Frank Zappa’s 1974 Top 10 smash LP apostrophe (‘) is often considered a prime gateway to discovering this legendary composer who pushed popular music’s boundaries. Across five CDs and one Blu-ray Disc, the new 50th anniversary apostrophe (‘) set explores this album, the hit single and other music Zappa created during this time period. All this wonderment — originally produced by the artist back in the day — has been brought into the 21st century by Zappa archivist “vault-meister” Joe Travers and Ahmet Zappa with a little help from their friends including mastering legend Bernie Grundman, Craig Parker Adams (new mixes), John Polito (remastering) and Studio1LA surround sound mix wizards Karma Auger and Erich Gobel.
Overall, the new 50th anniversary apostrophe (‘) collection is great; the music and sound do not disappoint. It reminds us that besides being a brilliant musician/composer/arranger, Zappa was a great storyteller, creating unique characters in remarkably detailed universes. His albums were often miniature stage shows presented as mind- and genre-bending progressive music.
Accordingly, a centerpiece of apostrophe (‘) is an Arctic dream-tale about an Eskimo, a fur trapper, a baby seal, a husky, yellow snow and pancakes (!). Zappa’s “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” suite is a ridiculously wonderful blend of ear-worm-worthy hooks, lyrical amusement and jaw dropping musicality. If parts of the comic hilarity might feel a little dated to some listeners today, rest easy knowing that the music remains astounding.
This new set effectively offers listeners “good, better and best” listening scenarios of the core apostrophe (‘) album. Two high resolution Stereo versions are rich and clear, especially at 192kHz, 24-bits.
The original Quadraphonic mix surprises a bit in that Zappa keeps the band rocking mostly in the front channels, using the surrounds for periodic accents, overdub moments and such – he ultimately avoids one-shot-deal gimmickry temptations. The Dolby True HD 5.1 mix is richer and rounder still, delivering a better sense of the band playing in the studio.
The Dolby Atmos mix goes further, seeming to move Zappa’s voice out into the room a bit. A compelling creative choice, apostrophe (‘) was one of the early albums showcasing Zappa’s lowered voice. A result of his tragic 1971 near-death experience when a madman pushed him off stage, on this album — and its predecessor Over-Nite Sensation — his voice becomes almost a compositional feature. In Atmos, Zappa feels almost 3D at times!
The designers of the Blu-ray disc deserve kudos for the fun screensaver: a turntable playing the Quad LP of apostrophe (‘) on screen in time with the music! I’ve only seen this concept once before, on Neil Young’s Archive (Blu-ray edition).
This set includes two complete 1974 concerts (on CD), showcases for how rapidly Zappa was evolving his music. Continually changing arrangements, stretching musical ideas, songs like Village Of The Sun” and “Penguin In Bondage” — which appeared on the September 1974 Roxy & Elsewhere live LP (recorded December 73 and May 74) — are quite different here.
Of the many outstanding bonus tracks, my favorite is the smoking “Goteborg GTR,” culled from a 1974 Swedish concert jam (“Trouble Every Day”). We also get early versions of songs which would end up on the next studio album, One Size Fits All, including “Andy” (then titled “Is There Anything Good Inside You”), “Inca Roads” and many other period rarities.
I could go on but I think you get the idea: the 50th Anniversary apostrophe (‘) boxed set is excellent. If you are a fan of this fertile period of Zappa’s career, you’ll want this. And just by chance, it has come down in price via Amazon (which you can get to by clicking the album title anywhere in this review). Great googly-moogly!
Where to buy: $99.99 $86.88 at Amazon
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Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment-oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Big Picture Big Sound, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.
