Waka/Jawaka - The Grand Wazoo - Over-Nite Sensation - Apostrophe (') - Roxy & Elsewhere - One Size Fits All - Bongo Fury - Zoot Allures
After publishing in 1972 Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo with the Bizarre label, in 1973 Zappa went to a new agreement with Warner Bros. and Over-Nite Sensation was the first album for the new DiscReet label, distributed (and sometimes published) in Europe by WEA-Reprise. Bongo Fury was the last album for the DiscReet label: in 1976 Zappa went in trouble with his associate label manager Herb Cohen, so he negotiate a new separate recording deal with the label's parent, Warner Bros. Zoot Allures was the first album for Warner Bros (and the only one really authorized by Zappa that went soon in war with Warner Bros. too - see Part 4 ).
All these albums were reissued (as usual for mail orders only and digitally remastered with Bob Stone) in The Old Masters Box Three in 1987, the last one (a fourth box was planned by never published: in 1988 CD was already the new standard format and Zappa had began the first CD re-issue of his albums since 1986, having signed an exclusive agreement for USA CD release of old and new records with Rykodisc).
The first CD editions of these records were published between 1986 and 1990 (some before The Old Masters Box Three edition) and were mostly based on the same digital remastering of The Old Masters, without great deviations from the original vinyls.
In 1995 Ryko released the "definitive" CD editions of these records with the "1993 FZ approved masters" and in 1986 the "Gold" audiophile editions of Apostrophe (') and One Size Fits All with flat transfer to digital from the original stereo vinyl masters.
Click on the album acronym to get the detailed real Vinyl-vs-CD album faq page at The Zappa Patio.
| Album | Year | Edition | Mix and editing differences | Other differences and relation to other albums | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WJ | 1LP | 1972 | Bizarre MS 2094 | A mid-seventies FZ's quadraphonic mix (with different edits) of the title track is available on Quadiophiliac | |
| 1987 | Barking Pumpkin BPR 9999-1 | Digitally remastered, close to the original mix. | |||
| 1CD | 1989 | Ryko RCD 10094 US | Digitally remastered, close to the original mix with added reverb. | ||
| Zappa CDZAP10 EU | |||||
| 1995 | Ryko RCD 10516 | ||||
| TGW | 1LP | 1972 | Bizarre MS 2093 | ||
| 1CD | 1986 | Ryko RCD 10026 US | Digitally remastered, close to the original mix. | ||
| 1LP | 1987 | Barking Pumpkin BPR 9999-2 | |||
| 1CD | 1990 | Zappa CDZAP31 EU | Digitally remastered, close to the original mix. | Re-sequenced, with tracks 1 and 2 flipped around. | |
| 1995 | Ryko RCD 10517 | ||||
| OS | 1LP | 1973 | DiscReet MS 2149 | ||
| DiscReet MS-4-2149 | Quadraphonic mix, no edit differences with stereo mix.* | ||||
| 1CD | 1986 | Ryko RCD 40025 US | Digitally remastered, close to the original mix. Various minor sound and mastering differences have been noted for the three CD versions. The RCD10518 CD has better mastering. |
Coupled with Apostrophe (') | |
| 1LP | 1987 | Barking Pumpkin BPR 9999-3 | |||
| 1CD | 1990 | Zappa CDZAP18 EU | Coupled with Apostrophe (') | ||
| 1995 | Ryko RCD 10518 | ||||
| A | 1LP | 1974 | DiscReet MS 2175 | ||
| DiscReet MS-4-2175 | Quadraphonic mix, with one edit difference with stereo mix (Don't Eat The Yellow Snow is a couple of seconds longer).* |
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| 1CD | 1986 | Ryko RCD 40025 US | 1986 remix: digitally remastered probably from the quadraphonic version. Compared to original stereo vinyl, major mix differences occurs on Uncle Remus and Excentrifugal Forz. Edit differences has been detected on Don't Eat The Yellow Stone (same edit as and quadraphonic version) and Uncle Remus (a few seconds shorter). Various minor sound and mastering differences have been noted for the three CD versions. RCD10519 has better mastering. |
Coupled with Over-Nite Sensation | |
| 1LP | 1987 | Barking Pumpkin BPR 9999-4 | |||
| 1CD | 1990 | Zappa CDZAP18 EU | Coupled with Over-Nite Sensation | ||
| 1995 | Ryko RCD 10519 | ||||
| 1996 | Ryko RCD 80519 | Remastered version of original vinyl stereo mix. | Audiophile AU20 Gold CD | ||
| 1998 | Ryko RCD 10519** | Ryko used the Au20 Gold CD master (same as vinyl) also for the regular RCD 10519 issue during (circa) 1998 - 2001.** | |||
| R&E | 2LP | 1974 | DiscReet 2DS 2202 | ||
| 1987 | Barking Pumpkin BPR 9999-5 | Digitally remastered, close to the original mix (there are conflicting reports about this having the original or the new mix of Cheepnis). | |||
| 1CD | 1992 | Zappa CDZAP39 EU | Digitally remastered, close to the original mix. | ||
| Barking Pumpkin D274241 US | Digitally remastered, close to the original mix, except for Cheepnis which has a brand new mix (and a little edit). | Some prints of this CD may have the old mix of Cheepnis. | |||
| 1995 | Ryko RCD 10520 | ||||
| OSFA | 1LP | 1975 | DiscReet DS 2216 | ||
| 1987 | Barking Pumpkin BPR 9999-6 | Digitally remastered, close to the original mix with some added reverb. Pojama People has a shorter fade-out (a couple of seconds, with some music missing). |
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| 1CD | 1989 | Ryko RCD 10095 US | |||
| Zappa CDZAP11 EU | |||||
| 1995 | Ryko RCD 10521 | ||||
| 1996 | Ryko RCD 80512 | Remastered from the original 1975 vinyl masters. | Audiophile AU20 Gold CD | ||
| 1998 | Ryko RCD 10521*** | Ryko used the Au20 Gold CD master also for the regular RCD 10521 issue during (circa) 1998 - 2001. *** | |||
| BF | 1LP | 1975 | DiscReet MS 2234 | ||
| 1987 | Barking Pumpkin BPR 9999-7 | Digitally remastered, close to the original mix. | |||
| 1CD | 1989 | Ryko RCD 10095 US | |||
| Zappa CDZAP11 EU | |||||
| 1995 | Ryko RCD 10522 | ||||
| ZA | 1LP | 1976 | Warner Bros. BS 2970 | The songs Zoot Allures and Black Napkins from this album are also contained (in the same mastering of the 1995 CD) in FZPTMOFZ. | |
| 1987 | Barking Pumpkin BPR 9999-8 | Digitally remastered, close to the original mix, but reEQed with added reverb. Disco Boy has a different mix, run slightly faster and has a different edit (the new version is about 20 seconds shorter). It's general opinion that the original vinyl version of this album sounds much better. |
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| 1CD | 1990 | Ryko RCD10160 US | |||
| Zappa CDZAP22 EU | |||||
| 1995 | Ryko RCD 10523 | ||||
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* For a complete overview over the quadraphonic versions of Over-Nite Sensation and Apostrophe (') check this page at The Zappa Patio. ** Looking completely identical outside, the way to surely recognize if the Apostrophe (') RCD 10518 you have in hand is the remastered old vinyl mix for the Au20 Gold CD release or the remixed version for the regular CD issue is to check on a CD player the length of Uncle Remus: on the remixed CD it is about 2:44, on the gold CD it is about 2:49. *** Again, a secure way to recognize if the One Size Fits All RCD 10521 you have in hand is the remastered old vinyl mix for the Au20 Gold CD release or the regular CD issue is to check on a CD player the length of Sofa No. 2: it's about 2:47 on the gold version, only about 2:42 on the regular edition (difference is dead air). | |||||
Disclaimer
For original vinyl version, as general rule, only the first US issue is listed.
Barking Pumpkin BPR 9999-X refer to The Old Masters Box Three vinyl edition.
For CD releases only the main US and European editions are listed.
Waka/Jawaka - The Grand Wazoo - Over-Nite Sensation - Apostrophe (') - Roxy & Elsewhere - One Size Fits All - Bongo Fury - Zoot Allures
This page created on April 2005 and latest revised on January 5, 2009