Frank Zappa’s 3-CD Lumpy Money Project/Object set and his 2-CD Road Tapes, Venue #1 and Road Tapes, Venue #2 performance albums will be reissued, and Road Tapes, Venue #3 will debut on May 27 from Zappa Records/UMe. All four titles will be available on CD and digitally.
In 2008, to mark the 40th anniversaries of Frank Zappa’s masterworks Lumpy Gravy and We’re Only In It For The Money, the Zappa Family Trust assembled an anniversary edition of their Project/Object Audio Documentary series entitled Lumpy Money Project/Object. The expansive release contains three CDs of unique and rare versions of the legendary albums, including the mono mixes for both, as well as many nuggets from the vault, from various studio outtakes to single versions, instrumental mixes, and Frank Zappa interview excerpts. Lumpy Money Project/Object also includes a booklet filled with photos, oddities and featuring liner notes from David Fricke and Gail Zappa. Both albums’ mono mixes make their download debuts with the new digital release of Lumpy Money Project/Object.
Zappa worked on Lumpy Gravy and We’re Only In It For The Money during essentially the same time period in 1967 and 1968. The original Lumpy Gravy sessions were produced by Nick Venet and recorded at Capitol Studios with a host of primo studio musicians, including members of the famous Wrecking Crew. After delays from Zappa’s record company, Lumpy Gravy began anew. Armed with the Lumpy Gravy session tapes and a razor blade, Zappa sat in his New York City apartment and transformed the project into the masterwork collage we know today. We’re Only In It For The Money has gone down in history as one of the most essential rock albums of our time. With its scathing messages, use of parody, musique concrète & DADA-ist tendencies, there truly is nothing like it.
The Road Tapes series focuses on Frank Zappa concert audio from the vault that is historical yet sonically less than stellar. Described by the man himself as “Guerilla Recordings,” Zappa tried to document every performance. Road Tapes, Venue #1 takes us to summertime 1968, Vancouver, B.C., where the Mothers of Invention played Kerrisdale Arena to an enthusiastic crowd. Captured on mono reel-to-reel, the concert is inspired and showcases a mixture of classic Mothers and live improvisations.
Road Tapes, Venue #2 takes us back to August 1973 in Helsinki, Finland. The performances, compiled from three shows at Finlandia Hall, were recorded by engineer Kerry McNabb while on his first tour with Zappa. This band consists of a lineup that is often regarded as one of Zappa’s finest. Stars like George Duke, Jean Luc Ponty, and Ruth Underwood shine. The compositions become increasingly challenging yet still maintain the humor expected at a live Zappa show, making for a potent and rewarding release.
New to the Road Tapes series, Road Tapes, Venue #3 features two complete shows from Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN. The July 1970 Mothers line-up featured Flo & Eddie, George Duke, Ian Underwood, Aynsley Dunbar & Jeff Simmons. Frank Zappa’s vast Vault does not contain many full shows from this time period, making this release a particularly special one. The tapes were recorded to stereo reel-to-reel, but not without problems. Due to their historical relevance, Zappa Records determined it was worth it, warts ‘n all! Venue #3 does not disappoint.
Frank Zappa: Lumpy Money Project/Object [3-CDs; Digital]
Disc 1
Lumpy Gravy (Primordial)
I Sink Trap
II Gum Joy
III Up & Down
IV Local Butcher
V Gypsy Airs
VI Hunchy Punchy
VII Foamy Soaky
VIII Let’s Eat Out
IX Teen-Age Grand Finale
We’re Only In It For The Money
Are You Hung Up?
Who Needs The Peace Corps?
Concentration Moon
Mom & Dad
Telephone Conversation
Bow Tie Daddy
Harry, You’re A Beast
What’s The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?
Absolutely Free
Flower Punk
Hot Poop
Nasal Retentive Calliope Music
Let’s Make The Water Turn Black
The Idiot Bastard Son
Lonely Little Girl
Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance
What’s The Ugliest Part Of Your Body? (Reprise)
Mother People
The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny
Disc 2
Lumpy Gravy 1984 UMRK Remix
Lumpy Gravy – Part One
Lumpy Gravy – Part Two
We’re Only In It For The Money 1984 UMRK Remix
Are You Hung Up?
Who Needs The Peace Corps?
Concentration Moon
Mom & Dad
Telephone Conversation
Bow Tie Daddy
Harry, You’re A Beast
What’s The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?
Absolutely Free
Flower Punk
Hot Poop
Nasal Retentive Calliope Music
Let’s Make The Water Turn Black
The Idiot Bastard Son
Lonely Little Girl
Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance
What’s The Ugliest Part Of Your Body? (Reprise)
Mother People
The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny
Disc 3
How Did That Get In Here? (Recorded on Sunday, 13 February 1967 at Capitol)
Lumpy Gravy “Shuffle” (Recorded 21 February 1969 at The New School, NYC)
Dense Slight (Lumpy Gravy Building Block by Frank Zappa)
Unit 3A, Take 3 (recorded for Lumpy Gravy 14 March 1967 at Capitol)
Unit 2, Take 9 (recorded for Lumpy Gravy 14 March 1967 at Capitol)
Section 8, Take 22 (recorded for Lumpy Gravy 14 March 1967 at Capitol)
“My Favorite Album” (Interview excerpt, 22 October 1971, KBEY- FM, Kansas City)
Unit 9 (In Lumpy Gravy, Recorded at Capitol Records)
N. Double A, AA (Lumpy Gravy Building Block by Frank Zappa)
Theme From Lumpy Gravy (In Lumpy Gravy at Studio Z, Cucamonga)
“What The Fuck’s Wrong With Her?” (West Village Apt., NYC, working on Lumpy Gravy, late 1967)
Intelligent Design (Alternate Frank Zappa building block Recorded at Mayfair)
Lonely Little Girl (Original Composition – Take 24) (From the original 8-track masters recorded at Mayfair)
“That Problem With Absolutely Free” (Interview, Mixed Media, Detroit, 13 November 1967)
Absolutely Free (Instrumental) (Recorded during the “Money” sessions, Mayfair, 6 September 1967)
Harry, You’re A Beast (Instrumental) (Recorded during the “Money” sessions, Mayfair, 6 September 1967)
What’s The Ugliest Part of Your Body? (Reprise/Instrumental) (Recorded during the “Money” sessions, Mayfair, 6 September 1967)
Creationism (Recorded during the “Money” sessions, Mayfair, 6 September 1967)
Idiot Bastard Snoop (Mayfair Studios 1967, Vocal Overdub session snippet as-is)
The Idiot Bastard Son (Instrumental) (Interview with David Silver, Boston, 1969)
“What’s Happening Of The Universe” (Interview with David Silver, Boston, 1969)
“The World Will Be A Far Happier Place” (Recorded at Mayfair)
Lonely Little Girl (Instrumental) (Recorded during the Money sessions, Mayfair Studios 1967)
Mom & Dad (Instrumental) (Recorded during the Money sessions, Mayfair Studios 1967)
Who Needs The Peace Corps? (Instrumental) (Recorded during the Money sessions, Mayfair Studios 1967)
“Really Little Voice” (Recorded during the Money sessions, Mayfair Studios 1967)
Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance (Instrumental)
Lonely Little Girl – The Single [C P 1967] (Released prior to the album in November, 1967)
“In Conclusion” (Recorded at Mayfair)
Frank Zappa: Road Tapes, Venue #1 [2-CD; digital] (Kerrisdale Arena, Vancouver B.C. (25 August 1968))
Disc 1
The Importance Of An Earnest Attempt (By Hand)
Help, I’m A Rock/Transylvania Boogie
Flopsmash Musics
Hungry Freaks, Daddy
The Orange County Lumber Truck
The Rewards of a Career in Music
Disc 2
Trouble Every Day
Shortly: Suite exists of Holiday In Berlin Full Blown
Pound For A Brown
Sleeping In A Jar
Oh, In The Sky
Octandre (written by Edgard Varèse)
King Kong
Frank Zappa: Road Tapes, Venue #2 [2-CD; digital] (Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, Finland (23, 24 August 1973))
Disc 1
Show 3
Introcious
The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue
Kung Fu
Penguin In Bondage
Show 1
Exercise #4
Dog Breath
The Dog Breath Variations
Uncle Meat
RDNZL
Show 3
Montana
Your Teeth And Your Shoulders and sometimes your foot goes like this….. / Pojama Prelude
Dupree’s Paradise
Show 1
All Skate/Dun-Dun-Dun (The Finnish Hit Single)
Disc 2
Show 3
Village Of The Sun
Echidna’s Arf (Of You)
Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing?
Show 2
Big Swifty
Shows 2, 3
Farther O’Blivion
Encore, Show 1
Brown Shoes Don’t Make It
Frank Zappa: Road Tapes, Venue #3 [2-CD; digital] (Tyrone Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, MN (5 July 1970))
Disc 1
Show 1
Tyrone Start The Tape…
King Kong
Wonderful Wino (Zappa/Simmons)
Concentration Moon
Mom & Dad
The Air
Dog Breath
Mother People
You Didn’t Try To Call Me
Agon – Interlude (Stravinsky)
Call Any Vegetable
King Kong / Igor’s Boogie
It Can’t Happen Here
Sharleena
Show 2
The 23rd “Mondellos”
Justine (Harris/Terry)
Disc 2
Show 2
Pound For A Brown
Sleeping In A Jar
Sharleena
“A Piece Of Contemporary Music”
The Return Of The Hunchback Duke (incl.: Little House I Used To Live In, Holiday In Berlin)6. Cruising For Burgers
Let’s Make The Water Turn Black
Harry, You’re A Beast
Oh No/Orange County Lumber Truck
Call Any Vegetable
Mondello’s Revenge
The Clap (Chunga’s Revenge)
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