Frank Zappa 59: Mystery Disc

Back in the mid-‘80s, when Frank Zappa retained the rights to his old masters, over a period of two and half years he began reissuing his first 20 albums (save 200 Motels, which he didn’t have) in a series of three multi-LP boxes called, yes, The Old Masters. Each set included reproduced cover art and booklets with photos and such, plus a T-shirt with the slogan “I Bought The Box”. The first set gained notoriety because this is where We’re Only In It For The Money and Cruising With Ruben & The Jets had new drums and bass overdubbed, and not in a subtle way. But the first two boxes also each had an extra bonus Mystery Disc of unreleased recordings from the vaults. While the first volume included explanatory liner notes, the second was more of a mystery, as there wasn’t a lot of information past the song titles and an occasional location credit.

Most of this material would have come out on that multi-disc anthology he’d been threatening since 1970, and over time some of that material was farmed out to such later compilations as You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore and The Lost Episodes. But it was a nice move for the estate to release the contents of both Mystery Disc volumes on their own CD. In order for it all to fit on one disc, “Why Don’tcha Do Me Right?” and “Big Leg Emma” had to be left out, but they had already become standard on the Absolutely Free CD anyway.

This music is truly for completists, as the tracks range from early live field recordings to atonal improvisations. There are a few actual songs, but tend to be alternate versions. For instance, “Original Duke Of Prunes” is that familiar melody heard as part of a movie soundtrack Frank scored in 1964, and “Plastic People” is more overtly based on “Louie Louie”. Despite what the liner notes say, “Theme From Run Home Slow” is not the same take as on The Lost Episodes. We get glimpses into the R&B band that preceded the Mothers, and general experimenting (read: goofing around) once he had his own studio. Another example of Captain Beefheart singing the words from comic books over a groove is included as well.

One side of the second Mystery Disc LP was devoted to the “dramatic portion” of the Royal Festival Hall show documented further on Ahead Of Our Time; close listeners will hear things not on that album, and vice versa. A studio attempt at “Agency Man” is included for comparison, but from there, outside of repeats of “Wedding Dress Song” and “Handsome Cabin Boy”, from Lost Episodes, and the Lowell George-led “Chucha”, the remainder of the program is less than stellar. “Skweezit Skweezit Skweezit” is another version of “Right There” from the fifth You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore volume, just as “Black Beauty” is an alternate mix of “Underground Freak-Out Music” from same. The interview with the groupies telling “The Story Of Willie The Pimp” isn’t exactly enlightening, nor are the three spoken minutes from a Mothers radio appearance.

At least with this album the estate (and Rykodisc) were succeeding at making sure the majority of Frank’s previously released work was made available digitally. But that doesn’t mean it all had to be released in the first place. (Mystery Disc was reissued in 2012 with a cover that more accurately replicated the artwork from the original boxes. Although the booklet had fewer pages and photos, and truncated notes, all the music was intact.)

Frank Zappa Mystery Disc (1998)—2½