Orchestral Bootlegs

These are few and maybe not orchestral all the way, but special in that they focus on "classical" or "serious" music. (Bootlegs listed elsewhere may also be partly orchestral.)

200 Motels Live with Zubin Mehta & the LA Philharmonic (LP)
Frank Zappa & Hot Rats at the Olympic / 200 Motels Live with Zubin Mehta & the LA Philharmonic (2 LP)
Frank Zappa Live at the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Provocative Squats (2 LP)

  • "Contempo '70" orchestral concert, University of California, Los Angeles, 15-May-1970 (the LA Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta)
     
  • Re-issued with Frank Zappa & Hot Rats at the Olympic (2 LP, TMOQ 7506) - and that double was copied on POD Records (with a different cover), re-pressed on green and orange vinyl from the TMOQ plates by K&S records as K&S 020 (150 copies), and re-issued as Provocative Squats, with a white cover and red insert
  • Also issued as Frank Zappa Live at the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a pencil-front cover

200 Motels Live

Length: ~45 min
Label: Trademark of Quality Records TMOQ 71010 (LP)

Musicians: Frank Zappa, Ray Collins ("only briefly audible"), Jeff Simmons, Aynsley Dunbar, Billy Mundi, Ian Underwood, Don Preston, Motorhead Sherwood and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta

There is no track list.
The record has no track separation and
both sides contain more or less non-stop music.

Since there's no track list, what was actually played? According to Jon Naurin, "they played a long, orchestral suite called '200 Motels'", and according to Michael Gula, "that composition was really a hodge-podge, containing parts of what is now 'Bogus Pomp' along with themes of a number of Zappa tunes that were weeded out". Themes can be recognised from "Envelopes", "Holiday in Berlin", "A Pound for a Brown on the Bus", "The Duke of Prunes", "Who Needs the Peace Corps", "The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbeque", "Oh No" and 200 Motels. Jon Naurin provides this break down of the "200 Motels" suite:

  • Pound for a Brown
  • Oh No
  • Envelopes
  • Little House I Used to Live in
  • Tuna Sandwich
  • Redneck Eats
  • World's Greatest Sinner
  • Holiday in Berlin
  • Inca Roads
  • Strictly Genteel
  • Duke of Prunes
  • Who Needs the Peace Corps?
  • Pound for a Brown
  • Oh No
  • The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue

The vinyl original of this was the first Zappa bootleg record ever released, and despite the record number, the first Trademark of Quality release. Some report that early TMOQ runs were on red vinyl, later runs on black and in various covers. the very first edition (black vinyl) had hand-drawn covers! However, there are confirmed reports of a green vinyl pressing of TMOQ 71010, housed in a green, hand-stamped cardboard sleeve. A reader's account:

The title appears to have been stamped (as in rubber stamped) on in black or dark blue ink. The label itself is just white with the large numbers "1" and "2." In the album is a "catalog" (a folded, single, typed pink sheet) of the "Trade Mark of Quality" (with a picture of a pig) listing available albums from the Beatles to Zappa. The entry for this album reads:

The suite for rock group and orchestra. (Recorded live at UCLA, Los Angeles) (This album is different from the motion picture soundtrack of the same name) $5.00

Live at the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Matrix number: 746-1

An owner of this LP has ventured a timed track list:

1. Introduction (01:57)
2. A Pound for a Brown (05:56)
3. Oh No / Envelopes / Little House I Used to Live in (02:23)
4. Tuna Sandwich / Redneck Eats / World's Greatest Sinner (10:53)
5. Holiday in Berlin [cut] (03:00)
6. Holiday in Berlin (Beginning is missing) (02:10)
7. Strictly Genteel (01:26)
8. Duke of Prunes (07:31)
9. Who Needs the Peace Corps? (01:22)
10. A Pound for a Brown (10:52)
11. Oh No (02:53)
12. Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue (01:34)

This was sold in a "pencil-front" white cover, with the title scribbled (or printed on?) by hand.

Serious Music (LP/CD)

  • "A Zappa Affair" orchestral concert, Zellerbach Auditorium, UC Berkeley, 16-Jun-1984
  • The World's Greatest Sinner film excerpt
  • Basement 1978
  • Studio 1972

Re-issued on CD (Japan OCT 31) 

Length: ~52 min
Sound quality: FM radio A / Soundboard? (claims "digitally remastered")
Label: ICA Masterworks Oct 31 (original vinyl)

Musicians: various

1. Sinister Footwear (26:54)

2. The World's Greatest Sinner (11:54)
3. Revenge of the Knick-Knack People (6:20) [extended version]
4. RDNZL (4:08) [longer edit of the Lost Episodes version]
5. Inca Roads (3:56) [slightly longer edit of the Lost Episodes version]

Track 1, the ballet "Sinister Footwear", was recorded at the "A Zappa Affair" concert at the Zellerbach Auditorium at UC Berkeley. It was played by the Berkely Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kent Nagano. This is the only time "Sinister Footwear" has been performed in its entirety, and Zappa was most unhappy with the results. The orchestra plays it very, very slowly. The ballet consisted of giant puppets with dancers inside them. It is in three movements and 21 parts (averaging 7 parts per movement). The parts are named as follows:

1: Jake Who Designs It
2: Somewhere in New Jersey Where They Make Them
3: Illegal Aliens on a Lunch Break
4: At the Catering Truck
5: Jake Eats a Molded Jello Salad
6: Jake's Secretary
7: Illegal Aliens Work Slower in the Afternoon
8: Jake's Secretary Reads Her Magazine
9: Illegal Aliens Want to Go Home
10: Jake's Secretary Eats Cottage Cheese
11: Ugly Shoes on the Assembly Line
12: What You Think You Look Like When You're Wearing Them
13: Sometimes They Make You Walk Funny
14: Other People Pretend Not to Notice
15: Sometimes You Have to Take Them Off for a Minute
16: Then You Put Them Back On Because You Think They Look So Good on You
17: Children Can Also Have Ugly Shoes
18: The Foot Doctor Says You Might Need an Operation
19: But You're Going to Wear Them Anyway
20: Everybody Has a Pair Somewhere
21: A Place You Can Go When You've Got Them On

Track 2 is an excerpt from the film THE WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER that Zappa scored in 1961 - the film music was played by the Pomona Valley Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fred E Graff, recorded at Chaffey College, and the parts of Satan (the narrator) and Clarence "God" Hilliard were played by Paul Frees and Timothy A. Carey, respectively. Track 3 is a longer version of the ballet for piano, percussion and tape effects that appears as a bonus track on Läther. Tracks 4-5 are the versions on The Lost Episodes (although the cover boasts "WAZOO"), but these edits are a bit longer: "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. By the way, the Japanese CD re-issue calls this an "official unreleased album", which it is not. The original vinyl was released in 1984.

(There was for a while thought to be an unknown bootleg called "Orchestral Madness" with some of this material, but it has now been shown that it was just a case of Serious Music having a sticker on the cover saying "Orchestral Madness". There is a Son of Serious Music, though.)

See also: Randomonium

Son of Serious Music

  • "A Zappa Affair" orchestral concert, Zellerbach Auditorium, UC Berkeley, 16-Jun-1984

Length: ~48 min
Sound quality: FM radio (claims "digitally remastered")
Label: ICA Masterworks Jun 161984

Musicians: unknown

1. Bob in Dacron (11:53)
2. Sad Jane (9:06)
3. Spontaneous Minimalist Composition (1:59)

4. Mo & Herb's Vacation (25:56)

Released (with colour covers) in 1986 as the follow-up to 1984's Serious Music. The matrix number s SUN-161984-A/B, with NTB 8611/12 stricken out. The sleeve has a sticker which reads "Gadzooks! Frank Zappa Orchestral Madness".

Zappa was not very happy with this performance. From an interview in Society Pages USA #2, 1990:

Well, look, Kent is very fine and dedicated conductor, and the Berkeley [Symphony] Orchestra really put a lot of effort into it, but based on what I heard on the tapes, I mean, some parts, for example, of "Mo & Herb's Vacation" and "Bob in Dacron", they're playing them better than the LSO, faster, more accurately, but all in all, there's just not enough time or enough money to get everything nailed down to a really perfect ...

See also: Randomonium

Return of the Son of Serious Music

  • Orchestral situation at Mount Saint Mary's College, 1963
  • Other orchestral recordings
  • Synclavier recordings

Re-issued as record 9 of the Mystery Box

Length: ~47 min
Label: Nifty, Tough & Bitchen Records

Musicians: unknown

1. Piece #1
2. Piano Piece
3. Piece #2
4. Collage One
5. Opus 5

6. While You Were Art #1
7. Francesco Opus 1, No. 1, 2nd Movement Allegro con Brio [Francesco Zappa]
8. Francesco Opus 1, #3, 2nd Movement Presto [listed as Opus 1/6] [Francesco Zappa]
9. Francesco Opus 1, #6, 2nd Movement Minuet [listed as Opus 1/11] [Francesco Zappa]
10. Francesco Rock [Opus 1, #1, 1st Movement Andante] [Francesco Zappa]
11. Pedro's Dowry

Side 1 is from an orchestral situation with the Pomona Valley Symphony Orchestra at Mount Saint Mary's College, Claremont, California in 1963, conducted by Frank Zappa. A small part of this has been officially released on The Lost Episodes, as "Mount Saint Mary's Concert Excerpt".

According to the liner notes on the Mystery Box, "While You Were Art #1" is the "original, stripped-down version", and the Francesco tracks are out-takes. They sound like different orchestrations of Francesco Zappa album tracks. "Francesco Rock" has a drum track. 

The notes also claim that "Pedro's Dowry" was played by the Berkely Symphony Orchestra in June 1981, but it's from "A Zappa Affair", June 16, 1984. Anyway, this release may or may not be related to the bootlegs Serious Music and Son of Serious Music - it's certainly supposed to look that way.

Our Pal, Biffy the Elephant Shrew, pins down the source of "Francesco Rock": 

He didn't play it live, but he did play the tape during at least one live (non-concert) appearance: "Speaking of Music", San Francisco, May 20 1984. This was broadcast, and I'd venture that that's where the bootleg comes from.

See also: Randomonium

Orchestral Rarities 1961-1986 (Cassette)

  • Various, probably straight from the Apocrypha box

Label: Renn Records Australia RR-22
Sound quality: "excellent" "soundboard or original source"

The track list includes these titles, probably in this order, and probably nothing else:

1. The World's Greatest Sinner
2. Randomonium
3. In Memoriam Hieronymus Bosch
4. Gypsy Airs 
5. The Jelly ["long version" with at least something in common with the CD version of "Didja Get Any Onya?" from Weasels Ripped My Flesh]
6. Some Ballet Music
7. Revenge of the Knick-Knack People ["long version" of Läther bonus track]
8. Moe's Vacation / The Black Page #2
9. Spontaneous Minimalist Composition / Sinister Footwear
10. While You Were Art #1
11. The Black Page #1

  • Track 1 is the film music to THE WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER, a film Zappa scored in 1961 - the Pomona Valley Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fred E Graff, recorded at Chaffey College.
  • Track 2 is an alternate take of "Dwarf Nebula" from Weasels Ripped My Flesh, recorded at Apostolic Studios, New York.
  • Track 3 is a live improvisation from a New York TV show called The Bitter End in 1967 (Hieronymus Bosch was a 15th/16th-century painter from the Netherlands, who painted monstrous images).
  • Track 4 is listed as "1967 Studio /1975 UCLA Royce Hall". Two pieces called "Sink Trap" and "Gypsy Airs" were recorded at the Lumpy Gravy sessions in 1967, and "Sink Trap" was also played in 1975 at the Royce Hall concerts where Orchestral Favorites was recorded. Such a recording of "Sink Trap" appears on Apocrypha, listed as "Gypsy Airs"; what this cassette holds exactly is not known.
  • Track 5 is listed as a "long version" of a track called "The Jelly" on several bootlegs (notably Apocrypha). Usually, "The Jelly" is the last 2 minutes and 10 or so seconds of the CD version of "Didja Get Any Onya?" from Weasels Ripped My Flesh (plus a couple of extra seconds at the end); what this cassette holds exactly is not known.
  • Track 6 is from The Ark; the Mothers live at the Ark in Boston, 1969. It contains what would later become "If it's wide enough, everyone will know ..." section of "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary".
  • Track 7 is listed as a "long version" of "Revenge of the Knick-Knack People", which is on the Läther CD. 
  • Track 8 is live in Poughkeepsie 1978, taken from the Remington Electric Razor bootleg. The first 4:08 is "Moe's Vacation" (an early version of "Moe & Herb's Vacation" in a basic arrangement), the rest is "The Black Page #2".
  • Track 9 is from the "Zappa Affair" concert at the UC Berkeley Zellerbach Auditorium, 16-Jun-1984, with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano. It is the only recording of the entire "Sinister Footwear" ballet. It originally appeared on the bootlegs Serious Music and Son of Serious Music.
  • Tracks 10 and 11 are synclavier recordings from 1985 and 1986. "The Black Page #1" is from an 8" flexi disc issued with Keyboard Magazine.

Everything on this tape, in some form or another (and most likey in completely identical form) is also on Apocrpyha. The tape itself is Australian.

home - vinyl vs CDs - weirdo discography - bootlegs - misc - hot lynx - e-mail us at zappa dot patio at gmail dot com 2006-04-22 20:02

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