Official Release #100. The LAST album by Frank Zappa. The last album that guitarist Frank Zappa worked on prior to his death in December 1993 will finally be released this June. Titled Dance Me This, the LP is considered the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's 100th and final official release, ending a legacy that began with the Mothers of Invention's landmark 1966 album Freak Out! In talking to Guitar Magazine prior to his death at the age of 52, Zappa described his final LP as "a Synclavier album called Dance Me This, which is designed to be used by modern dance groups. It's probably not going to come out until next year," the Guardian reports. The album was ultimately shelved indefinitely, and while a steady stream of posthumous releases and reissues have satisfied Zappa fans in the following decades, Dance Me This was all but forgotten until Zappa's widow Gail Zappa began hinting at the final album's eventual arrival in 2011.
Finally released on a pair of CDs in 1997 (26 years after it's initial release on vinyl), 200 MOTELS is the soundtrack to Frank Zappa's wacky 1971 motion picture of the same name, which starred Ringo Starr and Keith Moon, among others. Although it enjoyed success as a "midnight movie" in the '70s/early '80s, 200 MOTELS is a difficult movie to comprehend, since the storyline is very abstract (some have hinted that it was made up on the spot!). But even when his music is difficult to understand, Zappa includes many interesting twists and turns, and the soundtrack for 200 MOTELS is no different.
Frank Zappa’s fall 1975 touring schedule brought him to two cities in Yugoslavia, marking the first and only time he played shows in that country. This 2 CD set combines performances from both shows, recorded live in Zagreb on November 21st and Ljubljana on November 22nd, 1975. This release showcases a rare band line-up of The Mothers, featuring Norma Bell on saxes and vocals. FZ would discontinue using The Mothers name for good after the European and Australian leg in early 1976. Re-mixed from the original 1/2” 8-track tape masters by Craig Parker Adams and mastered by John Polito, this historical set is the only multi-tracked document of this group in the Vault.
An uneven, nearly all-live double-record set, Tinseltown Rebellion mixes new material and versions of Zappa oldies like "Love of My Life," "I Ain't Got No Heart," "Tell Me You Love Me," "Brown Shoes Don't Make It," and a reworked "Peaches en Regalia," titled "Peaches III." These songs, as well as the band's stellar instrumental work, provide the album's best moments…
For all of his many attributes, one thing Frank Zappa most certainly was not is commercial. Presumably, the title of this collection is ironic. Strictly Commercial: The Best of Frank Zappa is a compilation not of the composer's hits – he only broke the Top 40 on one occasion, with "Valley Girl" – but rather, a collection of his best-known material, from "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" to "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace."…