The Fat Angel Sings

The Frank Zappa estate have announced a 60th anniversary super deluxe edition of his debut album with The Mothers Of Invention, “Freak Out!”.

In keeping with the Zappa estate’s recent run of 50th anniversary releases – “Waka/Wazoo”, “Over-Nite Sensation”, “Apostrophe (‘)”, “One Size Fits All” and “Bongo Fury” – the reasonably-priced set is packaged in a neat clamshell box and features the original album, studio outtakes, demos, rehearsals, live tracks over multiple CDs, plus a Blu-ray featuring various mixes.

As with many Zappa releases, unpicking what’s already out there is tricky, with the period around “Freak Out!” already covered by a bunch of releases. Released in 1985 as part of The Old Masters: Box One, Mystery Disc was a compilation of early Mothers material compiled by Zappa himself. The following year a second volume appeared as part of the next Old Masters box and in 1998, Rykodisc combined the two to make a single Mystery Disc (reissued in 2012 by Zappa Records).

“Joe’s Corsage” appeared in 2004, a collection of early Mothers demos, interviews and live tracks recorded in late 1965 and early 1966. Two years later, the Zappa estate released “The MOFO Project/Object, available as either a 4CD or 2CD set (the 2CD features seven tracks not on the 4CD – go figure). If you could prise the CDs from the packaging of the 4CD set, it was designed as an ‘audio documentary’ of the making of the album, by way of backing tracks, alternate mixes and edits, outtakes, live recordings and interview excerpts.

So what’s new on the 5CD+Blu-Ray “Freak Out! (60th Anniversary) set?“

Disc one features a new remaster of the original stereo mix by John Polito of Audio Mechanics. Disc Two has the first official release of the pre-master mix, an early version of the album from April 1966, newly mastered. And disc three features the original 1966 mono mix, first time available since 1969. Three songs – ‘How Could I Be Such A Fool’, ‘Who Are The Brain Police?’ and ‘It Can’t Happen Here’ – are taken from mono mix tapes in Zappa’s vault, the remainder are taken from a needle drop, mastered by John Polito.

Discs four and five are where things start to get complicated, they include:

• The entirety of the two shows the Mothers performed opening for Lenny Bruce at the Fillmore, San Francisco, on 24th and 25th June 1966. Tracks from these shows have previously turned up on Mystery Disc (‘Band Introductions At The Fillmore West’ and ‘Plastic People’) and the 4CD MOFO. (‘Motherly Love’, ‘You Didn’t Try To Call Me’, I’m Not Satisfied’ and ‘Hungry Freaks, Daddy’).
• Two tracks from a show that Zappa sleuths have surmised is the Fillmore, San Francisco, 24th February 1966. The version here of ‘The Downtown Talent Scout’ was previously released on “You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol 5 (1992).
• Full, seven-song rehearsal tape from early 1966 – snatches of conversation and ‘How Can I Be Such A Fool’ appeared on Mystery Disc, but this the first time the other tracks have been released.
• Eight demos recorded on 20th October 1965 at Original Sound Studio. Three of them – ‘I’m So Happy I Could Cry’, ‘Go Cry On Somebody Else’s Shoulder’ and ‘How Could I Be Such A Fool’ were on Joe’s Corsage. Meanwhile, a brief section of the ‘Trouble Every Day’ demo was used in ‘Watts Riot Demo/Fillmore Sequence’ on the 2CD MOFO. All other tracks previously unreleased.
• Five previously unreleased mono vocal reference mixes.
• Three tracks from the final night of recording, the ‘freak session’. ‘Freak Out Zilofone’ was on the 2CD MOFO, the others appear to be unreleased, but time will tell. Any Zappa fans in the know, comment below.

The Blu-Ray will feature Atmos and 5.1 mixes alongside, 192/24 and 96/24 high-res audio of the album, plus the contentious-sounding bonus track ‘Groupie Bang Bang’.

The set also includes a booklet and a reproduction of the double-sided fold-out ‘Freak Out! Hot Spots Map’ by Zappa himself that was originally included in the November 1966 issue of the Los Angeles Free Press.

“Freak Out! (60th Anniversary)” is also available as a 5LP vinyl set, which includes the 1966 pre-master mix, the 1966 mono mix and a single-disc which collects highlights from CDs 4 and 5 of the super deluxe edition. There’s also a 2LP multi-coloured edition featuring the original 1966 stereo mix, which is currently only available from Zappa’s official shop.

“Freak Out! (60th Anniversary)” is out on 25th September 2026.