Top Artists – Frank Zappa

Freak Out! – All Four Sides Critiqued

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This commentary is from many years ago.

No Demo Disc by any stretch, this Hot Stamper beat the pants off of what appears to be a true first pressing that we just happened to have on hand. Most pressings of this double album are just awful, if you can even find one that’s clean enough to bother playing. Our copy here earned grades of A Plus on sides one, two and four, and a grade of A Double Plus on side three. No copy in our shootout earned a higher grade than A++, for the simple reason that we just can’t find enough clean original copies with which to do a definitive shootout. (more…)

Frank Zappa – Burnt Weeny Sandwich

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Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Frank Zappa

The better copies such as this one had a healthy dose of the Tubey Magical richness found on the better analog recordings from the late ’60s and ’70s (1970 in this case). One of Frank Zappa’s more interesting releases, with a combination of groundbreaking live and studio material, like Chunga’s and Weasils.  (more…)

Frank Zappa / Chunga’s Revenge

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Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Frank Zappa

This Bizarre Blue Label LP plays about as quietly as they ever do. Zappa in this period provides a musical wild ride on record like no other artist of his day. For those of you who appreciate his music this album is guaranteed to provide plenty of entertainment and will surely reward repeated plays. I listened to it hundreds of times in my high school days; to this day it holds a special place in my collection.

Like many Zappa records from the period, especially the two releases that immediately preceded this one, Weasils and Burnt Weeny, the sound is all over the place. The most you can hope for is that the best sounding tracks sound right, and here they definitely do. Play Twenty Small Cigars on side one, or The Clap on side two to hear that there is good sound on both sides. (more…)

Frank Zappa – Weasels Ripped My Flesh

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Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Frank Zappa

  • This lively Zappa pressing boasts two excellent Double Plus (A++) sides – one of the better copies we played in our recent shootout!  
  • All Analog Tubey Magical sound from 1970, with a spacious, three-dimensional soundstage and a big bottom end
  • Clear, high-rez sound, crucial to making sense of this complex music – exceptionally QUIET vinyl too
  • “Zappa’s anything-goes approach and the distance between his extremes are what make Weasels Ripped My Flesh ultimately invigorating.”

The sound is big and bold throughout with excellent clarity, presence, and wonderful transparency.

If you’re not already a Zappa fan, be warned that experimental song structures, feedback, dirty lyrics, avant-garde jazz freakouts and gas mask solos (yes, you read that right) all figure into the mix here. I don’t know of anyone other than Frank Zappa who could shape that all into one amazing, fairly cohesive LP. (more…)

Frank Zappa – Zappa In New York

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Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Frank Zappa

  • You’ll find excellent Double Plus (A++) sound on all four sides of this classic Zappa Double Live album from 1977 
  • The first copy EVER to hit the site – after looking for years for enough clean copies to do a shootout, our hard work finally paid off with this outstanding vintage pressing – exceptionally quiet vinyl too!
  • 4 Stars: “The Zappa band, which includes bassist Patrick O’Hearn, percussionist Ruth Underwood, and keyboard player Eddie Jobson, along with a horn section including the two Brecker brothers, was one of the bandleader’s most accomplished. Zappa also was at the height of his comic stagecraft, notably on songs like “Titties & Beer,” which is essentially a comedy routine between Zappa and Bozzio…”  

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Letter of the Week – “I felt like I could actually hear Zappa’s musical vision for this project.”

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Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Frank Zappa

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:

Hey Tom,   

Who could imagine that I would freak out in Indianapolis? It was a real roll of the dice to pony up the $125 for a Hot Stamper of “Freak Out”–this is a notoriously poor sounding record, and I’ve had 3 cracks at it already. However, it is also one of the 50 most important records of all time — its influence in 1966 on the burgeoning idea that pop music could be treated as an art form, and specifically its influence on pretty much every mover and shaker in music at the time, belies its technical shortcomings. If there was ever a case study in everything you folks profess to be about it is this record. 

Wow. For the first time ever, and I’ve had this record for almost 30 years, I felt like I could actually hear Zappa’s musical vision for this project. I had no idea it was even possible for this album to sound even remotely this good. All of the percussion, the intricate orchestral arrangements, the imposingly powerful bass on “Who Are the Brain Police,” it’s all there like I’d never heard it before!

“How Could I be Such a Fool?” is astonishingly beautiful (indicating that Zappa’s dismissive liner notes were perhaps a reflection of his insecurity). There was so much care taken on this album, and I feel like I may be one of a handful of people in the world who’s really heard it. You’ve provided me with a life experience, worth every penny and more. (more…)

Letter of the Week – “What the #$%@ did you guys do to make the record sound so good?”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Frank Zappa Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:

Hey Tom,  

I received your “Hot Stamper” rated version of Frank Zappa’s Waka Jawaka Hot Rats yesterday and was able to listen to it last night. I’m not sure if you know what the initials WTF stand for. So with apologies, I will spell it out. What the #$%@ did you guys do to make the record sound so good? Did you really just listen to record after record until you came across this one? Are there tricks? Did you spray some magic fairy dust on it? Is it gonna wear off?  

I’ve been listening to my personal copy intently for the last few days and I really doubted if your copy could sound very much better than mine. Because my copy sounds damn good. But the copy you sent me rated “Hot Stamper” was off the charts. it wasn’t just in the clarity of the detail of the instruments and the soundstage. It’s so wonderful to listen to. What a treat! Is it worth 10X more than a decent copy of it commonly available? Yes. Absolutely. At least to me. In the same way that my Clear Audio turntable is worth the 10X times more than it cost me for the Rega Planar 2 I bought used 20 years ago. The listening experience is transformed into something much more realistic than ever before. I’m sure this record will be one of my very favorites to listen to for the next 20 years! (more…)

The Grand Wazoo – This Is One Crazy Tubey Magical Album

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Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Frank Zappa


  • DEMO DISC QUALITY – full-bodied, rich, spacious, BIG and PRESENT, with practically zero smear on the horns (nice!
  • The Tubey Magical keyboards found on the title cut are really something to hear, especially on this copy
  • The Grand Wazoo now gets my vote as the best sounding record Zappa ever made (along with Absolutely Free)

Wow – big, present and clear, with lots of lovely studio space, yet full-bodied. These sides about as right as any we’ve ever heard.

As noted above, the Tubey Magical keyboards at the start of The Grand Wazoo are amazing sounding here. How Zappa ever decided to go digital when he managed to record so well in analog (from time to time, let’s be honest) is beyond me. (more…)