Frank Zappa - Entire Catalogue Remastered and Reissued

I'd love for high quality, soundboard sourced versions of the Beat the Boots releases would come out.

Does the video for the Swedish TV special that became "Tis the Season to be Jelly" exist?

 

Amazon lists Uncle Meat as a 2-disc set. Not a good sign....

 

My experience is the exact opposite of yours. I prefer digipaks because I have less breakage with digipaks than I have had with jewel cases.

 

Tis the season to be Jelly is not from a TV special, it is/was only a radio broadcast.

Could you maybe be thinking of Piquantique?
Most of that was from a 1973 concert from Sweden that was televised.

The only other TV specials that come to mind are these:

Beat Club 1968 (Rehearsal footage)
"A token of his Extreme" KCET TV 1974 (TV Concert)
"We don't mess around" German TV 1978 (rehearsal footage)

All of these are available over at the Zappateers site for you to download and enjoy.

Also, most if not all the beat the boots shows are available in much better quality at zappateers.
Although they are from the same original sources, they are from the lowest gen sources possible, without any n/r or e/q.

 

I was in Soundcapes today at lunch and there were about 10 CDs I wanted to buy, but all of them were in digipaks that had been manhandled to death. Brand new, they looked as if they'd been at the bottom of a garage sale bin for years. I walked out without buying any of them - it's frustrating, but I hate paying good money for pre-damaged goods. If I order online there's a slim chance that they're stored with a bit more care (and handled better by the employees) and maybe at least a couple will arrive in acceptable condition.

I've had jewel cases break too, but they can be easily replaced. With digipaks you're stuck with it unless and until you buy another copy (and, yes, I've had to re-buy plenty, just to get a decent cover.) Aesthetically, I love the look of a whole shelf full of clean jewel cases with easy-to-read (non-crushed) spines. Back when I first started buying CDs they looked so classy and impressive. Now my shelves look like a dog's breakfast with all kinds of awkward packaging, most of which fall over when I try and integrate new purchases. If nothing else, at least jewel cases can stand vertically and don't knock the other discs over.

Once upon a time, David Thomas of Pere Ubu was asked why their recent album ('Pennsylvania') was being issued as a digipak, and he said that it was to make the fans buy it as soon as possible, as they would start to look like crap the longer they sat on store shelves. Also to discourage anyone from buying a used copy.

 

It's funny you bring that up: you know, "BTB III" has been for sale on iTunes for YEARS, and I STILL can't bring myself to buying them!

Does anyone know if anything of WORTH is on them?

 

The complete 'Sinister Footwear' suite is pretty essential. I can't imagine why that hasn't been (officially) issued on disc by now.

 

Actually I've purchased lots of used digipak CDs that are in perfect shape.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but could you please explain to me why this is a bad sign. Thanks.

 

It would indicate that the "penalty tracks" - audio from the film Uncle Meat - are included.

 

For an extra dollar who cares. The fast forward button is your friend.

It is probably too early to get any true evidence about price or content from those Amazon listings anyway.

 

I just wish I knew which ones were being released on vinyl.

 

Only if they separate the penalty tracks from the beginning of side 4 with a couple of seconds of silence. Currently, they segue, so there's no way to hear the beginning of 'King Kong Itself' properly.

 

It's a long shot, but could it be possible that Uncle Meat would be divided up over 2 discs in the same way the vinyl is?

 

You mean with sides 1 and 4 on disc one and sides 2 and 3 on disc two?

 

MGM still exists. Had gone into bankruptcy, but came back out of it in December 2010. Fox currently handles their library distribution with a deal in place until 2016. And yes, MGM still owns the United Artists film catalog (post-November 1952), which would include 200 Motels.

 

And that this is one of the CDs that its just a straight reissue from the Ryko. From the original e-mail, NOT ALL new releases are newly remastered.

That would blow so much that I might boycott the whole campaign. A remastered/expanded Uncle Meat is very high on my holy grail list.

 

Yes, exactly that. Am I really hoping too much there?

 

What would you propose for an expanded Uncle Meat? I'm hoping that this title has been, at least, sourced from the original analogue tapes.

 

No expansion needed, other than the single version of Dog Breath!

Disc one: original mix, plus Dog Breath single version (if it fits).

Disc Two: A DVD or BD of the film!

 

I've never felt the need to see the film. I'd just be happy to own that record on CD without the reverb. It's maddening.

 

It's certainly worth seeing/owning, but it's not what it claims to be. It's not really a film, but just a "making of" documentary with rehearsals for the never-actually-filmed feature. Issued on videocassette simultaneous with "The Making Of 200 Motels" tape, it should have had a similar title. I have mixed feeling as to whether it really should be included with the album or not as, on the one hand; it's really a 1987 creation and, on the other; free (or cheap) bonus disc! Plus, I no longer have a working VCR so my cassette is just collecting dust.


http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/videos/Uncle_Meat.html

 

I have never seen the whole thing. Would like to. I am not bothered about WHEN it was created ... part of Zappa's whole concept(ual continuity), as we know, was that everything happened simultaneously. I always dug that.

 

I would like to be surprised, just like I was with MOFO and Lumpy Money with stuff I didnt know existed.