Nurse With Wound List

"Analog transfer by Joe Travers 2012. Re-mastered by Bob Ludwig Gateway Mastering 2012."

"This 1970 release finds Zappa and band at the apex of their improvisational powers. Chunga's Revenge largely eschews both high concept and satire in order...

Frank live at the Pier, NYC, NY, August 26th, 1984. This is 60' long.

Amazing! This is three CDs of nearly all never-before released or heard music by the lost ‘Hot Rats Band’ that Frank formed at the end of 1969 and even played some shows with, before the band cross-faded into the band with Volman & Kaylan.
The only things from these CDs that has seen release before, to the best of my knowledge, was the couple of tracks on ‘Chunga’s Revenge’ that don’t feature Flo and Eddie.
And what a crazy line-up:
Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals
Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris..

"FZ:OZ (pronounced "eff-zee oh-zee"; in imitation of "Aussie") is a live album by Frank Zappa, released in 2002 as a two-CD set and is the first release on the Vaulternative Records label from the Zappa Family Trust. It contains almost all of a January 20, 1976 concert at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, Australia.
Only one reel-to-reel tape machine was available to record the concert, however, resulting in gaps in some songs as the tape needed to be changed. These gaps have been filled in with...

“If you collect Frank you will want this. But be warned....it’s standard bootleg quality mixed with a bit of soundboard.”

“His live band including at this juncture Ray White on rhythm guitar and vocals, Steve Vai on guitars, Tommy Mars on keyboards, Bobby Martin on keyboards, sax and vocals, Ed Mann on percussion, Scott Thunes on bass and Chad Wackerman on drums, toured extensively in Europe during the early summer of 82….
One of the finest shows of the tour took place in Vienna on 28th...

Live PROFESSIONAL recordings of the Roxy & Elsewhere band 10/31/73, never before heard!

“Two shows recorded at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago 10/31/73 featuring a classic Zappa band line-up along with liner notes by Ruth Underwood and Ralph Humphrey, who played in the shows, and pictures of the event from The Vault! The single disc contains highlights from the whole show. Happy Halloween! Don't take candy from strangers!”...

"Halloween was Frank Zappa's favorite holiday and by 1977 his Halloween shows were legendary. Recorded live at The Palladium in NYC, Zappa performed six shows 28-31 October. Four shows were filmed and resulted in Zappa's movie Baby Snakes. The Halloween 77 three CD version includes the Halloween night show in it's entirety, mixed in 2016 from original Vault masters, plus select tracks from the other five shows."

The ZFT has happily seen fit to make generally available (that means, available to us) a lot of items that were previously available by mail only from the ZFT.
This is reasonable, but rough quality rehearsal recordings. The material is fascinating, but this is one of the 'roughest' ZFT releases, so keep that in mind, although the price is now very reasonable for this!

"Joe's Domage, the second entry from the 'Corsaga' series gives you an insight into how Frank worked. The recording from this..

“Frank Zappa,live at the War Memorial gym, Vancouver on October 1st 1975. Frank Zappa embarked on his first solo tour in the autumn of 1975. This excellent show finds him in superb form, performing a range of material spanning old classics and songs he barely performed again (such as the otherwise unrecorded "Swallow My Pride").
As caustic and musically literate as ever, the show broadcast on CBC-FM, is presented in full here, together with background notes and images.“

"When Frank Zappa teamed up with renowned conductor Kent Nagano and the London Symphony Orchestra for three days in January 1983, he was expecting to walk away with a set of stellar performances of some of his most challenging contemporary classical...

"Originally released in '91, the third title culled from the 1988 tour. A double live CD, this one includes such classic Zappa compositions as "King Kong," "The Black Page," "Dupree's Paradise" and "Strictly Genteel," as well as pieces from Bartok and...

ALL PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED STUDIO AND LIVE!

“The Mothers 1970 encapsulates the band’s brief but productive span, which included two visits to the studio – resulting in the fantastic 1970 album, Chunga’s Revenge – and tours across the U.S., Canada and Europe. Divided into four parts, the collection is anchored by top notch studio recordings recorded at the famed London-based Trident Studios on June 21-22. An unreleased early mix by Baker of the Chunga’s Revenge track, “Sharleena,” is just one of...

“The Mothers 1971 Super Deluxe 8CD Box Set - Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Mothers Of Invention's '71 line-ups, the complete Fillmore tapes are showcased with every note played over 4 shows, including the John Lennon/Yoko Ono encore.
The majority of tracks are newly mixed. Additionally, the full concert from the Rainbow Theatre in London where FZ was infamously pushed off the stage is newly mixed by Eddie Kramer.
The box also features a bonus hybrid concert from Harrisburg & Scranton..

"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...

This is pretty much a must-have for all FZ fans, as it contains for the very first time ever, the legendary Royce Hall 1975 recordings in their entirety!

“Commemorating its eventual release in 1979, Orchestral Favorites 40th Anniversary Edition celebrates Frank Zappa's 1975 engagement at Royce Hall at UCLA Los Angeles.
The original album is remastered by Bob Ludwig from the 1976 master tape and bonus content contains the evening concert performance from September 18th, remixed in 2019 by...

Official album #17 and one of his most popular albums. I saw FZ for the first time in 1973 before this album was released, but featuring this amazing band. Still one of the greatest concerts I have ever seen, and I have seen plenty.
FZ: guitar & vocals
Ralph Humphrey: drums
Sal Marquez: trumpet & vocals
George Duke: keyboards & synthesizer
Tom Fowler: bass
Bruce Fowler: trombone
Ruth Underwood: marimba, vibes & percussion
Ian Underwood: flute, clarinet, alto & tenor sax

Official album #17 and one of his most popular albums. I saw FZ for the first time in 1973 before this album was released, but featuring this amazing band. Still one of the greatest concerts I have ever seen, and I have seen plenty.
FZ: guitar & vocals
Ralph Humphrey: drums
Sal Marquez: trumpet & vocals
George Duke: keyboards & synthesizer
Tom Fowler: bass
Bruce Fowler: trombone
Ruth Underwood: marimba, vibes & percussion
Ian Underwood: flute, clarinet, alto & tenor sa.

The ZFT has happily seen fit to make generally available (that means, available to us) a lot of items that were previously available by mail only from the ZFT. And at lower prices too!

"The live band featured on the recording included Lady Bianca on vocals, who only toured with Zappa's band for a few weeks in the fall of 1976. One cut from this concert ("Wind Up Workin' in a Gas Station") was released on You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 in 1992. Prior to the release of Philly '76, no...

“Witnessing Frank Zappa's 1978 big touring band (featuring, Zappa, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, Arthur Barrow on bass, Ed Mann on percussion, Tommy Mars on Keyboards, Denny Walley on second guitar, Peter Wolf on second keyboards and Ike Willis on guitar and vocals), the 3,000 seat venue in the Mid-Hudson Centre, Poughkeepsie, NY - in the heart of the Hudson valley - played host to a diverse, virtuosic and musically offensive performance on September 21st that year, which is still reflected on and talked...

Ladies and Gentlemen: Watch Ruth!

"Roxy and Elsewhere is arguably Zappa's best live album. It features what was, for my tastes, the best lineup of musicians he ever shared a stage with: Napoleon Murphy Brock, Bruce and Tom Fowler, Ruth Underwood, the demon-fingered George Duke, and several others you can read about in the liner notes. (Anybody who enjoyed this cast of characters should also check out the studio album One Size Fits All.)
Zappa is comfortable and at ease with his audience on...

One of the most sought after and wished for archival releases finally squeaks out into the world *only* 42 years after being shot.

The story apparently is that there were terrible sync issues AND speed fluctuations on the original film stock between the visual and the audio and it has taken until today's technology for them to be able to make this a quality product.

All of this is undoubtably true, but the good news is that you would never, ever know from watching this that there were...

Frank Zappa (guitar); Warren Cucurullo (guitar, electric sitar); Steve Vai, Denny Walley, Ike Willis, Ray White (guitar); Jean-Luc Ponty (baritone violin); Tommy Mars, Peter Wolf, Eddie Jobson, Bob Harris, Andre Lewis (keyboards); Arthur Barrow...

As near as I can tell, this is simply the soundtrack of the DVD of the same title. It's a shame that they didn't just release the elusive TV show.

"All tracks are previously unreleased on CD and with the exception of the "Token" Vamp, appeared..

This is especially noteworthy for the 12/1974 KCET broadcast, which featured the amazing, amazing animation of Bruce Bickford. You haven't ever seen anything like it. This was once available as a very hard to get VHS tape only via mail order.
"Instead of Zappa's yearly Halloween pilgrimage to New York in 1982, Zappa premiered this 90-minute documentary at New York's legendary Ritz Theater. The documentary features two concerts - Zappa's 1981 Halloween show at New York's Palladium and the other...

"Frank Zappa published a record of his most important influences on the inside cover of his debut album. This film explores the musical roots of Frank Zappa by putting The Freak Out List under the microscope and tracing the lineage from the most pivotal..

One of Frank’s greatest and also most loved works, now HUGELY expanded with basically every morsel included and 5 CDs of unheard stuff.

“Limited six CD set. The Hot Rats Sessions box set celebrates the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest albums in the history of recorded music. The original 1969 Frank Zappa album was the first record to be recorded on a prototype 16-track tape machine.
Self-described as a 'Movie For Your Ears,' it was technically the second solo outing for the composer..

"This little CD of twenty-nine tracks from Frank's Utility Muffin Research Kitchen from his home/basement in the Hollywood Hills really serves as a mini-autobiography of his life and works. How may a composer's life's works be condensed onto a single, shiny plastic disc? Well, it can't, but FZ gave us a taste of what his life's works were all about: Let's just say the "good, bad, and ugly" of it. Yes, tracks 4 and 5 are genuine "booger stories," and who doesn't recount such sophomoric stories of one's...

"Of all the Frank Zappa tours, the spring of 1975 is the most unusual and frustrating. The performances could range from absolutely exhilarating to rather drab with slopping renditions of composed "core" pieces like "Advance Romance" and "Willie The Pimp" played in the midst of brilliant improvisations by Zappa, Captain Beefheart and the other musicians in the band. Add to this the paucity of really good recordings, and the frustration is obvious. As a radio broadcast however this is the best sounding...

"Seven CD live archive release. Zappa Records presents The Roxy Performances. A box set that contains the motherlode of all things Roxy. All four public shows from December 9 and 10 1973, remixed in 2016 and presented in their entirety for the first time. Also included is the sound check from December 8th and bonus content that features rehearsal nuggets and unreleased tracks along with highlights from the recording session at Bolic Studios that took place in conjunction with the filming dates."

After Frank was thrown from the stage in London and broke his leg very badly, he was stuck in a wheelchair and couldn't tour for about 9 months. As Frank was always working, he decided to indulge himself in two larger-scale projects that wouldn't be practical to tour with, but were personally interesting to him.
Waka/Jawaka was the first of the two, and for it he assembled a 'small big-band' and did something along the lines of 'big band Mothers'. It's a pretty great album overall, and it's fun to...

On December 10, 1971, Frank was attacked while performing and pushed off the stage and fell all the way into the concrete orchestra pit of the theatre. He was very badly injured and was confined to a wheelchair for much of 1972 while he recuperated. But although he was immobilized, he did what he always did; he wrote copiously!

“During this time, he managed, among other things, to assemble an ensemble that quenched his thirst and desire to work with a large “Electric Orchestra.” Ultimately, a 20...

Fantastic archival release in really very fine sound considering that this is a 20 piece band and just had to be a nightmare to sonically capture. This is one of only 8 shows performed by the 20 piece Mothers of Invention/Grand Wazoo band and is the...

Originally a double lp, here it all is complete on 1 CD.

"Actually, I don't like You Are What You Is in its entirety, but the parts of it that I like are so good that I thought I couldn't give the album less than full five stars. To me, You Are What You Is is a strange album. To me, it would have been a LOT better if it contained just two sides - second and fourth. Two suites ("Society Pages" to "Conehead" and "Heavenly Bank Account" to the end) are THE BEST the mighty Frank have done in the...

Frank on tour and hot and sweaty with a relatively small band – and in the case of him at the Mudd – in a very small club.
LOTS of ripping solos by FZ.

Zappa '80: Mudd Club/Munich combines 2 historical performances from the 1980 spring/summer tour. The first is a set at FZ's favorite NYC nightclub, the famous Mudd Club, presented from a hi-res transfer of the original master tape.
The second, from Olympiahalle in Munich, is the first-ever direct-to-digital live stereo recording of Zappa

“The first posthumous archival release from the 1988 touring band focuses on the historical last show Frank Zappa ever played in the U.S. The live concert material is taken from Uniondale, NY; Providence, RIandTowson, MD newly remixed from the 48-track digital master tapes. It features the first official release of "The Beatles Medley" along with over 25 unreleased performances and liner notes by FZ's drummer, Chad Wackerman and Vaultmeister, Joe Travers.”

“This 2-CD set has been advertised as....

“In 1976, Frank Zappa played four historic sold-out concerts at The Palladium in New York City the week between Christmas and New Year's.
In celebration of it's eventual release in 1978, Zappa In New York is being released as expanded anniversary editions to commemorate the album's recent 40th anniversary. Overseen by the Zappa Family Trust and produced by Ahmet Zappa and Vaultmeister Joe Travers. The collection, which will be housed in a limited-edition metal tin shaped like a NYC street manhole...


"Analog transfer 2012 by Joe Travers and re-mastered by Doug Sax 2012. All track times identical to the Ryko version but audibly different." What does this mean? It means I'm gonna take it home this weekend and give it a good, hard listen!

The Mothers' 2nd album, recorded in 1966, and unbelievably assured and nervy. Includes the two "underground oratorios" as well as both sides of their contemporary 'smash flop single' "Big Leg Emma" and "Why Don't You Do Me Right". 'The beginnings of...

The very last of the old Mothers' albums to be reissued on CD, I waited and waited, and finally! This is a really good one, and was the next to last by the Mothers Of Invention.
This includes some of his finest compositions (Holiday In Berlin, Aybe Sea) some fun goofing around (WPLF, Valarie) and the lengthy and impressive The Little House I Used To Live In, which combines some impressive and *hard* written sections with large 'blowing' sections, featuring some especially good work from Sugarcane...

The very first album by Frank and the Mothers, recorded in early 1966. I'm not actually that big of a fan of this album, considering how much I love what came next, but it's still a really brave, striking and unique album for 1966.

"One of the most ambitious debuts in rock history, Freak Out! was a seminal concept album that somehow foreshadowed both art rock and punk at the same time. Its four LP sides deconstruct rock conventions right and left, eventually pushing into territory inspired by...

Frank Zappa / Ray Collins / Roy Estrada / Don Preston / Ian Underwood / Bunk Gardner / Motorhead Sherwood / Jimmy Carl Black / Billy Mundi
Recorded live at Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden on 9/30/67, this excellent radio recording from the Mothers' first European tour, first surfaced on a bootleg entitled 'Tis The Season To Be Jelly. This bootleg was later made part of the official 'Beat The Boots" series.
Out of print in any form for over a decade, it comes back now just as nice as it ever was...

"Analog transfer by Joe Travers 2012. Re-mastered by Bob Ludwig Gateway Mastering 2012." That means that the album is re-edited back to it's original form, as found on the original 1970 vinyl release for the VERY first time!

The final Mothers album was this fantastic but strange collection of unreleased studio and (mostly live) work from 1967-1969, contained in one of the greatest and most shocking rock and roll album covers of all time (rzzzz!).
It took me years to figure out that Frank was...

Why was I not surprised to see this placed prominently on the box: "This film is not authorized by the estate or family of Frank Zappa"? Anyway, as a huge fan of the Mothers of Invention this was interesting for me to see and you get lots of...

This was the album that introduced me to 'funny music' and literally changed my life and is why I am at the computer writing descriptions of music to you and releasing records by other 'funny music' artists nearly 50 years later.
I distinctly remember being handed this album by a trusted friend in 10th grade with the admonition to be sure to listen to this album this evening, which I duly did without enthusiasm...until the 1st notes came out.
Immediately, it was like a door opened up to a....

"2011 transfer of a digital master. Track times identical to the Ryko edition. The booklet has been folded differently to restore the Sgt Pepper parody as the front cover."

The Mothers' 3rd album, recorded in 1967, and unbelievably assured and...

“Geographies was one of Hector Zazou's first ventures into an odd genre he would linger in for much of the next two decades: the soundtrack for an imaginary film. Mixing in influences from all across the stylistic spectrum, Zazou leavens the ingredients with an overriding sense of calm and even languor, his moody scores possessing a warm, humid quality. The pieces here are performed by what is essentially a chamber orchestra augmented by singers.
Listeners familiar with his forays into Afro-funk...

“Geographies was one of Hector Zazou's first ventures into an odd genre he would linger in for much of the next two decades: the soundtrack for an imaginary film. Mixing in influences from all across the stylistic spectrum, Zazou leavens the ingredients with an overriding sense of calm and even languor, his moody scores possessing a warm, humid quality. The pieces here are performed by what is essentially a chamber orchestra augmented by singers.
Listeners familiar with his forays into Afro-funk...

Reinhold Friedl – direction
Frank Gratkowski - flute, clarinets
Hayden Chisholm - flute, saxophone
Hild Sofie Tajford - French horn
Hilary Jeffery – trombone
Reinhold Friedl - harmonium, piano
Didier Aschour – guitar
Maurice de Martin – drums
Lisa Marie Landgraf – violin
Biliana Voutchkova – violin
Elisabeth Coudoux – violoncello
Ulrich Phillipp – doublebass

“Second volume of "modern composition supergroup" (The Wire) Zeitkratzer's re-interpret

The 1st by the duo of Hector Zazou & Joseph Racaille plus guests. Primitive electronics, reeds, electric & acoustic pianos, noise, songs, & the hovering spirit of Satie. Not as divine as Traite De Mechanique, but still an excellent and essential releas...

Back in print after being utterly unavailable for something like 20 years! And this is a great, landmark album (although it's a quiet landmark...). A gem and a classic and lovely to see this again!
The 2nd and best of this legendary band's two albums, comprised of the duo of Hector Zazou & Joseph Racaille + guests, who use keboards, clarinets, guitars, violin and much more.
This record was utterly out of step with the prevailing trends in 1977, but in retropect, this turned out to be an early...