VIA PRESS RELEASE | Forget Black Friday, Franksgiving is the real event as today ushers in the long-awaited release of Alex Winter’s highly acclaimed documentary, Zappa, about the prolific genius composer, free speech activist, cultural ambassador to Czechoslovakia and legendary musician, Frank Zappa, as well as the surprise digital release of the corresponding Zappa Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. A perfect complement to the film, the 68-track soundtrack is available to stream and download now via Zappa Records/UMe. Zappa is now available everywhere in the U.S. on demand from Magnolia Pictures.
Today also sees the launch of pre-orders for several physical releases of the soundtrack including in two deluxe formats: a 3CD edition slated for February 19, 2021 and a 5LP box set planned for May 7, 2021, which will be available on 180-gram black vinyl as well as on limited edition 180-gram smoke vinyl, exclusively via Zappa.com, uDiscover and Sound of Vinyl online stores.
The deluxe physical and digital editions showcase Zappa’s unique sonic brilliance and nearly every song heard in the film, including 12 previously unreleased recordings from The Vault, which include performances from the Whisky A Go-Go in 1968, the Fillmore West in ‘70 and Zappa’s famed performance of “Dancin’ Fool” on Saturday Night Live in ’78. The soundtrack spans Zappa’s expansive catalog with 25 additional songs from across his peerless and influential career, from his seminal 1966 debut double album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, to the final release of his lifetime, 1993’s The Yellow Shark, a live orchestral album performed by the Ensemble Modern in Europe in 1992.
The soundtrack features songs from Zappa’s record labels Straight and Bizarre Records such as “No Longer Umpire” from Alice Cooper’s debut album, Pretties For You, originally released on Straight in 1969; “The Captain’s Fat Theresa Shoes” by GTO’s, from the all-girl group’s one and only album, Permanent Damage, produced by Zappa. It also includes two classical compositions by Zappa’s lifetime inspirations Edgard Varese and Igor Stravinsky as well as several interview clips. The soundtrack is rounded out with 26 original score cues newly composed by John Frizzell for the documentary.
A 2LP edition on 180-gram clear vinyl and 21-track digital edition will also be available, collecting together eight of the unreleased recordings from the Zappa archive, the SNL performance and 13 recordings from Zappa’s extensive recording career.
With unfettered access to the Zappa Trust and all archival footage, “Zappa” explores the private life behind the mammoth musical career that never shied away from the political turbulence of its time. Winter’s assembly features appearances by Zappa’s widow Gail Zappa and several of his musical collaborators including Mike Keneally, Ian Underwood, Steve Vai, Pamela Des Barres, Bunk Gardner, David Harrington, Scott Thunes, Ruth Underwood, Ray White and others. Announced on Kickstarter in 2016, the film became the highest-funded documentary in the crowdfunding site’s history.
Taken together Zappa and the companion soundtrack offer a riveting, revealing and emotional portrait of Frank Zappa, a trailblazer, iconoclast, virtuosic musician and fearless artist who forever changed music and culture with his unconventional and uncompromising vision. From his early psychedelic rock beginnings to his avant-garde experimentation, jazz-rock explorations, symphonic suites and satirical send-ups to his conceptual, compositional and technological innovations, Zappa shattered the norms every step of the way and his influence and ethos continues to reverberate as strongly today as ever.
