I'm jealous. Our libraries only had classical albums, two or three jazz albums (of the moldy fig variety) and maybe two soft rock Canadian Content LPs. If I wanted to hear any rock that wasn't on the radio, I had to buy it.
My library had a good jazz and classical collection back then. The only Zappa record they had was The Perfect Stranger.
Sure, except that Fillmore, Band From LA, Wazoo and Over Nite weren't sold as Frank Zappa & The Mothers albums, they were just The Mothers. That was a conscious decision.
Can only wonder what form of jealousy holds for the future. While I always had all the records the main branch of the Jamaica Public Library in Queens NY had a museum of books, albums, and sheet music . In 2022, we still have an option to buy physical CDs, Vinyl and a variety of resolutions of download and streaming options. Access to the music has never been as diverse. I keep using the term Zappa on Vaudeville, think George Benson On Broadway, well a Bum on Broadway could walk into a library and listen to a stream of Zappa's catalogue. Surely it's not as easy as this in all of God's Grey Earth but clearly there is more access to 120 official albums than any time.
Not quite. Glad it's gimmick-free and reasonably sized (if not exactly reasonably priced) but I've resolved to not buy any more box sets without hubs to protect the discs. Those horrible little paper sleeves are an immediate turn-off and I get tired of paying exorbitant prices for scratched-upon-arrival discs. For this reason, I'm passing on this one. Maybe I'll grab the digital at some point. I will probably buy the 3xLP Fillmore vinyl edition (less interested in the Rainbow), even though I actually prefer CDs these days. Anyway this isn't my favorite era, and I have some of this material already, so it isn't a huge deal for me either way. Ditto. That's the one I'm waiting for. Might even temporarily suspend my hardline stance on CD packaging for that, even if it means buying a pack of friggin' jewel cases like I've done for half the Dead box sets
T Once again the name on the spine of the album is following traditional marketing, it was always Zappa. It's just my opinion but as far as artwork, the photo of Zappa is perfect. 2nd choice would have been a photo of The Garden of Eden. With little trees blossoming with concepts of Zappa's Universe. Sort of a precursor to One Size Fits All back album artwork. We surely did not need another bootleg look or a photo of the 71 Mother's.
One of many very important aspects of this projects is the Eddie Kramer mix. The Fillmore album and original 200 Motels had always been harshest listen in the Zappa catalog, nothing about content, a harsh listen as to the fidelity. There are always going to be all kind of Zappa fans that have closure of some of Frank's works, even if they keep a tiny little light of torture never stop keyhole, just seems some weigh some financial aspect of history quotient. It's 2022 and many have a diversity of listening options. No matter what the format I'll always leave time to listen because Zappa's Universe always reveals something. Like I have mentioned, It has no Born on dating. As time goes by, you keep getting a new artistic message. A famous Zappa female hierarchy once told me how diversity of listening options are available. Now I've been listening to 200 Motels in HD Audio and I am amazed. Fidelity and the deep dive. So very much keeps revealing with 200 Motels. With this 8CD project, listening , no matter what the format, will be a journey that goes into massive fidelity improvement and a tree that continues to blossom.
This set may force me to re-evaluate my opinion of Billy the Mountain. I admit it's been a struggle to get through.
I never get tired of listening to Billy the Mountain. It is one of the first Zappa tracks I heard in the 8th grade. I am most looking forward to the 5 different versions on this set.
Note that the Rainbow Theatre concert was mixed by Eddie Kramer. The majority of the box set’s live tracks have been mixed by Craig Parker Adams.
One of the things I think hinders much retrospective appreciation of the pre-Rainbow FZ/Mothers is how much of a visually theatrical part of the art there is. Not to say there isn't stuff to watch in later FZ groups in concert films/videos, but there's a distinct emphasis on visuals during the music early on. Some of the Roelof Kiers live 1970 group footage shows a bit of their mannerisms and movements coinciding with the music, as does the POP2 Paris footage, worth seeing. 200 Motels may have started as a way to get an orchestra to play his music, but it quickly mutated into as very visually stylized reproduction of their wild folklore-infused storylines, encompassing a handful of major plotlines. And it's a much appreciated way of getting to see what the group was getting at alongside hearing them, since without it there'd be just concert audio to go on. Divan & Billy The Mountain of the Late 1971 group were no exception, if more fantastical and storybook-like in origin and style; Both considered for another movie and stage show and very much visual in mind, but neither would happen for reasons that are surprisingly going to close out this latest boxset. Out of all of the visual projects, 200 Motels & Billy were the only ones to have full endings (Strictly Genteel & Don't **** Around), everything else FZ wrote with a storyline just sorta stops at some point, like waking up from a dream; The Yellow Snow suite at least had the excuse of being written as recollections of a dream, so drastic shifts are expected. Lack of endings notwithstanding, with pieces like Greggery Peccary, the half-complete Hunchentoot Sci-fi B-movie/stage show, or Thing-Fish on Broadway, etc., after them, these more visual parts to FZ's Project/Object just don't fully click without the visuals he had in mind, in the context he had in mind, whether in a Cinema, on a TV, or on a Theatrical Stage. Considering how may moments of improvised extrapolation can occur in Billy, I'm very interested to compare each of the versions in the new set with each-other and with the later August JABFLA and October Carnegie performances at some point. Not only is it possible to construct some 200 Motels fan-edits with December's box set, The Mothers 1971 might allow for some truly monstrous Billy The Mountain combination edits in the future; Only time will tell!
The story variations and solos should be fun. Given the times, I doubt that any of them will have the "Little Emil/You got the pencil, I got the code..." section that makes Carnegie Hall so essential, but still.
I relistened to "Divan" this morning (Toronto October 13 1971) and that piece is another conspicuous example of an epic that just stops without a convincing ending.
Charles Ulrich's "Billy" comparison site (perhaps he will update it when the box comes out). According to it, the "Tibetan Memory Trick" started with the October 1971 U.S. tour. Billy The Mountain
If you go by the theatrical stage script version, the listed sequence of Zircons fading out (Not unlike the Neptune-esque ending to the This Won’t Take Long section of What’s The Name Of You Group?) is supposed to link up with the opening of Billy, presumably the Spring Intro section performed at the Fillmore.
It's still expensive, the Roxy box set (same packaging) is $40 in Amazon. The price tag should have been $60 max.
This was my thought exactly. I would have expected price of this new set to be on par with Roxy and The Mothers 1970. Instead, it's more like The Hot Rats Sessions and 200 Motels, both of which have much more elaborate packaging. I will also wait and see what Amazon lists it for.
By the way, can anybody tell, who is Little Emil? Is he the Emil from the books of Astrid Lindgren in Sweden?
The Tibetan Memory Trick part on CH is a lot of fun. He does say at the start there had been parts added since Fillmore East.