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But in his interview, Joe Travers also negates the fact that all those hi res formats [SACD, DVD~A & BD~A] are capable of entertaining Stereo as well as 5.1 mixes and would thus have a broader appeal.

A valid point, but how much broader?
I suspect what audience is left for Zappa, 99% aren't interested in trying to listen to stereo music on BluRay.
They want something they can play in the car or rip to an iPod.

Tomorrow I'll have the Little Dots RBCD in my mailbox on release day, $8.39.
It's currently #148 in Amazon music sales.
How would it have sold if it was a $30 SACD?

So try a test release already!

They can dribble these releases out forever, but if they don't get going everybody that might buy them will have died of old age, like Gail.
We can only hope the squabbling among the children doesn't compromise the momentum.

Tomorrow they're having an estate auction, 837 items are listed here: http://www.julienslive.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/192/?page=1
These sales are always mildly depressing for me, I only made it to the second page with the kids' art, didn't get all the way to Frank's old clothes and stolen motel room keys...


During the Zappas' decades of touring the globe, they amassed a collection of exotic furnishings, fine antiques, salvaged architectural pieces, unique collectibles and whimsical items that appealed to their panache for colorful and non-conformist eye. The Property from the Estate of Frank and Gail Zappa will include many of the personal treasures that found their home at the fabled compound in California. These include a Venetian gilt metal chandelier, an Italian Baroque console table, and a carved gilt wood bookcase. Contemporary fine art including a still life by John Alexander, a nail relief sculpture by Robert Harley, and a large painting by Ashley Laurence titled “Angel Pig” (painting name given by Gail Zappa) are also included in the auction.

The auction also includes memorabilia and personal items that document and celebrate the career of Frank Zappa and his love story with Gail. This includes a Dandies Fashions coat worn by Frank Zappa on the July 20, 1968 cover of Rolling Stone magazine; a purple ribbed turtleneck worn by Frank Zappa in 200 Motels (United Artists, 1971); a stage worn vest that Zappa also wore on the back cover of the 1972 album Waka Jawaka; a collection of career related awards presented to Frank Zappa including various Gold records, a National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award, a GRAMMY® nomination plaque; a clay Thing-Fish model; a ukulele featured on the Thing-Fish album cover; and a collection of hotel keys collected by Frank and Gail in their travels.
 
The Zappa hologram tour is coming:



Following up on the announcement that live music’s premier hologram production company Eyellusion has signed with APA for representation worldwide for their tours, the ZAPPA FAMILY TRUST can now share the exclusive promotional video (which includes audio of Frank Zappa speaking about Holograms) for the “The Bizarre World Of Frank Zappa” tour.

Set to launch in 2019 (exact details are TBA), “The Bizarre World Of Frank Zappa” will include longtime and legendary Zappa players Ray White, Mike Keneally, Scott Thunes, Robert Martin and Ed Mann with Joe “Vaultmeister” Travers; they’ll be joined along the way by Steve Vai, Ian Underwood, Lady Bianca, Napoleon Murphy Brock and Arthur Barrow. Hours of never-before-seen (or heard) Zappa performance footage from the early seventies form the basis of the “can’t miss” concert spectacle.

“The development of the ‘Bizarre World’ has been a herculean undertaking and an extremely emotional journey for me,” says Ahmet Zappa. “Weirdly, it's also been one of the most creatively satisfying projects that I have ever had the privilege of working on. It’s fascinating to me how into holograms my dad was and it’s unbelievable that we have Frank in his own words talking about it. The fact that we’re now finally able to technologically bring to life the ideas and concepts my father talked about so many years ago is astonishing. People’s minds, eyes and ears will be stunned by the crazy amounts of awesomeness they'll be exposed to every night on this tour. For the first time in a long time Zappa fans will get to see and hear brand spanking new music performed by Frank with his live band and enjoy never before heard versions of their favorite songs, all while brain-melting visuals make them laugh, smile, and perhaps even cry. I truly can’t wait to share this epic experience with everyone and I’m thrilled that we’ll be doing 100 + dates around the world. So please fasten your concert-going seatbelts because things in the Zappa universe are about to get even more bizarre!!!”

Eyellusion is producing the hologram tour in close cooperation with the Zappa Family Trust. Additional details on "The Bizarre World Of Frank Zappa" live tour dates will be announced in the coming months.
 
In the latest episode of the ZappaCast, Scott Parker has a new lengthy interview with Joe Travers. At my urging, Scott asked Joe about getting Zappa's quad mixes released on blu-ray. His response is similar to the one mentioned earlier in this thread. He does mention that when the Zappa catalog was first acquired by Universal that there was some talk about releasing the quads, but Universal was not enthusiastic. Joe did say that he really wants the quad material released. One little bit of hope that he gave was that he felt it wasn't a matter of if the quads are released, but when. The question is posed to Joe at approximately the 40min, 40sec mark of the podcast. Scott and Joe do continue to talk surround for a few minutes. So while there still isn't any forward momentum on this, at least they're not ruling it out and they know that there is at least a little interest in it.
 
Every day, the tapes get older and I get older...
And if you’ve ever heard even a good up-mix of Joe’s Garage; it’s freakin’ incredible. So with a decent studio surround version of our beloved Central Scrutinizer in hand; and you could plook me ala Tele. U47 :smokin
I only had a cassette tape of Joe's Garage, and I didn't hear it properly until I was doing some work in a Recording Studio and in some down time we were playing the CD through the desk and monitors ……………. at ear splitting levels, magnificent, the next day I went out and got the CD!
 
I only had a cassette tape of Joe's Garage, and I didn't hear it properly until I was doing some work in a Recording Studio and in some down time we were playing the CD through the desk and monitors ……………. at ear splitting levels, magnificent, the next day I went out and got the CD!

There was a new vinyl pressing of Joe's Garage a couple of years ago that sounds really nice.
 
You gotta ask yourself why the powers that be would sit on EXISTING MCH mixes as well as give up a gold mine of possible re-mixes?
As previously mentioned, the demand for these will certainly dwindle to nothing over the next 10-15 years as the fan-base dissipates even further. It really makes no sense to let these tapes sit in the vault today.

Honestly, I cannot fathom the reasoning for the inaction. Are sales volumes and profits on his MCH releases so small that they are not worth doing?
I wonder what Frank would say?
I mean, Great Googly Moogly, Frank's been gone over 25 years now!
 
Every passing day the Fans of Frank's work will decrease, it is simply not logical to wait till some point in the future.
I agree that the sooner the better, BUT, I don't see any evidence for an assertion that appreciation for Frank's Music will decrease over time. I think it might plausibly be the case for casual fans, but for musicians/serious students, conductors and composers, I'd say his legacy is as well secured as any other composer/musician. It bears pointing out that Zappa never really seriously prioritized "popularity" over his most serious and compositionally sincere efforts. He stated many times that his scatological popular music offerings were something that he used to finance his first musical loves, and those were never designed to be "consumed in mass quantities". (He once called Jazz the "Music of Impoverishment", but that didn't keep him from drawing heavily upon its influences in his work.) If I were a betting man, I'd take his legacy outlasting L. Ron Hoover's ten times out of ten. At least as long as the culture in which it was born and flourished does. (However long THAT'S likely to be, given the state of currently dysfunctional affairs...)
 
That 25 years of inaction and family feuding is just incredibly sad. I would hope that his legacy as a modern composer already goes without saying. We should have been listening to 24 bit transfers of all his album masters for the last 20 years now while we grab the new live release that comes out every 2 - 4 months. The surround section should be solid with liberated unreleased work next to the 3 original releases (and 2 posthumous) by now. Things were in motion when he passed. He had an active mail order for his label and an active fan base for additional fan club style offerings. And back before the internets when this took effort in addition to having a genuine good product. That this was left to just evaporate is a crime. Frank Zappa was a national treasure. I don't think his legacy will erode one little bit either. But some of the releases that could have been - especially with the momentum that was already there - have certainly been lost.

If Joe's Garage would be a perfect album for a 5.1 remix (and it would be), then One Size Fits All would be an even more perfect album for 5.1! Imagine all the layers and insanity orchestration in that one spread out in surround!
 
No doubt Frank's legacy will live on forever, however his influence on the music purchasing consumer will erode to a niche market soon enough as the fan-base who have actually seen and heard Frank's music diminishes greatly. Frank was never worried about how many units he sold, he was always about the music, and that's one of the qualities we loved about him. However unfortunate, that no longer seems true with the keepers of the vault.
 
... I may have been slightly altered (ah-hem) that night; but was fortunate to see Frank and band once in Oakland in the early 80's. And if I recall correctly, which is dubious at best, I swear I remember Frank bringing out a young Steve Vai on stage and parading him around on all fours with a studded dog collar around his neck. My apologies to Mr. Vai if I remember this incorrectly and I have the utmost respect for Steve's playing abilities, which are other worldly.

 
No doubt Frank's legacy will live on forever, however his influence on the music purchasing consumer will erode to a niche market soon enough as the fan-base who have actually seen and heard Frank's music diminishes greatly. Frank was never worried about how many units he sold, he was always about the music, and that's one of the qualities we loved about him. However unfortunate, that no longer seems true with the keepers of the vault.
 
Maybe, but I'm not really convinced. Here's why: Musicians, Composers and serious students of Music might be the ONE demographic I know that STILL purchases (consumes, if you will, and I know you will) Music, particularly in physical formats. (It's one reason I'm on this forum.) Bach was not the widely lauded composer during his life that he is today. He was well regarded as an Organist but wasn't a "phenomenon" until the rediscovery of his extensive corpus of work in the mid-19th Century. I've posted about this here and elsewhere before. Popular Music consumers don't really listen to/consume music the way Musicians do. A recording is more of a "reference" for a performance of a given work. It is studied and analyzed, usually in an academic setting. Often, many times over the course of these musicians (I've done it when I can lay my hands on study scores) lives. I would agree that the family's a little bit too jealous of Frank's catalog-especially the PRINTED SCORES. I get that you think they could prize its remuneration potential so highly they'll encapsulate it in "amber". I'm not saying that can't happen, but if what you assert actually happens, somebody on down the line will likely auction the rights off for whatever they can get, and then it might fall into the public domain. Or perhaps, Boosey & Hawkes, Schirmer or some similar Classical print music publishing juggernaut could wind up with it. Or at least the Classical Concert catalog. These reappraisals happen all the time. As long as his work is immortalized in the LOC (and it is, I feel sure) I wouldn't worry too much.
 
I saw Zappa with his 1988 band in Rotterdam. It still firmly stands in my memory as the best sounding live concert I ever attended, even in a venue that is notorious for its bad acoustics. I was blown away by the band as well, but the sound was absolutely pristine. All this tells me that FZ had a keen ear for what he wanted to hear and what he wanted the audience to hear. In has final years he made some rather dubious decisions with his back catalogue, when he re-recorded drums and bass on some releases. Also he signed off and some really, really bad remasters, but I blame his deteriorating health and the lack of quality control (maybe out of pity?) by the releasing label (RYKO) for that.
Anyway, my point is that I think most of FZ's recordings sound brilliant just the way they are, as it is the way he intended them. The QUADRAphiliac experiment didn't really rock my boat, so I don't expect anything in the Multi Channel field to materialise. But who knows, we might be surprised.
 
It’s not simply a matter of FZ’s music being less important over time, or interest in his legacy and entire output. The bottom line is that once these albums have been out there and sold to their maximum potential then the market is tapped.

Any reissue is competing with the used market. So after a fully remastered CD series (restored original mixes), some beautiful vinyl repressings, a ton of interesting live and studio vault releases, and now recently high-resolution downloads (saved for near last of course), there may not be much more to do with the catalogue other then enjoy what (slower) sales do come in over the years.

It’s not a bottomless pit. And the two or three quad mixed albums will likely come - but are very low priority. Remixing something like Joe’s Garage would seem unlikely being a very complex album and three LPs in length. Imaginw the expense there. But maybe there are a few albums mixed to quad that Frank prepared that we don’t know about?
 
It’s not simply a matter of FZ’s music being less important over time, or interest in his legacy and entire output. The bottom line is that once these albums have been out there and sold to their maximum potential then the market is tapped.

Any reissue is competing with the used market. So after a fully remastered CD series (restored original mixes), some beautiful vinyl repressings, a ton of interesting live and studio vault releases, and now recently high-resolution downloads (saved for near last of course), there may not be much more to do with the catalogue other then enjoy what (slower) sales do come in over the years.

It’s not a bottomless pit. And the two or three quad mixed albums will likely come - but are very low priority. Remixing something like Joe’s Garage would seem unlikely being a very complex album and three LPs in length. Imaginw the expense there. But maybe there are a few albums mixed to quad that Frank prepared that we don’t know about?
I am not very imaginative today, what are the costs if high resolution multitracks are already digitalized (as I imagine they are?).
I read in some interview with SW that retrieving the tapes, baking and digitalizing them while identifying finding the correct ones and is a time consuming and costly process.
I am sure that SW does not do it for free and his time is very costly, but he stated that he streamlined the mixing process to a point that he even works on projects in hotel rooms while he is touring.
On the market side, if there are enough paying customers for a lush and complete Be-Bop Deluxe surround treatment (hurrah!) which is compared to FZ relatively obscure, if the costs of mixing from already digitalized multitracks are not exhorbitant I think that this would be an interesting business proposition, no?
 
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