Q

Q was a music and entertainment magazine published monthly. Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time which they felt did not cater for the generation of older music buyers who were buying the then new CD technology from artists other magazines would ignore such as Paul Simon, Level 42, or Dire Straits. Modelled after Rolling Stone, it was first published in 1986 and set itself apart from much of the other music press by being produced monthly and with higher standards of photography and printing. The magazine was billed in the early years by its sub-title, "The modern guide to music and more". Its name was originally intended to be Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play) but was changed to avoid being mistaken for a snooker magazine. Q is ceased now, the final issue was published in July 2020. (wikipedia)

1988 January

No. 16

Megalomaniac
By Andy Gill, p 95

It's to be commended when a musician takes a personal interest in the CD re-mastering of his back catalogue – especially when, as here, the CD release makes available again albums which had been changing hands for upwards of £30 on the secondhand market. What's less commendable is the prospect that Zappa's re-issue schedule stretches beyond the early Mothers Of Invention albums to include some distinctly dodgy later stuff (32 albums in all, over the next three years). (read more)

Source: Fulvio Fiore

1989 December

No. 39

Frank's Wild Years
By Andy Gill, pp 88-91, 93-94

At dead of night, behind barred gates and video security cameras up in the Hollywood Hills above Los Angeles, a tall, angular man with neatly trimmed hair and moustache sits at the console of his home studio. He wears a tracksuit and trainers and looks young for his age – he'll be 49 by Christmas – but every now and then his kidney stones give him a painful reminder of mortality. Frank Zappa is busy remixing his past. (read more)

1993 July

No. 82

Frank Zappa Presents: The Amazing Mr Bickford
By Andy Gill, 1 p

Mr Bickford is Bruce Bickford, the plasticine animation genius responsible for the video to Zappa's City Of Tiny Lights. That's not included here, but what is undoubtedly merits the epithet "amazing". (read more)

Source: Fulvio Fiore

1993 August

No. 83

And Now, The End Is Near
By Andy Gill, 1 p

Two book reviews:
Mother! The Frank Zappa Story by Michael Gray
Frank Zappa In His Own Words by Miles.

Source: Fulvio Fiore

1994 January

No. 88

Frank Zappa & The Ensemble Modern: The Yellow Shark
By Stuart Maconie, 1 p

Frank Zappa: Uncle Meat (DVD)
By Martin Longley

Source: Fulvio Fiore

1994 February

No. 89

A Real Mother
By Andy Gill, pp 20-23

He gave avant-garde a good name, turned dabbling into an art form and herded cattle for The Monkees. Andy Gill celebrates an extraordinary life. (read more)

Source: Packard Goose

1994 April

No. 91

But Dad, We Want To Be Accountants
By Martin Aston, pp 86-93

Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics Of Poodle Play
By Rob Beattie, 1 p

Martin Aston's article contains a part on Dweezil Zappa.
The book reviews section contains a review of The Negative Dialectics Of Poodle Play by Ben Watson.

Source: Fulvio Fiore

1995 August

No.107

Frank Zappa: this was your life
By Andy Gill, pp 150-151

Short reviews of 53 re-issued Zappa albums on two pages.

1997 January

No.124

Baton out of hell
By Stuart Maconie, pp 150-151

[...] The most successful of rock’s aspirant composers was undoubtedly Frank Zappa. Drawn to music initially by his boyhood love of Varese and Webern, his orchestral works have been widely performed around the world. For the most part, they present a mild case of "heard one, heard them all" but Zappa clearly knew what he was doing and the weird orchestral colours are all his own. He and Emerson are the best of a small, maligned, bitter breed. And, for all the sense of keeping the world’s rock-heads at arm’s length, the classical establishment really needn’t be so smug — not least until we know what Dvorak’s trip-hop album would have been like.