AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Christmas whisperings cd3/7/2023 ![]() Ready? Just hold your honker and jump right in. Albums not previously covered get fuller discussions. On recordings already covered in previous installments (footnote 3), I limit myself to a brief discussion of the sonics only, with a reference (X-8, XI-5) to the appropriate back issue for a more in-depth review of the program. I'll talk about each release in turn, and in chronological order. Go figure it's all detailed below-read carefully. Nor were the assets or liabilities of any single release series consistent: OM levels were cut much higher, much lower, or just the same as the CDs and/or originals soundstaging (such as it is) was better or worse on the LPs or CDs of the same digital remastering. These tasty little suckers follow no pattern at all: sometimes the original LP sounded better sometimes the Ryko reissue CD sometimes the OM version. I'd expected the new ADA LPs to follow a pattern I could succinctly describe in a few sweeping generalizations-improved bass, harsher highs, flattened soundstaging, punchier dynamics-but no-o-o-o-o-o-o-o. (Zappa held out the Mystery Disk from Box III at the last minute, as it wouldn't fit in the box. Both Boxes I and II include a Mystery Disk each: previously unreleased material from the time period covered by that box. Box I includes a fat booklet containing the lyrics to all of the albums and endless contemporary reviews of Mothers shows and albums from around the world, and some rewriting of history: all references to estranged former Zappa manager Herb Cohen are expunged (footnote 2), and some album dedications are ostentatiously revoked. Money's cutout insert and the two Cruising instruction sheets (on how to dance the Bop and how to comb a jelly roll) are included. Even the type has been reset to exactly match the original specifications. "Deluxe" is definitely the word for The Old Masters: The original covers are reproduced, gatefolds and all, in all of designer Cal Schenkel's demented glory. I finally got my hands on samples of the first three boxes (they go for $100 each, or $50 if you're a library) to see how they match up sonically with the new Ryko CDs and the Verve/Bizarre/DiscReet originals. All others: Bob Stone, digital remastering Frank Zappa, producer.Īs readers of the previous installments (footnote 1) and Zappaphiles everywhere already know, FZ has digitally remastered all of his old recordings (with the exception of the 200 Motels soundtrack, contractually tied up at MCA), and has been re-releasing them piecemeal on Rykodisc CDs, Barking Pumpkin/EMI LPs and cassettes, and (fanfare, please) the mail-order-only, non-EMI, deluxe, Barking Pumpkin The Old Masters (hereafter referred to as OM) boxed sets, of which three of the planned four are already released. ![]() TT: 42:58īaby Snakes Barking Pumpkin D2 74219 (CD only). One Size Fits All Rykodisc RCD 10095 (CD only). Waka/Jawaka Rykodisc RCD 10094 (CD only). Price is $100/box library rate, $50/box.Ībsolutely Free* Rykodisc RCD 10093 (CD only). ADA.Īll above available by mail-order only from Barfko-Swill, Box 5418, N. The Old Masters, Box Three Includes Waka/Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo, Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe ('), Roxy & Elsewhere, One Size Fits All, Bongo Fury, Zoot Allures. The Old Masters, Box Two Includes Uncle Meat, Hot Rats, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Chunga's Revenge, Fillmore East-June 1971, Just Another Band from L.A., Mystery Disk II. The Old Masters, Box One Includes Freak Out!,* Absolutely Free,* Lumpy Gravy, We're Only In It for the Money, Cruising With Ruben and the Jets, Mystery Disk I.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |