Zappa Books

• 20 December. We offer a very interesting and original read. In 2017, Magdalena Westman's autobiography Hladce obrace nahodit sejmjut was published in the Czech Republic, where she describes, among other things, her meetings with Frank Zappa in 1991. She also stayed for a while at Zappa's home in Laurel Canyon. With the author's permission, the relevant parts of the book are available here.

• 19 December. A review of Manuel de la Fuente's excellent book Obra lírica completa was published in the Barcelona newspaper La Vanguardia on November 24.

• 19 December. German Popfoto, January 1969.

• 18 December. Italian weekly Ciao 2001. Three issues from the year 1989. The most important material there is probably Sergio Lacavalla's article "Musica e no" about the composers of contemporary music (Webern, Schönberg, etc.) and their influence on rock music (Zappa, Eno etc.).

• 17 December. Bow Tie Daddy comic from New York punk fanzine NUTS!.

• 16 December. British magazine One Two Testing. We can read good words about Zoot Allure's guitar playing and Dancin' Fool's production.

• 15 December. Have you heard, that "William George Jefferson Aeroplane Clinton was thrown out of an early Mothers Of Invention line-up for 'inhaling' whilst playing the sax ... His replacement was Frank Zappa!" This and many more illustrated stories you can find in the book Great Pop Things, which was first published in 1992 in UK (even with FZ and CB on the cover) and then in 1998 in USA.

• 14 December. DVD review - "Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in the '60s" by Michael Aschenfelder. March 2010, Notes journal.

• 13 December. Last week, the Italian book Essere Frank Zappa, by Michele Monina, was published. In the author's own words "In short, no biography of Frank Zappa here, and perhaps not even a phenomenology, already read, but rather a reinterpretation of his art, of his style, of his essence, precisely, in full contemporary style."

• 12 December. Zappa Doo Wop by Bruce Whitaker was published in 2019. For some reason we missed it. But this book is very beautifully designed (front and back illustations by the author), meaningful and absolutely recommended for any Zappa enthusiast. Bruce Whitaker: "The book explores Zappa's connections to and influences from the early L.A. Doo Wop and R&B scene of the 1950's and 60's and covers many of the songs that he performed on stage or referenced in his own songs throughout his career."

• 10 December. Australian short-living counterculture magazine High Times.

• 9 December. Zappa performed at the SDSU Open Air Theater on 9 September 1977. A review of the concert was published in the student newspaper The Daily Aztec. Student Ralph Hulett conducted an interview with Zappa, which was published in the same newspaper shortly after. Many years later, in 2008, Ralph Hulett wrote a thoughtful article about Mystery Disk in Record Collector News, using this 1977 interview.

• 8 December. New Year's calendar arrived - Zappalendář 2025. Planned, drawn and printed by Bohumil "Bohouš" Jůza, who is the chairman of the Czech Zappa fan club.

• 7 December. Sound & Vision stopped being published in print two months ago. We added some issues that talk about the film Zappa, the album Over/Nite Sensation, and the Deep Purple album mixed by Dweezil Zappa.

• 6 December. Spanish Rockdelux, special edition #200, October 2002. 200 best records of the 20th century according to Rockdelux, including We're Only In It For The Money and Trout Mask Replica.

• 2 December. Turkish Hey, April 1978. Zappa In New York.

• 1 December. The Italian magazine Ciao 2001 is back after a long hiatus this year. In several issues they repeated important articles about Zappa from the 70s.

• 30 November. Frank Zappa Biography For Curious Kids. Published in July 2024. We do not recommend this book.

• 30 November. Daily Variety, 10 June 1974. "Zappa Asks $2 Mil In Contract Breach Suit Against ATIL."

• 29 November. The Washington Post, 11 August 2024. "Growing up Zappa." Frank Zappa's children are still grappling with his legacy. With a lot of pictures.

• 28 November. Schott Journal, the quarterly magazine of one of the world's leading music pulishers.

• 21 November. East-German Melodie & Rhythmus published in two consequtive issues 12/81 and 01/82 a longer story about Zappa with several quotes from him.

• 19 November. Frank Zappa, obra lírica completa  (Frank Zappa, complete lyrical works) appeared yesterday. This is the first time that the complete lyrics of one of the most brilliant musicians of the 20th century are available on the market, both in Spanish and English. The Spanish translations are by Manuel de la Fuente.

• 14 November. Pay attention – Italian Classic Rock, issue 141, November/December 2024.

• 12 November. Dutch Lust For Life, May 2022. On the occasion of the recently released box The Mothers 1971, a look back at a disastrous December 71.

• 11 November. Hungarian film art magazine Filmvilág, July 2021. Alex Winter's Zappa film.

• 10 November. Zappostrophe #153 is out. Another news is that the active Czech Zappa fan club will release a 2025 calendar called Zappalendar during the month of November.

• 10 November. A report dedicated to the Spanish edition of The Real FZ Book. La Vanguardia, 24 November 2014. 

• 7 November. Italian Ciao 2001, 1988 edition.
  - February 17 : "Frank out", overview of Zappa CDs
  - March 30 : London Symphony Orchestra II
  - July 6 : 4 page article on Dweezil Zappa
  - August 10 : "Me, Frank", interview with FZ
  - August 24 : You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Sampler

• 4 November. "A wish come true or Who's really crazy here" - an interview with FZ by Alexander Goldscheider, made in Fillmore East before the 22 February 1969 shows. Czechoslovakian Melodie, July 1969.

• 2 November. Film Comment, July/August 2016. Eat That Question film review.

• 2 November. Italian Ciao 2001:
  - 1987 August 19 : Zappa's attempt to host The Late Show
  - 1987 September 9 : Does Humor Belong In Music?

• 1 November. In 2007, Scott Parker began a book series of Zappa recordings, which was to come in eight volumes. After a three-year hiatus, Scott Parker is now continuing this series with the ninth volume The Big One.

• 31 October. German magazine for vinyl culture Mint, February 2023. A review of reissues of the two albums from Zappa's big-band era - Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo.

• 30 October. Dutch Lust For Life, March 2021. Interview with Alex Winter on Zappa "From musician to cultural activist".

• 28 October. Apostrophe album ad, Creem, July 1974. The same issue contains Capt. Beefheart album review and Rock Dreams book review.

• 27 October. Here he comes again! ... that pantaloon duck, white goose neck.  "Low Yo-Yo Stuff: Getting Closer To The Captain" by Lester Bangs. Creem, January 1973.

• 26 October. Apostrophe album ad on the back cover of German Musikexpress, February 1976.

• 25 October. Two books in Dutch by Cor van Diejen. One of them is Een modder van inventie (A mud of invention), released in 2017 and is entirely about Zappa. The second, Een harlekijneend, gans wit genekt, kwaakt (The pantaloon duck, white goose neck, quacked), was published in 2019 and is half a book about Captain Beefheart, half about Zappa.
  

• 23 October. Label profile: "Barking Pumpkin – A Family Affair With Frank Zappa", Cash Box, 6 November 1982.

• 21 October. Dutch Lust For Life, March 2011. 6-page article on Zappa "Fanatical monk with double standards".

• 19 October. British Record Mirror, 25 August 1973. "Zappa - a booga of a good talker".

• 16 October. Excellent issue of Ciao 2001, 20 February 1987, containing two interviews with FZ. "Diabolico" is the fresh one, about Jazz From Hell, and "Private Zappa" contains memories from 1975.

• 14 October. Italian weekly Ciao 2001. Some issues from 1985-86 added.
  - 1985 April 5 : Jean Luc Ponty
  - 1985 November 29 : Porno rock
  - 1986 February 7 : Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention (short story)
  - 1986 April 11 : Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention (long story with full text)
  - 1986 December 12 : some short news

• 13 October. Some issues of Hit Parader magazine from 1968/69.

• 12 October. In 1967, Hit Parader included some FZ or the Mothers picture, advertisement, gossip etc. in each monthly issue from March to December. We added several of them today, but check them all out.

• 11 October. Bimonthly publication of the Film Society of Lincoln Center - Film Comment, January/February 2004. Rediscovering Timothy Carey's The World's Greatest Sinner.

• 10 October. Hits is a Hollywood-based music industry trade publication focused on industry news and innuendo. Some brief quotes from 1988 to 1995 added.

• 9 October. Andy Warhol: "the greatest work of art in the last decade." Rock Stars In Their Underpants, London 1980. FZ is on page 51.

• 8 October. One nice review of Varèse's and Zappa's music. San Diego Reader, 23 September 1999.

• 7 October. Fusion, 19 March 1971. This issue includes Nick Tosches' review of the early years of Captain Beefheart. Surprisingly, we couldn't find this text on any CB site so far. Recommended reading.

• 6 October. A British magazine, known in various years as The Guitar Magazine and Guitar & Bass. Several snippets from 2013 to 2019 have been added where you can find short reviews of FZ's various albums and songs.

• 5 October. Frankly Speaking is a new book by guitarist Bassam Habal. The book is a collection of ten transcribed interviews with Zappa alumni Ralph Humphrey, Lisa Popeil, David Logeman, Bobby Martin, Tom "Bones" Malone, Jim Pons, Bruce Fowler, Sal Marquez, Malcolm McNab, and Ray White.

• 3 October. Swedish Rock'n'Roll Magazine.
  - 2021 #6 : Historic Zappa - Zappa '88 The last U.S. show
  - 2021 #8 : Hugely exhaustive - 200 Motels 50th anniversary edition
  - 2022 #4 : Feels as if you are lazy - The Mothers 1971
  - 2022 #6 : Zappa never fades - Zappa / Erie

• 2 October. Fresh Arf Dossier #121, September 2024.

• 1 October. Two concert reviews by George Kanzler Jr. from The Star-Ledger, New Jersey:
  - 1978 October 16
  - 1984 August 17

• 1 October. British Sounds, 16 July 1977. A small Zappa bit.

• 11 September. British Electronics & Music Maker, March 1982. FZ and MOI are mentioned in the fourth part of the overview of the history of electronic music, and the list of important albums includes Uncle Meat.

• 11 September. Melody Maker, 22 January 1977. Additional dates in Zappa's concert tour.

• 10 September. Another striking cover for a Dutch magazine! The bimonthly publication Heaven featured the cover story ‘Over-Nite Sensation: Zappa’s Breakthrough’ in its November-December 2023 issue. In the previous issue before this, Zappa was also featured - with a review of Funky Nothingness.

• 8 September. Lust For Life #144 is coming soon in a couple of days, 20 September. The 8-page cover story "Niets was hem te gek" ('Nothing was too crazy for him') celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the album Apostrophe. Lust For Life spoke to several people involved about the versatile musician and composer: "His words are more relevant than ever".

• 8 September. The highly acclaimed comic book Underground was originally published in French in 2017. In 2024, it has finally been released in English. The full title is Underground: The Illustrated Bible of Cursed Rockers and High Priestesses of Sound. "This is the essential guide to the weird and wonderful performers that became legends in their own right."

• 7 September. Dutch monthly Lust For Life #142 published a list of 70 essential albums from the 70s. Among them was Joe's Garage, Acts I, II & III.

• 6 September. Burkhard Schempp has compiled several Zappa books. Zappa's music is still very muvh alive was released by him for the 2021 Zappanale festival. For 2023 Zappanale appeared a significantly improved edition Zappanale. It happened here!
  

• 5 September. It's extremely rare that something like a Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar review comes along. But here is one. Another Australian monthly, Roadrunner, March 1982.

• 5 September. Soundblast, May 1973. Zappa comes to Australia with his  Mothers of Invention in June and July ... and it should be beauty.

• 4 September. The UK magazine International Musician And Recording World was published in several countries. We have separate pages now for the UK and US editions. Several entries are added here and there. Among the new ones, we could highlight US 1983 July : Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson expresses his opinion about Zappa.

• 3 September. As we learned in Moon Zappa's book, one of the magazines that could be found in Zappa's home was Omni. The October 1987 issue of this science and science fiction magazine featured a longer article "In Search Of A Definition", in which 12 famous people, including Frank Zappa, gave their opinions on the New Age movement.

• 1 September. Eart To Moon: A Memoir by Moon Unit Zappa. No other Zappa book has been published before with such excitement and dozens of reviews. Both the US and UK editions appeared almost at the same time, and even the German translation on the very second day after US and before UK. All of them are nice hardcover editions. The paperback will come in a little while.
  

• 31 August. "Arguing the relative merits of "baby murder" versus church-sponsored "fetal life insurance policies" misses the point. The real question is "WILL AMERICA BECOME A PRO-CHOICE NATION OR A NO-CHOICE NATION"?" That was Frank Zappa himself. His letter both in English and Italian was published in Italian monthly Tuttifrutti, September 1989.

• 30 August. 8 issues of the Czechoslovakian magazine Melodija from 1973-75 added. This magazine was one of the most important information sources of rock music in the Eastern Bloc.

• 27 August. Zappa in an antique armory shop. Photo published in Japanese monthly Rockin'f, April 1980. All that is known about this photo is that it says "Photo by Sico Press" and the table has a sign in French that reads "Sécurité". If you can say something additional about this picture, you are welcome.

• 26 August. A series of articles about Bizarre Records from trade magazine Record World:
  - 1969 February 1 : "Recording, Distribution Pact by Reprise, Bizarre"
  - 1969 February 22 : "Reshen on Bizarre Trip To Europe"
  - 1969 March 8 : "Bizarre Inks 5 Acts"
  - 1969 April 26 : "Bizarre Records – First Underground Conglomerate"
  - 1969 May 31 : "The Two Frank Zappas"
  - 1969 June 28 : "New Execs at Bizarre"
  - 1970 March 7 : "Bizarre, Straight Underground Story"

• 25 August. A funny anecdote from Ian Hunter about how he and Keith Moon visited Frank Zappa. Classic Rock, Summer 2024.

• 24 August. Three album reviews by Richard C. Walls from Creem.
  - 1969 August : Trout Mask Replica
  - 1974 August : Apostrophe
  - 1979 June : Sheik Yerbouti

• 23 August. Norwegian Det Nye, June 1982. We learned that Zappa's album sales (Sheik Yerbouti/Joe's Garage) were so big in Norway that only Germany and Sweden sold more of them in Europe.

• 22 August. EQ magazine.
  - 1993 October : "Cooking With Zappa". One of the last photos for the public, taken by John Livzey in UMRK
  - 1994 January : "Zappa: The Innovator"
  - 1997 August : Mr. Bonzai visiting Dweezil Zappa

• 21 August. Electronic Musician absorbed EQ magazine in 2011, Keyboard magazine in 2017 and ceased publication itself in August 2023. The August 2006 issue had an interview with Dweezil Zappa by Mr. Bonzai: "Frankly, It's Dweezil".

• 20 August. American Music quarterly, Spring 1984. Review of the second edition of No Commercial Potential, David Walley's important work (the first book about Zappa in English).

• 15 August. Program of the Bath Festival of Blues & Progressive Music. This festival took place in June 1970 and was in a sense like the Woodstock of Europe. The program booklet includes a very comprehensive and interesting essay by historian Robert M. Young "A New Nation?".

• 14 August. Dutch Muziek.NL magazine, #5 2012. Contains an exclusive interview with Gail Zappa and article by Co de Cloet about the early Zappa albums.

• 13 August. Zappa concert in Cologne, Germany, February 1988. Musikexpress/Sounds, June 1988.
  The Musikexpress magazine is the largest source of German-language information on this site. The ranking of magazines according to their page size in afka.net is currently as follows:
   1. Ciao 2001, Italy
   2. Rock & Folk, France
   3. Rolling Stone, USA
   4. DownBeat, USA
   5. Melody Maker, UK
   6. Guitar Player, USA
   7. Mojo, UK
   8. Musikexpress, Germany
   9. NME, UK
  10. Cash Box, USA

• 12 August. Review of the first Zappa book in Hungarian. Kisalfőld, November 1989.

• 11 August. Time magazine, 4 issues:
  - 1984 June : Zappa with the puppet cast of his ballet
  - 1985 September : Rock Is A Four-Letter Word
  - 1988 November : Critic's Choice. Frank Zappa: Guitar
  - 1991 July : If You Can't Beat Them ...

• 10 August. Frank, Moon and Dweezil Zappa pictured with A Flock Of Seagulls. Creem Rock-Shots, March 1984.

• 9 August. DownBeat, July 1999. "Hall of Fame Outcasts: Jimi Hendrix & Frank Zappa".

• 8 August. In 1994, the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Norway hosted the Zappa exhibition, which is probably the largest Zappa-themed exhibition in the world to date. A corresponding CD-format book Zappa was released for this exhibition.

• 28 July. Three album reviews by Terje Mosnes from Norwegian POP-Revyen.
  - 1967 September : Freak Out! (I don't understand anything)
  - 1967 October : Absolutely Free (Now I get it)
  - 1968 September : We're Only In It ... (Great!)

• 27 July. Rolling Stone, October 1992. Zappa Première Set. European ensemble to debut 'The Yellow Shark'.

• 26 July. Classic Rock, January 2016. The film Roxy: The Movie was reviewed.

• 25 July. Czech fanzine Zappostrophe, issue #152 is out.

• 25 July. French Best, July 1974. A 4-page article on Captain Beefheart.

• 24 July. Modern Drummer, April 1985. "Update: Jimmy Carl Black".

• 23 July. King Kral is a monthly zine created by Joe Kral, an artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

• 20 July. The Belgian designer Dries Van Noten presented in 2012 his psychedelic elegance collection, inspired by Oscar Wilde and Frank Zappa. Another Man magazine covered the event with "A Conversation Between Oscar Wilde and Frank Zappa".

• 18 July. Stanley Hope: "This cheesy little home-made book was cobbled together for the amusement of Zappa fans. It is not for the highbrowed or lowdown." The Frank Zappa FUQ by Andrew Greenaway, published in June.

• 17 July. Another album review by Riccardo Bertoncelli - Jean/Luc Ponty's King Kong. Musica Jazz, June 2022.

• 16 July. Funky Nothingness reviewed by Riccardo Bertoncelli. Musica Jazz, July 2023.

• 14 July. Time, 28 February 1969. Manners And Morals. The Groupies.

• 13 July. "Absolutely Frank" - Alan di Perna reviewing the Frank Zappa Catalog. Guitar World, August 1995.

• 12 July. The German fanzine Arf Dossier #120 is out. Don't forget that the Zappanale Festival is coming soon - 19.-21. July.

• 7 July.  "Pizza, hamburgere etc" - an interesting picture of New York in 1967, where Zappa performs, where jazz giants give way to a new generation, new music. Written by Torben Ulrich, a fine clarnetist, writer, world class professional tennis player, and father of Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. Jazz Revy, June 1967.

• 6 July. Dale Bozzio: "I genuflect to Frank. I idolize Frank for his knowledge, his graciousness, his genius, and I’m indebted to him forever, forever and ever. He’s the hero of my book." Life Is So Strange.

• 5 July. Muppet Magazine, Spring 1983. "Moon Zappa Meets Janice, or 'Tubular Meets Groovy'".

• 3 July. The largest page on our site is the Italian magazine Ciao 2001. It is an inexhaustible source of information. Added four editions from 1984:
  - April 22 : For astrology enthusiasts. Zappa's birth chart.
  - September 6 : Review of the very first concert of the 84 tour in LA.
  - November 11 : Them Or Us
  - December 16 : Legendary adventures of Robert Hyams and Zappa's reaction.

• 2 July. French magazine Guitar Part:
  - 2018 April : The Roxy Performances
  - 2019 January : "Jimi Plays Zappa"
  - 2019 December : Review of the Zappa book trilogy

• 1 July 2023. Volume 2 of The Mother People Anthology features the next 13 issues of Mother People [##14 - 26], a Frank Zappa fanzine produced from 1981 through 1989 by Rob Cerreta. This anthology is compiled, edited and published by Scott Parker.

• 19 June. Last set of album reviews from Cash Box:
  - 1987 January 17 : Jazz From Hell
  - 1988 December 3 : Broadway The Hard Way
  - 1991 July 13 : You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 4
  - 1993 November 27 : The Yellow Shark

• 18 June. Cash Box is still on the agenda.
  - 1981 May 16 : Tinseltown Rebellion
  - 1981 September 19 : You Are What You Is
  - 1982 June 5 : Ship Arriving Too Late ...
  - 1983 March 12 : The Man From Utopia
  - 1983 July 9 : Zappa Vol. I, LSO

• 14 June. A few Cash Box single reviews for a change.
  - 1979 October 27 : Joe's Garage
  - 1980 April 12 :  I Don’t Wanna Get Drafted

• 14 June. Cash Box album reviews again.
  - 1978 April 1 : Zappa In New York
  - 1978 September 30 : Studio Tan
  - 1979 March 3 : Sheik Yerbouti
  - 1979 May 19 : Orchestral Favorites
  - 1979 September 8 : Joe's Garage, Act I
  - 1979 December 1 : Joe's Garage, Acts II & III

• 13 June. More album reviews from Cash Box.
  - 1972 July 22 : Waka/Jawaka
  - 1973 September 23 : Over-Nite Sensation
  - 1974 April 6 : Apostrophe (')
  - 1974 September 21 : Roxy & Elsewhere
  - 1975 July 5 : One Size Fits All
  - 1975 October 18 : Bongo Fury
  - 1976 August 14 : Grand Funk - Good Singin' Good Playin'

• 11 June. Cash Box album reviews continue.
  - 1969 April 19 : Uncle Meat
  - 1969 November 15 : Hot Rats
  - 1970 February 21 : Burnt Weeny Sandwich
  - 1971 August 7 : Fillmore East, June 1971
  - 1971 November 6 : 200 Motels
  - 1972 April 8 : Just Another Band From L.A.

• 9 June. Several short reviews from Cash Box:
  Singles:
  - 1967 May 20 : Why Don't You Do Me Right
  - 1967 December 2 : Sonics - Any Way The Wind Blows
  - 1967 December 30 : Lonely Little Girl
  Albums:
  - 1967 June 24 : Absolutely Free
  - 1968 March 9 : We're Only In It For The Money
  - 1968 May 11 : Lumpy Gravy
  - 1968 November 30 : Crusing With Ruben & The Jets

• 8 June. German Good Times, December 2023. A set of articles on FZ plus centerfold poster.

• 8 June. German Good Times, August 2021. The drummer (Joe Travers) in the master's vault.

• 7 June. American Rock Scene. Two "Hot Pix" columns. 1977 January with FZ and Grand Funk, 1981 March with Captain Beefheart.

• 6 June. Danish GO magazine, October 1970. Have you heard of conductor Edo de Waart?

• 5 June. British ZigZag, #17, December 1970. Chunga's Revenge album ad on the back cover.

• 4 June. Hungarian men's magazine CKM, October 2004. Zappa's photo is used to illustrate an article about Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush.

• 3 June. Norwegian women's magazine Det Nye, May 1979. Interview wit FZ "I don't like people".

• 2 June. Zappa & The Mothers concert ads from June and October 1970. The Eagle Bone Whistle.

• 1 June. The Eagle Bone Whistle from San Antonio, Texas. Interview with FZ from July 1970.