More Zappa reissues a-comin'!

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003876040

Gary Graff, Detroit

The Zappa Family Trust will kick off a comprehensive campaign to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the late Frank Zappa's albums next month. "Lumpy Money," a three-CD "audio documentary" due out Nov. 25, is the first offering in the series -- and, according to Zappa's widow Gail, the most unique.

"These two records happen to be Frank's masterworks," Zappa tells Billboard.com, "so this is the most ambitious of all the (40th anniversary) projects. The challenge is how to educate the audience to understand what 'Lumpy Gravy' and 'We're Only in It for the Money' are, and what they're part of.

"So in this particular case we have to be more about the process than the outtakes. You're going to be listening to how Frank worked, all the little developments of these pieces as opposed to just an outtake or another performance of that particular piece. You're going to hear how he got there from here."

The "Lumpy Money" package will feature two separate mixes of each album, done by Frank himself. It will include feature the first official release of the instrumental, Igor Stravinsky-influenced orchestral "ballet" version of "Lumpy Gravy" that Zappa recorded in 1967 for Capitol Records but decided to revamp, adding rock musicians and eventually releasing it on MGM/Verve four months after "We're Only in it For the Money" in 1968. Gail Zappa says a "sister" project will be released shortly after "Lumpy Money" that will contain more music from those sessions.

Other releases in the series will be treated "more as individual albums," drawing material from the Sequin Mines vault underneath the Zappa family home. A new version of "Cruising with Ruben and the Jets," Frank Zappa's third 1968 release, is also being prepared, while the Zappa Family Trust is working on other projects such as a vintage live album from the Roxy in Los Angeles and a set of Zappa's renditions of the compositions French composer Edgar Varese.

"With the 40th anniversary projects, it's not as much about 'Can we make a date?' as 'Can we make it? Do we have vault material we can put together for these?'" Gail Zappa explains. "That's something we have to do if these are going to be worth anything to people."

 

Sounds interesting. Thanks for the link/info.

 

addendum:

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/cu...-zappa-on-franks-new-reissue-lumpy-money.html

 

Holy crap! I can't wait for this one! Might even pick up the 4-disc MOFO while I'm at it

 

"Confusion I'm not fond of"???

(Those familiar with Gail and the ZFT's cryptic messages describing new and upcoming projects will get what I mean here.)

Don't misunderstand; I'm genuinely excited about these upcoming releases. I'm just glad I'm reading them via Billboard and Vanity Fair, and away from the gauze-covered hazy viewpoint of her cryptic messages.

Craig(VC).

 

Wowee Zowee.

Now all I gotta do is figure out how to stay alive long enough to hear it.

"This is the big one"

Or one of 'em, anyway...

 

Oh man, I know someone who would die to hear Ruben and the Jets on CD in mono, gotta tell him. Thanks for the link.

 

I hope these actually happen. I'd pre-order the Hot Rats and Uncle Meat editions right now if I could.

 

Article in Stereophile this month too. She mentions that once she gets things up and rolling, she envisions 8 releases a year, type of thing. I just hope she's careful to consider quality vs quantity though too.

Personally, I can't wait for the Lumpy Gravy material!

 

I remain cautiously optimistic.

 

I'm very excited about this. The MOFO sets were awesome.

 

halle-farkin'-lujah!!!!

 

Count me in on this one - I can't get enough of this material! Whoooo - I haven't been this excited about a reissue in a LONG time. I might even be counting down the days..........

 

Nothing I could see re: this set on the FZ site yet (they are still promoting Joe's Menage). Man, it is getting to the point where I am going to be really behind on his catalog again! Never thought in a million years that would happen ... but I am SO there for this 3 disc set! Some may scream heresy, but I would LOVE it if they included, along with the documentary material, every single released mix of each album (1967 and 1968 LG and Money masters, 1984 digital remix of Money and the unreleased '84 digital remix of LG). Who's with me?

 

I hope these are truly coming and not just something to make the mouth water and drool over. These will be very exciting releases if done properly and I'm very anxious to add these to my collection.

 

It's a bit of a shame that they didn't have enough bonus material to warrant a deluxe version of Absolutely Free. Even if they just released a single disc version with the 2 single tracks separate from the album with no digiverb I'd be happy....

 

Finally! Hopefully ZFT finally finds a distributor in EU. The latest FZ releases cost like hell in here (which is why I've passed most of them). I paid over €30 for the 2CD MOFO.

 

Great news! I hope the packaging will be better this time than for the 4-CD-MOFO. I never dared to put those CDs back in there, after I nearly broke them (and it doesn't look that great either...).

 

"vintage live from the Roxy" - I will get that one for sure!

 

Yeah. This hole re. Absolutely Free, from the start, does not forebode good about the integrity of this new project. AF is a very popular cult FZ album.

 

Even though it's not discussed any further in the article, I presume there is a 40th Anniversary edition of "We're Only In It For The Money" in the works as well. Oh, what I wouldn't give for a fresh remix of that album with all the original instruments!

J. D.

 

From what I understand, it IS part of this upcoming release, that will be entitled "Lumpy MONEY". (This also escaped me at first reading) Not a very imaginative title BTW, unless I am not well read enough and some subtlety escapes me here. ...Only in it for the GRAVY would have made some minimal sense...

 

3 discs, huh?
Hell, a fourth disc could've been an interveiw with Pamela Zabru... Za... you know, the girl with the monotone voice! Is she still alive?

 

I want the Mono mix of WOIIFTM available on CD (officially)! I've heard a clean copy of the vinyl that sounded amazing. I'd seriously pay for a set using an LP source if no tapes exist for the mono mix. I'm still picking these up, I just got 2CD Mofo and I've gotta admit that I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I think I'm actually gonna look for the 4CD.

I'll be pre-ordering these as soon as they're available.

 

This sounds VERY promising.....a Hot Rats reissue would be huge!