Tag Archives: zappa records

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 Re-Issues Continue “Joe’s Garage” Marks Wave 3

I’m keeping this one very simple and to the point as its the third such posting, and we still have a couple of more to do unless my count is off. With that being said, let’s raise a glass for the Third Wave of Frank Zappa re-issues that have just come out thanks to the association between Universal Music and Zappa Records. For those who might be unaware of this cool musical news, let me quickly recap and state how for the first time in a very long time that the complete catalog of the legendary Frank Zappa is now in his family’s control. This led to their being re-issued in order for new generations of fans to enjoy and those older fans to finally complete their collection or start building a new one. The Third Wave of releases takes us from 1979 to 1984 and while only a few years are the albums that gave us Steve Vai and made Valley Girl speak a nationwide sensation. Fer sure, Ohmagawd, Totally!!! My favorites from this batch are “Joe’s Garage”, “You Are What You Is”, “Baby Snakes” and “Them Or Us” – What are yours? I’ll leave the comments open for you to share your own insight, but please leave the views to this batch of twelve. You can always check the other postings to speak about the earlier twenty four.
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The Frank Zappa Re-Issues Continue With Second Wave (8/31/2012)

Yes I know that “Freak Out” was the first actual Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention album and hence a part of the first wave of re-issues that were coming care of the arrangement between the Zappa Family Trust and Universal Music but give me a little bit of an artistic license here. I still have a few more chapters to post and make it up to you. For those who are just joining us and seeing this as completely new news, for the first time in many, many years – the entire music catalog of the late great Frank Zappa is back in the hands of the Zappa Family Trust and are being re-issued by Universal Music.   I spoke about it in THIS POST in case you are wondering.  For those legacy fans who might not have a complete set as yet now is the perfect time to start fixing that. I have also said this in the earlier post but will repeat again that this is great for the new fan and those too young to have experienced Zappa when he was still with us. He was the king of experimentation and innovation along with creativity in sound and they need to follow this legacy especially if they are fans of Progressive music.


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