The Frank Zappa 2012 Re-Issues

darkshade wrote: Man With Hat wrote: Ahh I see. Thanks.   It's interesting. I suppose with all things unreleased Zappa there is bound to be some overlap. But still...given the time period it seems a worthy releases for die hards (like us) esp. I've found that, with the exception of the late-90s/early 2000s posthumous albums Joe's Domage/Corsage/XMASage, Mystery Disc, and EIHN, everything that has been released since Zappa's death have been worthy additions to the Frank Zappa canon. Some are so good that if they were released when Zappa was still alive, they'd be hailed as masterpieces (Lather, Wazoo, Imaginary Diseases, Buffalo). I also think albums like One Shot Deal, Hammersmith Odeon, FZ:OZ, and Trance-Fusion are great, and fill in the gaps of Frank's large discography. I haven't heard anything released in 2011 or 2012 yet. Man With Hat wrote: I said it was commercially available...unlike 98% of other things they've released.  Ooops...

I have Road Tapes vol.1, Feeding the Monkeys at Ma Maison, and Finer Moments, all new Zappa albums, on my list, I'm hoping to get them after Christmas.

Here's the next batch:

The Truth wrote: Lather was incredible.

darkshade wrote: The Truth wrote: Lather was incredible. I've always said that Lather is Frank's magnum opus. Now are you referring to the re-issue of Lather? I haven't bought it, but it comes with an all new artwork to represent to original artwork that eventually became the cover art for Joe's Garage. 2012 re-issue: The original version intended for a 1977 release:

I am talking about that one indeed.

Are These 2012 (UME) remasters better than the original vinyl albums. If so which ones do you consider to be necessary to get?

Thanks for the info, course it would be nice to play the new cds in the vehicle as it would be a good trade off with the Mrs.. Lets see first we play a side of Yannis greatest hits and then we get to hear Make a jazz noise here.

OK, let's discuss problems with the 2012 reissues. Now, the good far outweighs the bad, but let's see what bad came out of this:

darkshade wrote: Most of the original Mothers albums didn't have improved sound, probably to keep sales of those box sets coming in.

Let's hope there's an Uncle Meat box set in the works then, right?

Regarding Finer Moments: I haven't taken a serious listen yet, but I doubt I will like it as much as Road Tapes #1. Zappa-commissioned or not, the music-to-noise ratio is pretty low. The instrumental jams (Sleazette, The Old Curiosity Shoppe, Uncle Rhebus, The Subcutaneous Peril) are intriguing at the very least, although the latter two consist of previously released material. As for the other half of the album, it's very hit or miss: The Mozart piano sonata seemed like a waste of space to me on YCDTOSA5, and so it does now. It was probably an extremely funny event to witness live, but it's not so interesting with just the audio. If I want to hear the sonata, I'll buy an actual recording of it. "The Walking Zombie Music", "You Never Know Who Your Friends Are" and "There Is No Heaven from Where Slogans Go to Die" and the already released "Squeeze It, Squeeze It, Squeeze It" seem to be the usual Mothers noise that I already disliked on Weasels Ripped My Flesh. "Enigmas 1 Thru 5" is, well, an endless percussion solo (yawn!). On the upside, "Music from the Big Squeeze" is still funny as ever and "Pumped and Waxed", while not really more than Zappa messing around with a synthesizer, sounds kind of cool.

HarbouringTheSoul wrote:   darkshade wrote: I now have to choose which version of Hot Rats I want to listen to. The same, to a lesser extent, can be said about Apostrophe () with it's different, but very bass-heavy mix; as well as Tinseltown Rebellion where I'm used to the segue edits, and with the reissue they're removed, meaning fade-outs appear where there used to be a segue into the next song. What about Weasels Ripped My Flesh? The missing part of "Didja Get Any Onya?" (which includes "Charles Ives" and "Kung Fu") was one of my favorite sections of the album. Luckily there's a recording of "Charles Ives" on YCDTOSA5.