Classic Records - Frank Zappa - Hot Rats on vinyl! *

Yeah, this is definitely a "buh?" moment. Ryko definitely has some vinyl rights (remember the RALPs?), and I might imagine that they'd be pissed to be circumvented *again* by the ZFT. Let's wait and see.

 

Brief interlude: Are there any other albums in the Zappa catalog that are similar to Hot Rats? Jamming jazz rock?

 

Check this thread...........http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=160706&highlight=hot+rats

 

Considering that the ZFT used the original mix of Freak Out on MOFO and are set to release the mono and (once on Ryko but now out of print) 80's remix of WOIIFTM on Lumpy Gravy, my guess is that Ryko only has rights to material still in print on their label.

 

My understanding is that Ryko has rights to the entire existing Zappa catalog as had already been released by them up to 1995, using the digital masters that were approved by Zappa in 1995. There are certainly gray areas (witness Gail fighting with Ryko over MP3) and the "fine print" details are not public knowledge.

This release is a little different in that it does potentially compete with Ryko in that it is a regular retail SKU of the album itself, named for the album itself, with the original cover art. MOFO and Lumpy Money aren't available at retail, and due to their pricing, content, and naming, can't be confused with the regular albums.

 

That's more or less what I understand, with some slight modification: Ryko can of course release things proffered to them by the ZFT (witness the upgrades of YAWYI and Tinseltown, along with the first few posthumous releases before the serious bad blood set in). They can't tinker with things on their own, though.

Indeed; perhaps this exclusivity provision recently expired? I remember reading something to that end not too long ago. Still, if Ryko's cut completely out of the loop here, on a straight reissue of a catalog title, I can't imagine they would be very happy.

 

In the forums favorite lps thread I mentioned out of the top 250 the only album I didnt have was the Frank Zappa mentioned. I listen to the other Frank


Looks like this would be a good place to start my Zappa adventure?

 

It's one of his two best albums, IMO.

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Same here.

 

Certainly conventional wisdom would assert so, though I (with less background in fusion) found it to be more of a grower.

 

The original US vinyl of this LP sounds good. I haven't listened to my LP in a while but I didn't consider this album to be bad in its original LP release.

Same here too. I just want to have another copy, and hope for even better sound as a bonus.

.

 

In a way, me too. The thing is from day one of my discovery of it, i.e. circa mid-70s, I enjoyed the written pieces a lot, since I was already into prog rock... But it actually took me quite a bit of time to get into Zappa's soloing style of this era - guitar solos do take a bit of space on this album: I didn't understand it all! The other rock guitarists were SO different in their approaches!... Oh and I didn't understand R&B and free-form sax stylings either, so I guess it didn't help...

 

Well as soon as it was announced last Thursday, I went on the site and ordered the 200gm version. To save on shipping costs I also ordered the two Blue Note SACD's that I didn't advance order.
Well on Tuesday I received the SACD's and was charged $6.50 for shipping, today I got Hot Rats and was charged another $7.50 for shipping. Pretty bad but not yet!
They charged me the $32.99 for the 200gm LP BUT sent me the 150gm LP. Now of course either I keep it and ask that they adjust the price and I order the 200gm and pay another $7.50 for shipping OR pay return shipping on top of it. Let see what the do tomorrow. Oh yeah the invoice says 150gm $32.99, wonderful billing system.

 

With all due respect, I don't think FZ was a jazz guitarist at all. If you examine his recordings, you'll see that his music is arranged so that most of his solos are played over one- or two-chord vamps. A jazz player specializes in playing over complex chord progressions. Frank was great at improvising, but that doesn't make him a jazz musician. Ravi Shankar improvised a lot, but that doesn't make him a jazz musician either. At any rate, I'm glad that you and your son are enjoying Franks's music. One thing I'm sure we can agree on is that there was only one Frank Zappa!

 

Was this from Acoustic Sounds? My copy of Hot Rats shipped today - I ordered the 200g version - I hope they send me what I ordered!

 

Hey Tommy,

Is Ryko credited anywhere on the sleeve?

Just curious. A little knowledge of who the participants are may give clues as to what other types of releases may be feasible.

 

No Ryko credit anywhere on it. The only nit I can pick is the label is Barking Pumpkin, it needs the blue Bizarre label. I played the 150gm while I will also order the 200 (hey it's Frank). As an album I've own since it was released, I know this LP, this is spectacular. The playing between Zappa's guitar and Sugarcane Harris' violin is beautifully separated, percussion seem to float out from the recording. Top 10!

The inner sleeve mimics the Bizarre sleeves except no mention of Bizarre and Bernie wrote a blurb about working on this LP. Give me more.

How about a 45 series of Zappa! Now that I would be jazzed (pun intended) about.

Got so excited about it that I spent $$$ yesterday on a mint WLP of Uncle Meat. As a big time Zappa collector from the sixties thru the mid eigthies I think I forgot how great his albums were because I always reached for the CD versions rather than getting up and pulling the LP's. Thankfully I kept all my FZ vinyl. Time to start pulling them out again.

Now if someone has the elusive 45 of Junior Mintz Boogie that they want to sell please let me know.

 

This looks like it will be my first Classic Label buy !!!

150/200gm, or whatever one sounds best ???

Does it trounce the original
blue bIzZaRe
label
usa vinyl version in the sonic department ?

 

YES

 

I already have the Barking Pumpkin release, what will be better about this one?

 

Perhaps a legal issue with Herb Cohen there.

 

No Ryko participation, and it isn't the 1995 mix.

Let's assume (just for the sake of fun) that the ZFT can release catalog FZ titles on vinyl as long as they don't use the FZ-approved-in-1995 mix. Where does that leave us in terms of titles that could be potential "upgrades"?

Absolutely Free (mono)
Cruising with Ruben & the Jets
Uncle Meat
Weasels Ripped my Flesh
ZINY
Sleep Dirt (sans vocals)
Sheik Yerbouti
Man from Utopia
Thing-Fish

That's just off the top of my head. And some of these wouldn't necessarily be a sonic upgrade over bad CDs so much as presenting original/expanded content.

When I really think about it, most of my favorite Zappa was released on at least decent sounding CDs. Lots of the stuff that was really screwed up isn't the stuff I like the best, but I'd still like to see it fixed.

 

I'm excited!

 

I'm not. Nothing like finally fixing the long-noticed problems with the catalog, only doing it on a non-digital medium. I'd like to finally be able to *retire* my Hot Rats needle-drops, not make new ones.