FRANK ZAPPA HISTORY AND COLLECTED IMPROVISATIONS BOX

$

360

Strictly Discs Record Auction
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention "The History and Collected Improvisations  of Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention" 10 Years of Live Recordings Stereo ZX-3651-3660 A Box: VG+  All 10 Records: EX to NM Comes With Original Booklet: NM


Here it is, the most epic collection of Frank Zappa recordings in one amazing ten LP box set. All of the vinyl in this set is very, very clean. I looks as if someone stored the box away for many years, having almost never touched the records inside. Here and there small amounts of minor scuffing can be seen under a bright lamp; however, to the naked eye these LP's are free of any imperfection. The box is also in fantastic shape given its age. The pasted on labels--front and back--are very clear and clean, which is amazing given the fact that they are printed on naked white paper. There are signs of edge wear from storage, along with small splits at both the bottom corners. Labels are all clean, as is the bonus booklet--tight binding, no damaged pages.  Overall, an absolutely amazing collection in fantastic shape.
-SS
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Here are some additional detail from an earlier auction:

The History & Collected Improvisations of Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention' 10LP Box
Various live & studio
Boxed set of Ultra-Modern Stringbean, Nifty, Ein Monster in der Musikhalle, If You Get a Headache, Frank Zappa vs. the Tooth Fairy, A Token of My Extreme, I Was a Teenage Maltshop, Petrouska, Zurkon Music and Back on the Straight and Narrow.

Length: ~400-450 min?
LP box label: ZX 3651-3660

Musicians: Various

This is a 10-LP box, with a 36-page (counting the cover) booklet called Ten Years on the Road with Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention (which may also have been sold separately?) consisting of reproductions of various newspaper, magazine and other articles.

The front cover has six pictures of various Mothers line-ups from 1966-1973; the back has liner notes.  Inside the box, the records are in plain white wrappers.  They all have different label colours; the first two records are supposed to be dark blue and sky blue, respectively, but on some copies they are the same colour.  On those copies, all other records also have "The History & Collected Improvisations" and "1962-1976" printed on the labels, along with side numbers - on other copies, they just have colour, no text.


LP1 - Ultra-Modern Stringbean

Festival Hall, Melbourne, 29-Jun-1973

Length: ~45 min
Sound quality: Audience B+
LP label: ZX 3651

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Jean-Luc Ponty, George Duke, Ian Underwood, Ruth Underwood, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Ralph Humphrey and Sal Marquez

1. Uncle Meat (Main Theme) / Uncle Meat Variations ["Excercise 4"?]
2. Dog Breath
3. Uncle Meat (Main Theme)
4. Montana 
5. Fifty-Fifty [instrumental version, not listed]

6. Mudshark
7. Farther Oblivion [listed as "Father O'Blivion"]

The track list on the album is quite wrong; the above should be correct.  Track 7 is NOT "Father O'Blivion" but "Farther Oblivion", an officially unreleased number including themes from "Cucamonga" and "The Adventures of Greggary Peccary" as well as the entire "Be-Bop Tango" theme.


LP2 - Nifty

Various 1973
1974 bonus tracks

Length: ~45 min
LP label: ZX 3652

New Jersey musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, George Duke, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Ralph Humphrey, Chester Thompson, Napoleon Murphy Brock and special guest Irma Coffee

Sydney musicians: Frank Zappa, Jean-Luc Ponty, Ruth Underwood, Ian Underwood, George Duke, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Ralph Humphrey and Sal Marquez

1974 musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, Ian Underwood, George Duke, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler and Ralph Humphrey

1. Be-Bop Tango Preamble
2. Pygmy Twylyte / Dummy Up
3. "Dupree's Paradise" Stories [listed as "Room Service (variant version)"]
4. Be-Bop Tango
5. Dog Breath (0:37)
6. Uncle Meat

7. Father O'Blivion [Stage #6 version]
8. Don't Eat the Yellow Snow
9. Nanook Rubs It
10. Saint Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast
11. Mar-juh-rene [edit]
12. Penguin in Bondage
13. T'Mershi Duween

Track 1 is live at the William Patterson College, Wayne, New Jersey, 11-Nov-1973 (late show)
Track 2 is live at the William Patterson College, Wayne, New Jersey, 11-Nov-1973 (early show), with Irma Coffee on guest vocals
Track 3 is Zappa's "Dupree's Paradise" stories from the Avery Fisher Hall, New York, 22-Nov-1973 (late show)
Track 4 is live, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 18-Nov 1973 (from a radio broadcast)
Tracks 5-6 might be from Sydney, or even from the Roxy of Roxy & Elsewhere fame
Tracks 7-11 are live at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, 24-Jun-1973; track 11 is Zappa improvising around the letters MAR-JUH-RENE
Tracks 12-13 are unknown live 1974 bonus tracks

The track list on the cover is quite wrong; the above should be correct.  The takes are from a radio broadcast (the WXRT "Un-Concert" 8-Nov-1974), mixed and edited by Zappa himself.


LP3 - Ein Monster In Der Musikhalle

Wighalle, Vienna, 11-Sep-1974

Length: ~45 min
Sound quality: Audience B
LP label: ZX 3653

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, George Duke, Chester Thompson, Tom Fowler and Napoleon Murphy Brock

1. Tush Tush Tush (A Token of My Extreme)
2. A jam type thing / The Hook / The-Boogerman-type jamming / Ach Du Lieber Augustin [?] / Louie Louie [Richard Berry]
3. Dupree's Paradise

4. I'm the Slime [Listed as "I'm in the Slime" :)]
5. Pygmy Twylyte
6. Room Service [not listed]

The cover track list is very peculiar, and the above has been suggested to me instead.  Side 1 is really listed as "Intro", "The Hook", "My Little Augustine", "Dixie" and "Dupree's Paradise".  "The Hook" is a little snippet you can hear on Stage #4, introducing the Archie Shepp cut - it was also vowen into "The Be-Bop Tango" - and here it introduces a jamming number quoting "Ach Du Lieber Augustin", "Louie Louie" and maybe a song called "Dixie".


LP4 - If You Get A Headache

Kiel Auditiorium, Saint Louis, 13-May-1975
Music Hall, Boston, Massachusettes, 23-Oct-1975

Length: ~45 min
Sound quality: Audience B+ (Boston)
LP label: ZX 3654

St. Louis musicians: Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, George Duke, Terry Bozzio, Tom Fowler, Bruce Fowler and Napoleon Murphy Brock
Boston musicians: Frank Zappa, Roy Estrada, Terry Bozzio, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Andre Lewis and Norma Bell

The cover track list is wrong.  This should be correct:
1. Intro
1. Apostrophe (')
2. Stinkfoot
3. I'm Not Satisfied
4. Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy

5. You Can Swallow My Pride
6. Any Downers?
7. Packard Goose [listed as "The Mothers Go Cosmic" and "Love Is Where It's At"]
8. Camarillo Brillo
9. Muffin Man

Side 1 is live at the Kiel Auditiorium, Saint Louis, 13-May-1975
Side 2 is live in Boston 23-Oct-1975

"Packard Goose" is only the first lines recited over a "Black Napkins" vamp.  "Any Downers?" is also in a very rudimentary state.  "You Can Swallow My Pride" is an unreleased Zappa song.


LP5 - Frank Zappa Vs. The Tooth Fairy

Circle Star Theater, San Carlos, California, 19-Jul-1974 / 21-Jul-1974

Length: ~45 min
Sound quality: Audience C-
LP label: ZX 3655

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, George Duke, Tom Fowler, Chester Thompson and Napoleon Murphy Brock

1. Gloria [story about Ruth Underwood]
2. Inca Roads

3. Pygmy Twylyte
4. The Idiot Bastard Son
5. Cheepnis
6. Clear Version of "Cheepnis"

Side 1 is live 21-Jul-1974
Side 2 live 19-Jul-1974

After "Cheepnis", Zappa complains about the sub-standard PA system, and instructs George Duke to play "romantic Holiday-Inn-type background music" and reads the "Cheepnis" lyrics on top of that, in case the audience didn't hear everything the first time.  This is the clear version of "Cheepnis", which may not be listed on some copies.


LP6 - A Token Of My Extreme

Bridges Auditorium, a collage in Claremont, California, 11-Apr-1975 (late show)

Length: ~45 min
Sound quality: Audience B+ (particularily hissy)
LP label: ZX 3656

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Denny Walley, George Duke, Tom Fowler, Terry Bozzio and Napoleon Murphy Brock

1. A Token of My Extreme
2. Stinkfoot
3. Sleeping in a Jar
4. Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead

5. Debra Kadabra [listed as "Abra Kadabra"]
6. Florentine Pogen [listed as "Chester's Gorilla"]
7. Why Doesn't Someone Get Him a Pepsi? ["The Torture Never Stops", original version]

Track 7 is the world premiere of "The Torture Never Stops" - the original 1975 version like on Stage #4.  Zappa introduced this number saying "Why doesn't someone get him a Pepsi?".  The sound on "Debra Kadabra" is especially poor.


LP7 - I Was A Teenage Maltshop

Studio oldies
Boston, Massachusettes, 27-Apr-1975

Length: ~45 min
LP label: ZX 3657

Live musicians: Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Denny Walley, George Duke, Tom Fowler, Terry Bozzio and Napoleon Murphy Brock
1. I Was a Teenage Maltshop / Status Back Baby / Ned the Mumbler / Ned Has a Brainstorm / Toads of the Short Forest
2. Excerpt from the Uncle Frankie Show [Mystery Disc version]
3. Charva [The Lost Episodes version]
4. Band Introductions from the Fillmore West [not listed] [Mystery Disc version]
5. Plastic People [Berry/Zappa] / Solo [Mystery Disc version of something]
6. Bobby Jameson: Gotta Find My Roogalator
7. Baby Ray & the Ferns: How's Your Bird
8. Baby Ray & the Ferns: The World's Greatest Sinner
9. The Penguins: Memories of El Monte [Zappa/Collins]

10. Camarillo Brillo
11. Muffin Man
12. Let's Make the Water Turn Black
13. Willie the Pimp

Tracks 2-5 have been officially released on The Lost Episodes and Mystery Disc
Track 1 is from the "rock opera" recorded in 1963 (the first part has been issued on the Mystery Disc)
Tracks 6-9 are old single tracks from way before Zappa hit it big time: see Zappa's singles discography for more info.  They have been officially re-released on several albums.
Side 2 is identified as "live in Boston, Massachusettes, 11-Sep-1975".  There was no such show; it could be live in Boston 27-Apr-1975 or somewhere else on the tour.

Some of this stuff comes from a radio show on KWST radio, 1-Nov-1975, where Zappa played oldies and oddities.  The cover track list is wrong, but the above should be correct.


LP8 - Petrouska

Konserthuset, Stockholm, 30-Sep-1967 (date has been debated)
Long Beach Arena 31-Dec-1974

Length: ~45 min
Sound quality: Soundboard B (Stockholm)
LP label: ZX 3658

1967 musicians: Frank Zappa, Jimmy Carl Black, Ian Underwood, Bunk Gardner, Don Preston, Jim Sherwood, Roy Estrada, Ray Collins and Billy Mundi
1974 musicians: Frank Zappa, Ruth Underwood, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Tom Fowler, Chester Thompson and George Duke

1. You Didn't Try to Call Me
2. Petrouska [Stravinsky]
3. Bristol Stomp [Appel/Mann]
4. Baby Love [Supremes]
5. Big Leg Emma
6. King Kong [edit]
7. It Can't Happen Here [edit]
8. No Matter What You Do (interpolating Tchaikovsky's 6th)

9. Pygmy Twylyte
10. Room Service

Side 1 is live in Stockholm 9/13/30-Sep-1967
Side 2 is live at the Long Beach Arena 31-Dec-1974

Track 1 has a longer spoken intro section.  Tracks 6 and 7 are much shorter than on 'Tis the Season to Be Jelly: "King Kong" is the 5:20-14:10 section and "It Can't Happen Here" the first 50 seconds.


LP9 - Zurkon Music

Parts officially issued on the BABY SNAKES video and/or album.

Length: ~45 min
Sound quality: FM/soundboard A-
Zurkon Music LP label: ZX 3659

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Adrian Belew, Patrick O'Hearn, Tommy Mars, Peter Wolf, Ed Mann and Terry Bozzio

1. Intro [from "Flakes"]
2. San Ber'dino [BABY SNAKES video version]
3. Tryin' to Grow a Chin [Stage #6 version]
4. City of Tiny Lites [BABY SNAKES video version]
5. The Squirm [guitar solo]
6. Big Leg Emma

7. Audience Participation [BABY SNAKES video version]
8. The Black Page #2 [BABY SNAKES video & Baby Snakes album version]
9. Jones Crusher [BABY SNAKES video & Baby Snakes album version]
10. Camarillo Brillo [BABY SNAKES video version]
11. Black Napkins [BABY SNAKES video version]

Some cover track lists are quite wrong; the above should be correct.  This is the Baby Snakes concert: tracks 2 & 4 and the entire side 2 appear in the BABY SNAKES video; tracks 8-9 even made it to the Baby Snakes album.  "Donna U Wanna" is an approximation of the name of a character in the BABY SNAKES movie.


LP10 - Back On The Straight And Narrow

Apollo Stadium, Adelaide, Australia, 24-Jan-1976

Length: ~45 min
Sound quality: Audience B
LP label: ZX 3660

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Andre Lewis, Terry Bozzio and Roy Estrada

1. The Illinois Enema Bandit
2. Wind up Working in a Gas Station
3. Tryin' to Grow a Chin
4. The Torture Never Stops

5. How Could I Be Such a Fool?
6. I Ain't Got No Heart
7. I'm Not Satisfied
8. Black Napkins
9. Honey, Don't You Want a Man like Me

The History & Collected Improvisations of Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention flips the sides around, and lists only three tracks on side 2: "The Illinois Enema Bandit", "Show Me Your Thumb" and "The Torture Never Stops".