Frank Zappa‘s ‘Apostrophe (‘)’ will receive a super-deluxe edition for its 50th anniversary – see all details below.
The musician’s acclaimed sixth solo album, which was originally released in 1974, will see a 75-track, six-disc re-release, due for September 13.
Along with the original nine tracks, which includes classics like ‘Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow’ and ‘Cosmic Debris, the re-release will include bonus live material from Zappa’s performances in Colorado and Ohio, new mixes, and more details from the album’s recording.
In the box set of the new edition, a 52-page booklet will also be included which will feature brand-new archival photos of the cover’s photographer, Sam Emerson. Fans will also receive a compilation of liner notes and essays written by British music journalist Simon Prentis and expert Zappa archivist Joe Travers.
Speaking about the re-release, Travers said: “With Apostrophe (‘), Zappa continued to carve out his own genre in music, while celebrating ten years in the business. Nobody sounded like Frank Zappa. This album, and specifically ‘Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow’ brought that unique wonderful sound to the masses in a way that nobody, including Frank, would expect.”
Pre-order your re-release here.
In the review of of Alex Winter’s Zappa documentary, NME wrote in a four star review: “The highest funded documentary in crowdfunding history, Zappa digs through Frank’s own vaults of video footage, featuring home horror movies he made as a teenager when his family relocated to California, as well as Winter’s own in-depth interviews with decades of collaborators, including some who have sadly died since filming took place, namely wife Gail Zappa and animator Bruce Bickford, who we see still lovingly creating claymation models of Frank Zappa’s head well into his seventies.”
Speaking to NME, Winter ranked ‘Apostrophe’ as one of his five favourite Zappa albums, saying: “This is what I would say most Zappa fans would call one of their favourite, if not their favourite, Zappa albums. He’s playing with arguably the greatest band he would ever have. It was very refined.
“These are like Olympic gold medal level musicians, just playing absolutely at the top of their game,” he continued. “He’s got this banging band, but the tone of it is all Zappa. There’s really serious rock songs, there’s more avant garde, almost jazzy pieces like ‘Cosmik Debris’ and you got the very famous ‘Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow’, which kicks off the whole album and is probably the most quoted line of Zappa’s whole career.
“I’d also say this album is probably the most accessible album of Frank’s. It’s the one that most people who grew up in my era in the ‘70s, either they or their older brother and sister had the ‘Apostrophe (‘)’ poster hanging up on the wall of their basement. In the pot smoking den this was this face staring out at you, this is the face most of us remember growing up and identify with the classic Zappa era.”
