“Cheaper Than Cheep” The 1974 Unreleased Made-For-TV Concert Movie Recorded at The Mothers’ Private Rehearsal Hall in Dolby ATMOS + Soundtrack. In 1974, Frank Zappa recorded a TV concert movie in his private rehearsal hall, but there were tech issues that caused the video to be shelved in the Vault for 50 years.
Now with advanced post-production, we present “Cheaper Than Cheep” revealing the newly restored original vault audio masters. This stand-alone soundtrack configuration comes as 3-LP 180-gram black vinyl accompanied by an extensive booklet with rare, unseen images and liner notes from Ruth Underwood and Joe Travers.
Back in the early ‘70s, television was an integral tool for exposure of musical artists into the home. Completely decked out with his touring light show and stage setup in The Mothers’ private rehearsal hall, Frank Zappa attempted to commit to videotape material for his own TV production, ultimately with the intention to shop to major networks. Unfortunately, there were technical issues that ultimately contributed to the footage being shelved and stored in the Vault.
50 years later, with the advancements in post-production editorial tools, we present “Cheaper Than Cheep”. This never-before-heard-or-seen 2-hour concert program reveals the most intimate performance ever captured from the 1974 Mothers line-up, direct from the lovingly resurrected and restored original vault audio and videotape masters.
Official Zappa release #130 comes in a special, limited edition Super Deluxe featuring the remastered concert video with brand new Dolby Atmos, 5.1 surround and stereo mixes on a Blu-ray, the stereo soundtrack on 2-CDs and 3-LPs, an extensive booklet with rare, unseen images and liner notes from Ruth Underwood and Joe Travers – all housed in a telescoping slipcase. Zappa.com store exclusive includes the Super Deluxe with 4 bonus lithos and the 3-LPs as picture disc vinyl.
All had been quiet on the Frank Zappa front since the release last fall of the 50th anniversary super deluxe edition of his album “Apostrophe (‘)”. That lull ended today, though, with the announcement of a multi-format release filled with audio and video goodies. “Cheaper Than Cheep” arrives May 9th as an online exclusive release available at Zappa.com, uDiscoverMusic.com, and Sound of Vinyl, presenting audio and video from a long-lost television special that’s been housed in the Zappa archives for over five decades.
“Cheaper Than Cheep” was recorded on June 21st, 1974 at a rehearsal studio on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, where Zappa was joined by a Mothers of Invention line-up including Chester Thompson (drums), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), Jeff Simmons (guitar, vocals), Napoleon Murphy Brock (tenor sax, flute, vocals), Ruth Underwood (percussion), and Tom Fowler (bass). Zappa enlisted a film crew with multiple cameras to capture the intimate performance, while Wally Heider’s mobile truck outside handled the audio with Zappa associate Kerry McNabb engineering. The title is derived from Zappa’s crack at the beginning of the show that it was “cheaper than cheap” – a nod to the fact that he self-funded the concert on a tight budget. Ever the taskmaster, Zappa had rehearsed and sound-checked with the band earlier in the day, and despite exhaustion as well as the L.A. heat in a small, crowded space, the Mothers came through with a blazing performance that dug all the way back to “Freak Out!” and up to more recent compositions, some of which hadn’t yet been heard.
In this era where live music on television was in demand – think The Midnight Special and Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert in the U.S. or The Old Grey Whistle Test in the U.K. – Zappa planned on shopping the finished special to television networks. Sadly, he discovered that the audio and video weren’t properly synchronized, a similar problem to that which befell his intended 1973 Roxy concert film, recorded just months earlier. Due to the limitations of technology at the time, Zappa abandoned the film. In August, he and the band performed for the cameras at Los Angeles’ Public Television station KCET for the special A Token of His Extreme (with portions released later on video as The Dub Room Special).
Now, over fifty years later, Vaultmeister Joe Travers and director Ahmet Zappa have rescued the long-lost footage and restored “Cheaper Than Cheep” to its originally intended state, with over two hours of music from Zappa and The Mothers of Invention as well as segments with artist Cal Schenkel and animator Bruce Bickford. John Albarian, who previously worked on “Roxy: The Movie“, has newly edited the performance footage in synch with the audio. Jeremy Rhodes was enlisted for additional editing and sweetening, and the team of Erich Gobel and Karma Auger mixed the concert for Dolby Atmos as well as 5.1 and stereo.
The film and accompanying soundtrack will be available in a variety of formats, including:
- Limited Super Deluxe Edition with the film on all-region Blu-ray (including Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and PCM Stereo mixes); the soundtrack on 2 CDs; the soundtrack on 3 picture disc LPs; and four bonus lithographs;
- Super Deluxe Edition (Standard) with the film on all-region Blu-ray (including Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and PCM Stereo mixes); the soundtrack on 2 CDs; and the soundtrack on black vinyl LPs;
- 2CD/1BD edition with the film on all-region Blu-ray (including Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and PCM Stereo mixes) and the soundtrack on 2 CDs; and
- 3LP edition with the soundtrack on three 180-gram black vinyl LPs.
The Blu-ray also offers special features including two extra performances, a blooper/outtake reel, and an excerpt from the rare stop-motion animation film The Amazing Mr. Bickford, a 1987 direct-to-video movie featuring Zappa’s orchestral music set to animation by Bruce Bickford. (The complete film has not yet been reissued on DVD or Blu-ray.) Liner notes for the sets include Travers’ essay plus a reminiscence from Ruth Komanoff Underwood.
Joe Travers is quoted in the liner notes recalling his discovery of the tapes marked, simply, with the concert date: “I had no idea what they were or what they were for. They remained a mystery for years. The digital transfers of the elements happened over a long period of time, mostly due to budget and priority. Some were done for identification purposes while Gail Zappa was alive during the 2000s. Imagine how exciting it was for us to finally discover what this stuff actually looked like for the first time. It was a gold mine waiting to be unearthed. Most of the masters were transferred during the ‘Save The Vault’ Kickstarter campaign by Alex Winter circa 2017 or so.”
“Cheaper Than Cheep” arrives on May 9th
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