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Bootleg 45s and Stuff
There are quite a few known bootleg singles/EPs, which is quite amusing.
- Hungry Freaks, Daddy / Trouble Every Day
- Valarie / My Guitar
- The "Strong Willie" Shape
- Punky's Whips
- The Talking Asshole / Metal Man Has Hornet's Wings
- Redunzel / Inca Roads
- Envelopes / Black Napkins
- My Name is Fritz
Hungry Freaks, Daddy / Trouble [Comin'] Every Day (Shaped Picture EP)
Length: ~10 min
Sound quality: Presumably OK stereo
Label: SDRM / Black Label Records (?)
Side 1. Hungry Freaks, Daddy
Side 2. Trouble [Comin'] Every Day
They look to be album versions. Issued as a shaped picture disc. (How?)
Valarie / My Guitar (7" 45-RPM Single)
Length: ~10 min
Sound quality: Soundboard?
Label: Collectors Series JCM Records CM 804
Side 1. Valarie [listed as "Vallary"] [Clarence Lewis / Bobby Robinson]
Side 2. My Guitar
Are these live versions from The Ark? The back-cover picture from the LSO double CD, with Zappa in a striped shirt, is on the cover, next to a picture of a topless woman, all on a white background.
The "Strong Willie" Shape (Shaped 45-RPM EP)
- Fullerton, 06-Nov-1968
Musicians: Frank Zappa, Jimmy Carl Black, Bunk Gardner, Don Preston, Jim Sherwood, Roy Estrada, Arthur Dyer Tripp III and special guest Larry "Wild Man" Fischer
- Label: Flashback Records
1. Intro (03:36)
2. Bacon Fat (03:35) [Andre Williams / Brown]3.The Wild Man Fischer Story (03:28) [Fischer]
4. I'm the Meany (01:49) [Fischer]
5. Valerie (02:16) [Jacke & the Starlites]
All tracks are taken from Our Man in Nirvana. Tracks 3-4 are solo performances from Wild Man Fischer ("I'm the Meany" is about the Beatles).
From Andreas Kerschgens:
Shape with black & white ugly drawing by Brigitte Kowaicyk showing a naked Frank Zappa wearing a basecap and holding his huge cable-penis which ends with a plug. Same cover as Jungle Folksongs with Zappa & Kong from Flashback World Productions (Flash 08890104 SH). All songs recorded live at Fullerton, November 6th, 1968. On the cover you find the track list and the following text:
Total running time (14:44) min. Please play at 45 RPM - loud and often! Words and music composed and performed by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention feat. Wild Man Fischer.
Note: This shape is dedicated to all strong willies in the world.
Redunzel / Inca Roads (7" 45-RPM Single)
Label: Articles 001
Side 1. RDNZL [listed as "Redunzel"] [longer edit of The Lost Episodes version]
Side 2. Inca Roads [slightly longer edit of The Lost Episodes version]
Released in 1982. These are the versions that saw official release on The Lost Episodes, but these edits are longer, and mixed differently. "RDNZL" is about 04:11 (22 seconds longer than on The Lost Episodes), and the fade-out in "Inca Roads" is a couple of seconds longer, too.
Punky's Whips (7" 45-RPM Single)
- The Läther track
Length: ~10 min
Sound quality: Presumably flawless stereo
Label: Ricordi / International SIR 20039
Side 1. Punky's Whips (part 1) [Läther version]
Side 2. Punky's Whips (part 2) [Läther version]
The track that caused the whole Läther debacle had by 1981 become so sought-after that it was deemed ripe for undergound single release. (In 1982, a legitimate version appeared on the Baby Snakes album.) There's no difference between the single version and the Läther version. Original run on black vinyl, re-pressed on red and on yellow and on green. Worth something like 35$ in 1998.
The Talking Asshole / Metal Man Has Hornet's Wings (7" 45-RPM Single)
Label: Safe Records
Side 1. The Talking Asshole
Side 2. Metal Man Has Hornet's Wings ["Metal Man Has Won His Wings"] [Mystery Disc version]
Side 1 has Zappa reading the chapter "The Talking Asshole" from the William S. Burroughs book The Naked Lunch. It was recorded on "12/2/78" in New York at the Nova Convention. (This track was officially released on a William S. Burroughs poetry CD called Cash Cow.) Side 2 has been officially released on the Mystery Disc. This single was released in 1982, in a "wrap-around" picture sleeve (or "pseudo-picture sleeve") or another variant cover. In 1998, it was worth around $40.
Black Napkins / Envelopes (7" 45-RPM Single)
Label: Safe Records SFE-1002
Side 1. Black Napkins [31-Oct-1981]
Side 2. Envelopes [17-Nov-1981]
Housed in several variant covers, this single has among other things been distributed as a bonus with some of the Toxic Shock bootleg boxes. One such cover says "another QUALITY pressing from $afe Record$", along with the band line-up and track details plus two little pictures of Zappa. On the label, which has a nice red-to-yellow colour gradient, the band is identified as "THE SOOTS".
My Name is Fritz (7" 45-RPM Single)
Label: Angry Taxman Records
Side 1. My Name is Fritz
Side 2. My Name is Fritz (continued)
Released in 450 red vinyl copies in 1983. This is the same recording as "German Lunch" on Stage #5, but it is edited there and longer here - not just cut at the end, but edited all over. Here is a transcription which highlights the differences between the bootleg and official versions. Copies came with red, blue or black & white inserts.
- See also: A Collector's 10 Favourite Zappa Boots (this single reached #11!)