box alongside Ahmet Zappa, and personal firsthand accounts from many of Zappa’s bandmates, crew and fans who were there, including guitarist Adrian Belew, percussionist Ed Mann, keyboard tech Thomas Nordegg, tour manager Phil Kaufman, and fan Janet “The Planet” Walley. In the spirit of Zappa’s favorite season, the specially designed, limited run box will include a retro Halloween mask and costume of the maestro himself. In addition to the box set, a 3CD version will also be available featuring the entire Halloween night show plus select tracks from the October 30th gig. Fans looking for a specific show will be able to purchase the concert of their choice digitally on release day.

Preorder Halloween 77 box set: http://hifi247.com/halloween-77-box-set.html
Preorder Halloween 77 3CD: http://hifi247.com/halloween-77-3-disc-set.html

“This box set was a very special experience for me to work on,” said Ahmet Zappa. “I wanted to make sure we honored these legendary shows, so it was important to me that this box set felt of the era. It was a blast working with our partners to create the late ’70s-inspired Frank Zappa Mask and costume and the candy-shaped USB stick filled with tons of Zappa goodness. It was yet again a labor of love gathering up all the archival materials, reading notes by people who were there, and most importantly making sure the audio was up to par. All of us at Zappa Records are mighty pleased with it, and hope that fans of Frank Zappa and of Halloween will be too.”
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Frank Zappa Has A New Home With Universal Music Enterprises

There’s been some great news regarding the works of the late great Frank Zappa. Since the press release gives you the entire lowdown, consider me a humble conduit. Read on.

The Press Release:
The Zappa Family Trust has partnered with Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) for a long-term, global licensing agreement for Frank Zappa’s entire recorded catalog, as well as rights management participation across the rest of the visionary cultural icon’s creative canon. The partnership spans Frank Zappa’s vast music and film Vault for new product releases, trademark licensing, film and theatrical production.

“This is literally an opportunity of a lifetime for me,” says Gail Zappa. “I am universally thrilled with this partnership because the fans will have unparalleled access to Frank Zappa’s Works–the doors to the Vault are now officially WIDE open. I’m especially grateful to announce that Ahmet, my personal Music Sherpa, worked directly with Bruce Resnikoff in creating this relationship and will be taking over the daily operations of the family business.”

“Stepping into this partnership with Bruce Resnikoff and Universal means we get to expand the business and continue to maintain the integrity of Frank Zappa’s entire body of Work,” says Ahmet Zappa. “The fans of Frank Zappa will have more music and more access–when they want it and how they want it. With Universal as our partner, I look forward to bringing to life Joe’s Garage, The Musical, the release of The Roxy Movie, the release of the Disney Hall performance of 200 MOTELS under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen and so many more projects of this caliber. I couldn’t be more excited about the future. It has been a privilege working with Gail and I’m passionate about what this opportunity with Universal means for our family moving forward. It is an honor to be stepping into my new role.”
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Frank Zappa: Gone Twenty Years But Still So Relevant (12/4/93-12/4/13)

Frank Zappa once asked us “Who are the Brain Police?” and I think that the answer to this particular question would be a lot harder for him to get to the bottom of in our world of today thanks to things like Facebook and the myriad other Social Networking mediums on top of the other things that we contend with in our lives. That said we are officially at the 20th Anniversary of the passing of this great and forward thinking musician and true composing genius.

Photo - Zappa 2

Zappa influenced so many musicians during his career and after he had passed away this didn’t seem to change at all. There were times when he would leave you scratching your head and wondering what it was that you had heard but it would always impress you and it was without question that his unique wit was second to none. Since Zappa first came onto the music scene in the late sixties I can say that I was far too young to know what he was all about, but I would eventually get to absorb his greatness thanks to some musicians I worked with who loved his material and even more so after seeing him perform live in concert on a few occasions.
Continue reading Frank Zappa: Gone Twenty Years But Still So Relevant (12/4/93-12/4/13)

Frank Zappa Re-Issues Reach: The Fantastic Fourth Batch!!!

As a lifelong comic book fan I could NOT resist the chance to reference a great title in my blog title about the fourth batch of Frank Zappa re-issues. I was also happy to find the photo that I used for this posting while searching around the Internet because Zappa was truly a staunch American citizen and one who constantly told his fans to get out and vote. Remember that we have an election tomorrow and its up to you people to help change the way things are done or to continue along with the plans of those already in office. The fourth go round of Frank’s material is a mixed bag of stuff and not only features a LOT of live material but also showcases Zappa getting more involved with the Synclavier in his compositions. Three of the albums released in this batch have a lot of that computerized instrument used in their process. We also get a lot of live stuff which is never a bad thing in terms of Zappa since he ruled on the stage. Many of this grouping of titles are double CD’s so that means more Zappa music in your library.

Francesco Zappa (1984)
Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention (1985)
Does Humor Belong In Music? (1986)
Jazz From Hell (1986)
Guitar (2CD) (1987)
You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 (1988)
You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore, The Helsinki Tapes, Vol. 2 (1988)
Broadway The Hard Way (CD) (1988)
The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life (1991)
Make A Jazz Noise Here (1991)
Understanding America

Here are the Amazon.com links for these releases so you can continue building your collection at home. I’ve been trying to do the same because its so nice to have them all on shiny new re-issues in my music library. My favorites in this particular grouping are “Broadway The Hard Way”, “The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life” along with the first two installments of “You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore”. There is also a compilation which surprised me since the one that had originally come out way back in the bands history was NOT a part of the first wave of re-issues. Perhaps we shall see that coming out now as well.