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Erm... so I'm just curious what people think of the first disc aka the supposed original stereo mix? Do you think it is the best ever incarnation on CD. What do people who have the original vinyl think of the CD now?

Is it a vast improvement on the remix done for the '95 Ryko release etc? I have it, and need to listen to a bit more and then the '95 disc, but I think the instrument separation is a bit cleaner somehow?

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We're Only In It For The Women

I think it sounds much better than any of the RYKO versions but I have honestly never heard the original stereo or mono vinyl LP mixes. I'm sure many people here have so I'm curious about this as well.

with all 64 new tracks to add to the collection (both release 77 and 78 included in this count)
that alone runs to $1.671875 US Dollars per new track
(the big one cost me $74 with shipping, and the lil one $33),
and that doesn't count the two new cd versions of the original stereo version on cd that you can put on your ipod and give to yer friends if you want.

Yes, that's right!!!
$1.67 per new song with two copies of the original 1966 mix for free!!!!!!!. That's pretty economical in today's market. Imaginary Diseases?

Comparing that price with Imaginary Diseases, I spent $18 on that with seven songs, which makes for $2.57143 per new song.
<I'm afraid some people might have to grow up in order to afford all of it>
But I'm a completionist in that I want all of it. If there's a different mix, edit or live version, I want it. I don't prefer vinyl, but it's nice when you get it. So I don't have to get every vinyl record, so long as I have a version of that released track. So this generates a gap between what I want and what I got: things I don't have include out-of-print singles, mono versions on vinyl etc.
In conclusion, FOR ME the alternate '87 mixes, mono mixes, vocal or instrumental takes on the MOFO's etc are all TOTALLY yearned for and satisfying and the idea of the 'Audio Documentary' deal being a series, whether we get a documentary for every release -- which I doubt, there's still a very great likelihood that not only will there be all the previously released and unavailable classics
<can anyone say Bognor Regis?, Ancient Armaments?>
but so much else besides, which no-one outside of the vault even knows exists.

Sure anyone can call Frank a genius but not only are the songs and mixes and extra tracks and editsthere, but it also breaks the music down into it's component parts --which shows us HOW it was done <hence the title>
All the whining and crap I see here on the posts are as I see it, a product of a profound disconnect from reality and what the thing they are even talking about is FOR! And it's got some uses!



The music especially on discs 2 of mofo78 and 3 of mofo77 is bravissimo in so many ways.
If they're not radically different versions of songs then they are the mono ones recorded separately by Zappa in the studio -- and what marvelous fidelity is the recording and how masterfully central was the placement of the mike for these mono reference recordings :biggrin:
The Watts Riot Song/Fillmore cut on the l'il MOFO is part of this documenting of Frank's method -- in cut-and-paste. It's perfect and the other things that are unique are just as revealing to me, as well as being different mixes that I would get anyway, in my notion of completionism.
all for $1.67 a song.

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" . . . On the outside now . . ."

I would say objectively I have a sophisticated knowledge about music composed or improvised. But geez, delight at hearing minorly different mixes per se is something I've yet to experience.

Oh don't get me wrong. I listened to "the new part" of Mofo all the way through, and it was quite interesting. I caught musical nuances. I'm sure some were brought out by the mix differences, but in and of itself, I don't hear the mix.

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Now AIR can get through.

By comparison, the '95 Ryko has its channels folded in slightly and has a wash of digital reverb over it. That said, I "grew up" on the EQ of the Ryko disc, so the original EQ will always sound a bit muddy to me.

For what it's worth, you *can* re-EQ the vinyl mix to sound exactly like the Ryko mix tonality-wise, so...

Well 56 pages on from me starting this thread I finally got mofo 4 disc today So if you are from the UK and are still waiting you should get yours very soon. There was an additional £10.40 to pay for customs and postal charges.

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...brushing his scapular aside

I have the vinyl and I believe that the MOFO '66 mix is now just as 'warm' sounding. Been through the little MOFO and am on disc 2 of BIG MOFO. I am interested in the mono mixes. I do hear nuances, but I am surprised that FZ was conceptually very near the final product when he cut the vocal takes. It shows how he saw things conceptually.

Big MOFO arrived today.

I felt like Richard Harris in Juggernaut when he deactivated this bomb as I tried to get the cds out of their cases.

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What's the ugliest part of your body ?

It was a real motherfucker to get those off and after several play-throughs I went and snapped (sic!) them back on their spindles, hubs, nubs, whateverthefuck, so I know after hearing that "snap" I'm going to be faced with the same tense, breath-holding, unnerving experience the next time I try to get them out.

Good luck to me and everyone else prying them loose and not snapping any of them in half!

--Bat

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<------PhotoArtWerk by debutante_daisy http://www.facebook.com/BatchainTheMovie

Mine has arrived, but I wasnt in to get it from the postie when he tried to deliver it. So I have to go to the depot tomorrow to collect it and pay £10 odd in custons fees - bastards.

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"Listen to that noise! It's like Barry White eating wasps."

Make sure that somebody is dubbing the sweat from your forehead when you'll try to free these little 4 MOFOs.

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What's the ugliest part of your body ?

I have the best girlfriend in the world!

Mine just arrived today, lying amidst the leaves and dirt on my upside down "Welcome" doormat!

Press real hard on the nubblin as you lift to get the CDs out.

As a graphic designer just starting out, I gotta say the MOFO packaging is fucking A-1 class! SO excited to actually see the "Freak Out Hotspots" poster (And now I know what FZ was pissed about the layout of the map. That awesome pic of the Mothers IS pretty damn tiny!) Hot liner notes, unseen photos, I could go on, but you've all heard it before.

If the ZFT do as good a job (or even DO) MOAF, my head will a'splode.

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Shark and a Bishop!

I think that anyone's appreciation of this new version will depend on whatever previous version you're familiar with.

But one thing is certain: this new mix has been remastered in 2006 with probably the best technology and experience possible (we're a long way from 1987) so for that part alone, the new and improved 'FO' cd is a must.

I would like to join the ongoing list of "thanks yous" to the ZFT. I'm very happy with BIG MOFO, and now I demand that each other Zappa release gets its "making-of", in the near future.

it's not the advancement of technology that has changed the new CDs original mix and made it better. it's the way that FZ killed the original back in 1987 with all the digi-verb that changed it so much. He went overboard with it

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Make your checks payable to QUENTIN ROBERT DeNAMELAND, Greatest Living Philostopher Known to Mankind.

Yes.
But today's remastering tools are incredibly performant, nevertheless. And I'm really glad we can hear a newly remastered "FO" (as an alternative to playing the original vinyl).

i know this. what i was trying to say was the reason that Frank's mix was so "bad" in alot of PPLs opinions was not because of the technology but because of his use of too many tricks and usage of digi-verb.

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Make your checks payable to QUENTIN ROBERT DeNAMELAND, Greatest Living Philostopher Known to Mankind.

My question was directed at people familiar with the original vinyl mix.

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We're Only In It For The Women

Yea, fair enough.

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We're Only In It For The Women

Just got this today and had a hell of a time prying out disc 1. The other three came out rather smoothly.

The sound of disc 1 is amazing. I had only heard the Ryko version and I didn't expect this reissue to be much of a difference, but wowie zowie!

And after hearing Freak Out! about 100 times and just now for the 101st time I noticed an unmistakable "Louie Louie" melody at 7:36 in Monster Magnet. I'm hereby blaming the muddy Ryko version for making me miss this after all this time :p

OK so I picked mine up from the local PO Depot today, and just this second I have put disc one on. Sounds fucking tremendous!
I gotta say as well, I had no problem whatsoever getting the disc out of the case.

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"Listen to that noise! It's like Barry White eating wasps."

I have my Delivery Notice Prepared. I will go take it tomorrow, so i have to pay $16.28 CND + the box set price at $92.34 CND = $108.62 CND
27.16 by cd

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'N then I might just Jump back on An' ride Like a cowboy Into the dawn to Montana

I promise that this will be the last time I mention this, but...

Disc 1 of this set is mostly derived from a 1987 transfer, i.e. little actual new "remastering" took place.

huh?? the fuck you talkin' 'bout, sucka?

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Make your checks payable to QUENTIN ROBERT DeNAMELAND, Greatest Living Philostopher Known to Mankind.

I was lucky, no customs charges.

Phew! Just finished listening to MOFO and here's what I's got t' say:
A fantastic job from the ZFT. Well worth the wait. I'm particularly blown
away by the "basic track" cuts. It is as if they are a re-invention of the originals, positively astounding in there beauty. I could see FZ winning over an entirely new audience (and the haters) with this material. I don't think I will listen to the official FO! again. Seriously. Them basics done my brain in.
What else can I say? My hat is off to the ZFT. The interview stuff is done well, the rare Fillmore, the Freak Outs, Etc Etc Etc. THANK YOU. If you want some more money for the next in a series, please let me know. I'll let ya sit on it for up to a year...

p.s. anyone catch the "drug reference?" WANNA ROLL ONE? he he he