Frank Zappa "A Toke Of His Extreme" (PCM Stereo only)

File this one under "if only." This was a TV special filmed by Zappa with hope of national syndication that never really saw the light of day. Featuring the band that was at the core of his most succesful albums (Apostophre/One Size Fits All/Roxy & Elsewhere) this is a relatively straight on performance that sounds quite awesome in 24/48 pcm stereo. Let's hope that the current bout of crowd funding on behalf of the Zappa family trust allows them to present the holy grail BD of "Roxy & Elsewhere" in 5.1 - but I wouldn't hold my breath. If you're a fan this is essential listening. Zappa with George Duke, Ruth Underwood, Napoleon Murphy Brock (and his boundless energy), Tom Fowler & Chester Thompson. Highly recommended.

elmer said:

File this one under "if only." This was a TV special filmed by Zappa with hope of national syndication that never really saw the light of day.

Click to expand...

So I'm glad to be one of those few to have the luck to see it in the eighties. I got a dub of this TV show somewhere around 1987/88 (IIRC). I guy at my then local pub worked at a comunity film equipment rental. He told me he has a copy recorded with an old Philips VCR system deck way back in 1978, or so. It was aired here in Germany, although don't know which of the then three stations we got here it was.

The rental shop still had a working machine of this (even then) obsolete format, so he was able to make me a copy on Betamax, which I could watch at home. I was witty enough to ask him of another copy on VHS, which I was able to dub to DVD somewhere in 2005.

And yes, I can confirm the new DVD is exactly the same as the TV special. Contrary to the material on "Dub Room Special" this has the visual solarization effects on some of the tracks.

-Kristian