The music of the late Frank Zappa continues to be reissued at a breakneck pace. Whether reissues of previously released audio and video, or first-time releases of archival material, the quality of these projects matches the quantity.
Through the Zappa Family Trust, the amount of previously unreleased archival music now available is greater than the number of albums Zappa released in his lifetime. This newest project is the debut on Blu-ray/CD and vinyl of a concert recorded in 1974, entitled Cheaper Than Cheep. It was filmed at Zappa’s own California rehearsal space, with a small crowd standing, dancing, and sitting wherever they might find a place to take a load off their feet.
While previously never aired due to technical issues, those problems have now been fixed. It’s a very informal affair befitting the blue-denim bonhomie of the time. The show came at the end of a long and successful tour to mark the 10th anniversary of the Mothers of Invention. What the concert makes clear is that, for all of Zappa’s sly anarchy and pushing of the envelope, he was the consummate musician and a guitar god, who surrounded himself with the finest musicians. While some other groups thrived on revolution, anarchy, occasionally poor but amusing bad taste, and sticking it to the man, they often burned out quickly and never developed beyond the agitprop anger and anarchy of the ’60s and early ’70s.
Zappa made albums that explored many styles and, as exhibited by this project, along with many others, presented his experimental and satirical music, along with his guitar prowess, in new musical forms. He was a rock artist who helped define, shape, and expand the possibilities of jazz rock and jazz fusion, two labels Zappa himself might have rejected. There’s a similarity between Zappa’s approach in this period and that of other guitar gods such as Brits John McLaughlin and Jeff Beck.
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