CD Universe has several titles listed claiming to be remastered on the Rykodisc label.Apostrophe,Chungas Revenge,Hot Rats and a Box of all 3 Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar are amongst them.Anybody have any info on these.I bought a bunch of these at J&R in NYC a few years ago real cheap.The big fella who is always on the main floor told me they where going out of print.

The first round of CD's were remastered by FZ in '87 and then again in '93 just before he died. Now if they are going OOP it is news to me and I am a huge FZ fan.

It is possible the Ryko contract is up and is reverting back to the Zappa Family trust. However, I doubt it as Gail has been on record as saying how Frank back then and she in the more recent past have been very pleased with how Ryko has handled his catalog and stayed true to the way FZ wanted them out and sold.

To me, it would not make much sense for her to take the entire catalog and switch them to another lable when Ryko has been doing a very good job with them, IMO, unless the financial part has not been good enough by today's standards. My guess is the guy who you talked to was just passing on a rumor he heard or made up trying to entice you and maybe others to buy additional discs. Just a hunch mind you.

BTW, I just checked the FZ web site and there is no mention of anything about his catalog changing hands or moving or anything except mentioning new releases. Soooo it appears to be false. And that's a good thing.

Rich

They're all slowly disappearing from Amazon. (I figured it was because Ryko is now part of Warner, with whom Frank had an infamously bad partnership.)

Kinda sad, really... Ryko used to have David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Mission of Burma, the Undertones, the Soft Boys, the MGM/UA library, and some rare Devo stuff... (not to mention all the Island folk titles the Hannibal subsidiary licensed...)

Let me clarify.The fella at J&R told me this around 3 years ago when I saw a display with all the Ryko titles on sale very cheap and asked him about them.I already had a Gold Hot Rats edition and a very rare Overnite Sensation/Apostrophe two-fer and the Fillmore East live set. So when I saw these discs so cheap I beacame suspicious and asked him why.He said that Ryko was going under and was clearing out their stock and the catalog was going out of print.Having already missed out on a couple of Bowie titles with bonus tracks on Ryko, I snapped up as many as I could.I don't know if they ever actually went out of print, but was very happy to fill in the holes in my Zappa collection so cheap.
Last night I was surfing my usual sites to check on new and upcoming releases when I saw that several Zappa tiltes were listed as being released on 11/17/09 that are claiming to be remastered.CD Universe is listing them as being on the Rykodisc label.The question is are they NEW remasters , or the same mastering that has been out for years.

Maybe i'm way off base here, but as i recall it the first issues of the Zappa catalog were on Ryko (the 1987's i suppose, although i thought that they - or at least some of them - came out post-1987?). Then (i guess the 1993 reference) the catalog was issued again, but this time on "Zappa Records" label, Perhaps they were still being distributed by Ryko, i don't recall that, but i know they were all labeled on Zappa Records. The one case i can cite is the difference in the "We're Only In It For the Money" and "Lumpy Gravy" cds. On that first run on Ryko, that's where Zappa combined them onto one cd as a "twofer", but more importantly, on that Ryko cd he had re-recorded a lot of instrumental parts for WOIIFTM (to the horror of purists) and also restored a couple of the portions which were originally censored on the LP. There was such outcry over that (the re-recordings), that when the catalog was reissued that 2nd time on Zappa Records he 1) had them as separate cds, no twofer, and 2) he used the original recording/mix of WOIIFTM to appease fans. Almost as a slap back to the critics, he chose to leave the censored portions as they were on the original LP on the restored 2nd edition (although he doubtlessly had the means and ability to uncensor them with that original mix).
So, i think that the Rykos were replaced by the Zappa Records series (although other then the twofer, i don't know how much, if any difference there was in sound quality, etc., between the two runs - perhaps Robert M., our resident Zappa expert, can clarify).

As far as I know - nothing new was done to the Ryco owned material. COuld this simply be just another record company making another buck or two off previously released material. (If anything was changed on the remasters I am sure Gail would jump all over them).

Differences between batch 1 and 2?

Lumpy/Money were split apart - Money reverted back to the censored version (I think that the new bass/drum pats were still there).

Roxy - Penguin in Bondage sounded completly different as do parts of the Thingfish set.

There was a third release on a handful of titles, done quietly - Apostrophe, One Size Fits All and You Are What You Is were restored to a mix more like the LP (over at Zappa.com site this was a subject that ran on for years) There was a grey release of a bunch of these title on the EMI label which still command big bucks. (Tinsel Town Rebillion too I think).

I would have to get out all the different editions and review them...

I think this is just Ryco trying to squeeze more of our Zappa dollars out of our pockets.

My advice is to save any of your Zappa targeted bucks - I think Gail is ready to announce a new release or two...

As i stated above, the 2nd issue did revert back to censored, but it also reverted back to the original mix. I know this as fact, just listened to it in the past week. The new bass/drum parts are gone - it's all the original, 100% - i wouldn't have bought it again otherwise.

The main original question i had/point i was trying to make is that they Ryko cds were the first issues, and that there was a 2nd series (the '93's) which were on Zappa Records. They may have been distributed through Ryko, but the label is Zappa Records. Another minor packaging difference, i think the Ryko "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore" series were in chubby double-cd cases, and when they reissued them on Zappa they went to the slimline 2-cd cases.

Ryko was unique with the few titles they released on gold cds, at least "One Size Fits All" (which i have), and i think maybe "Overnite Sensation", not sure of any others.

Also, the booklets on the Zappa Records series are made to fold out to a large 4-panel size of the front LP covers.

All Zappa titles on amazon.con are listed as oop (used copies of most titles are available). Also Zappa has not been listed on the Ryko roster in quite some time (there used to be a huge section devoted to FZ and his catalog). There is a handful of titles (about five) from Barfko-Swill listed as being original Barking Pumpkin releases. These are horribly overpriced and say "get 'em while they last". There was some vague announcement quite some time ago (maybe a year back?) on Zappa.com that something was up with the catalog. This has never been clarified and basically nobody knows what's going on. So, as best as I can tell the entire Zappa catalog is now oop except for the posthumous releases that are available on Zappa Records and Valternative Records. I am very curious as to what's going on.

I have a Hot Rats Gold release on Ryko.Thanks for the info on the difference between the 1987 and the 1993 versions.

I have the Apostrophe/Overnite Sensation twofer that I bought about the time they came out. I would have bought the other twofer also had I known it would be so hard to find later.

I have a handful of Japanese mini-lp pressings that I got a good deal on at 'Rama a couple years ago. Where do they fit in? Unique mastering?

Same mastering as the Rykos from '93-'95, different artwork. They look nice.

The scuttlebutt at the Zappa board is that the deal with Ryko has expired, but no one quite knows what is going to happen with the catalogue next. I'll be interested to see what happens with those "Remasters"...

Some of the stuff came out on Zappa Records in '93, but not all; some also came out on Barking Pumpkin. Nowadays anything from the vault comes out on Zappa/Vaulternative, whereas Ryko held the rights for the "core" catalog (i.e. everything up to and including The Yellow Shark). I suspect that the Zappa/Barking Pumpkin issues were things that came out before the Ryko deal for the early 90s reissues came into firm existence (Ryko put out some of the catalog in '87, but not the whole thing; thse had white-spined discs, and the altered Money paired with Lumpy).

I have Rykos for the YCDTOSA series and they are all in slim cases.

Slightly off topic: I have no Zappa at all. Where should I start?

That's always a tough one. What kind of music do you like already? Are you easily offended?

I'm not offended by anything...and I like all types of music. I thought Live in NY looked interesting.

Where to start: this is almost a cliche - but I think Joe's Garage is excellent place to start...may not be the best, but it is a great place.
Man, I bought most of my Zappa in the 87 runs...I have a few of these two-fers, including a Man From Utopia / Drowning Witch...
Have all the chubby ycdtosa (although I converted them to slims) lots o stuff...
I just find the new releases to be overpriced for the marketplace...

I think the best overview of Frank's work, which encompasses most everything he did, is Lather. But for someone new to the catalog, Strictly Commercial (basically a greatest hits, even though he only had one) is a nice sampler to see whether you'd be interested in delving further into it.

Much of Zappa in New York appears on Lather. Long story, that. It's good, but you'd be missing some of the context I think (context is key to Zappa).

I would recommend "Overnite Sensation", "Apostrophe",and "Hot Rats".Those were the first Zappa albums that I ever bought way back in the days of vinyl.My Uncle turned me on to these and I was hooked.If you like what you hear then you have to get "Joe's Garage",all three acts.I also suggest you rent the DVD of "Baby Snakes" to get a good feel of what he was all about.I'm sure my fellow Zappa fans will have opinions of their own.Just my 2 cents.

WOW! I just realized that my QWERTY keyboard doesn't have a cents symbol!

Also excellent suggestions.

The Baby Snakes DVD is essential for the performance of "Punky's Whips". If you'd like to preview it, you can see it here: http://uk.video.yahoo.com/watch/5002492

Very cool! Thanks guys. I'm going to start with these suggestions.

This is why I love this place.