Career-Spanning Frank Zappa Compilation, ‘ZAPPAtite,’ Coming To Vinyl
Originally released back in 2016, ‘ZAPPAtite – Frank Zappa’s Tastiest Tracks’ features 18 delicious tracks divided into four courses of food.
A career-spanning Frank Zappa collection is coming soon. ZAPPAtite – Frank Zappa’s Tastiest Tracks features a selection of compositions from across the prolific artist’s career. Originally available only on CD and digitally upon release in 2016, ZAPPAtite now arrives on vinyl for the first time in celebration of its 10th anniversary.
The vinyl offerings include a 2LP set on black vinyl and a limited-edition 2LP color exclusive on pink swirl vinyl, both featuring a gatefold jacket and “menu” insert. Additionally, the CD will once again be available. ZAPPAtite will be released in all formats on July 17 via Zappa Records/UMe and is available to pre-order now.
ZAPPAtite collects 18 tracks curated by Ahmet Zappa and Zappa Vaultmeister Joe Travers. The album is divided into four courses—’Appetizers,’ ‘Entrées,’ ‘Second Course,’ and ‘Desserts’—and the food theme carries throughout the artwork, which features Zappa in a diner, a tracklist designed like a menu, and references to some of Zappa’s favorite foods.
“This isn’t a greatest hits album, as Frank didn’t really have ‘hits,’ per se, nor is it a ‘best of,’ since it would be impossible to fit so much awesome onto one disc,” said Ahmet Zappa in 2016. “It’s a veritable smorgasbord of musicality for the curious and a buffet of favorites for the fans.”
‘Appetizers’ begins with “I’m The Slime” and “Dirty Love” from Zappa’s 1973 breakthrough Over-Nite Sensation. There’s also the Grammy-nominated disco satire “Dancing Fool”; “Trouble Every Day” from the Mothers of Invention’s groundbreaking 1966 debut, Freak Out!; and one of Zappa’s best-known works, the beloved instrumental “Peaches En Regalia” from his 1969 solo breakthrough Hot Rats.
‘Entrées’ includes the controversial European smash “Bobby Brown Goes Down” from Zappa’s popular 1979 album Sheik Yerbouti; the enduring Top 40 hit “Valley Girl,” featuring his then-14-year-old daughter Moon Unit, from 1982’s Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch; and the surreal title track “Joe’s Garage” from the 1979 album of the same name.
‘Second Course’ offers the blues rocker “Cosmik Debris” alongside the humorous “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow,” two standouts from one of Zappa’s most commercially accessible albums, 1974’s Apostrophe (’). The chapter also highlights Zappa’s musical virtuosity and singular live performances with the comedic “Titties & Beer” from the 1978 live album Zappa In New York.
Desserts concludes the sonic feast with the frenetic Synclavier-fueled “G-Spot Tornado” from 1986’s Jazz From Hell; the anti-drug screed “Cocaine Decisions” from 1983’s The Man From Utopia; and “Zoot Allures,” the atmospheric instrumental showcasing some of Zappa’s most electrifying guitar work, from 1976’s Zoot Allures. It beautifully wraps up with a performance of “Strictly Genteel” featuring the London Symphony Orchestra, the epic orchestral-rock piece that originally served as the grand finale to Zappa’s surrealist 1971 film 200 Motels.
