Frank Zappa - 1972 - Waka-Wazoo (2022) @320
During the aftermath of being pushed off the stage at the Rainbow Theatre in London, England, FZ found himself recuperating for months in his home in Laurel Canyon. Although he was confined to a wheelchair, his work ethic could not be tamed. During this time, he managed, among other things, to assemble an ensemble that quenched his thirst and desire to work with a large “Electric Orchestra.” Ultimately, a 20-piece group was contracted, along with recording sessions and an 8-city tour. Shortly thereafter, a scaled down 10-piece configuration, now known as the “Petit Wazoo” toured for almost two months. After all was said and done, FZ finished the experiment with two albums in the can, Waka/Jawaka & The Grand Wazoo, plus two tours and an archive of show masters in his Vault. It was a monumental feat for a guy with a cast on his leg and a conductor’s baton in his hand.
The Waka/Wazoo box set features a complete historical run-down of the entire project, featuring alternate takes of almost every composition recorded during the album sessions, along with Vault mix session outtakes and oddities. Also included is the full final show of the 10-piece tour, recorded at the famous Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on December 15, 1972. The Blu-ray Audio disc features both albums with brand-new, first-time-ever Atmos and 5.1 mixes from the original multi-tracks and the 96kHz 24-bit high-resolution stereo remasters.
Finally, during the album recording sessions at Paramount Studios, FZ worked with George Duke on some of Duke’s solo material. These demos were produced by Zappa, who also played guitar. Although George would go on to re-record the compositions for his own albums, the versions with FZ have never been officially issued until now. (Improvised Music)
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