Saturday, December 12, 2020

Zappadan 2020 Orchestral Favorites 40th Anniversary 2019

Happy Zappadan one and all. The celebration on the blogosphere seems a bit subdued this year, but Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr all have some news of the holiday. And of course you can explore my Zappadan posts from the past right here.

This new 3 CD version of Orchestral Favorites, recorded in 1975 and originally released in 1979, is a real treat. The original release included five excellent tracks, all recorded in the afternoons before live performances in the evening. Those five tracks are here, plus a "keyboard overdose" version of Strictly Genteel with Tommy Mars' keyboard overdubs recorded in 1978. Frank was always upset about the sound of the original release because the master tone reel was not used to align the tape heads for mastering the original release. That's been fixed here, so the sound is quite good, and better than the original.

But even more exciting is that the concerts performed in the evening included twelve songs, not just five, and this set includes (on CDs 2 and 3), the entire performance with the orchestra live on the evening of September 18, 1975. Well, almost the entire show, as the tape ran out near the end of the last song, which is faded out. The additional material has mostly never been released, and lots of it is great. For fans of Zappa's contemporary classical music (see here and here), this is very exciting news. There is even a 13 minute version of The Adventures of Greggery Peccary that is outstanding, and a fine rendition of Lumpy Gravy that is decidedly out there.

I'm not certain that everything the Zappa Family Trust has released posthumously has been worth dropping your coin on, but if you liked the original Orchestral Favorites, this is an easy recommendation.

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