A friend of mine got to interview Joe Travers recently. I asked him to put forth the following question regarding 5.1 mixes:
FZ showed some interest in quad. Is there any chance we could get some of his classic albums mixed into 5.1? Steven Wilson (of the band Porcupine Tree) who has done 5.1 remixes of albums for King Crimson, Yes, Jethro Tull, ELP, XTC, Tears For Fears and many others has stated that doing 5.1 mixes of some Zappa albums would be a dream project for him. In addition, the FZ catalog is now being distributed by a label (Universal) that has been showing an interest in 5.1 remixes, reissuing several classic albums on blu-ray audio.
This was Joe's response:
"Well it is unfortunate that surround audio just as a format on its own just isn't sticking. I was gung ho and super excited when SACD was coming around because I really felt that was a great format and I wanted to see.....well, still do.....so basically the priority is this: before you go in and start remixing Frank's records, which I know has been something that anybody hasn't really cared about doing, because it's something I know Gail wouldn't appreciate, but, Frank's quad mixes and quadraphonic material that's in the vault, should all be prioritized for surround releases and should have been years ago. It should have been on DVD-Audio. It should have been on SACD. And it should be on Blu-Ray Audio. But it just doesn't happen because it's a limited quantity of people that would appreciate that stuff. So because of it, it always gets tossed aside for a later time. I want to see Overnight Sensation, Roxy & Elsewhere and Apostrophe(') quad mixes made available to the consumer. Everyone thinks One Size Fits All was mixed in quad but it actually wasn't. Those were the three that were. And then put together a release of all the other stuff that's in the vault. And it could even be multiple releases, there's that much. And then once that stuff comes out, depending on how it does, it would be interesting to see the sales of that stuff because if it really does sell well then maybe the inclination to do 5.1 stuff might become more of a reality."