Zappa Books

New Entries.

• 26 January. "Moon In June" on Captain Beefheart. Italian Musica Jazz, September 2019.

• 25 January. Norwegian progressive music magazine Tarkus, December 2001. Profile articles on Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa.

• 24 January. "Frank Zappa, antidote to our time" (Frank Zappa, antidote to our time) by Jean-Pierre Filiu was published in French intellectual journal Revue du Crieur, February 2017.

• 23 January. Two classical album reviews in Gramophone magazine:
  - Ensemble Moder plays Frank Zappa, May 2004
  - Zappa - Royal Academy Of Music Manson Ensemble, November 2012.

• 22 January. Bass Player, March 2016. Kurt Morgan of ZPZ. Zappa Zealot.

• 21 January. Melody Maker, 3 March 1979. Review by jazz critic Brian Case "Frank Zappa: Sheik Yerbouti".

• 19 January. Polish Gitarszysta, June 2020. Paul Green from School Of Rock Music is rating some guitar stars. Only Hendrix will got 6+. Frank Zappa and Tony Iommi are both 6, Angus Young 6-, Billy Joe Armstrong 5-, Kirk Hammett 4+, Slash 4, Ace Frehley 1.

• 18 January. Disc and Music Echo, 18 December 1971. First news after the Rainbow Theatre incident.

• 17 January. Big 17-page Terry Bozzio special in Traps, Autumn 2008. Includes interviews with Ed Mann, Patrick O'Hearn and Chad Wackerman.

• 16 January. "Talking Pictures", interview with Captain Beefheart. Melody Maker, 1 November 1980.

• 15 January. Nye Takter, 8 July 1981 from Norway. Big family tree of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart presented by Norwegian Frank Zappa Society people.

• 15 January. Norwegian monthly Puls, October 1984. Article and concert review on Zappa visiting Norway.

• 14 January. Us Weekly, 17 August 1982. Moon Unit Zappa.

• 13 January. Polish guitarist magazine Gitarszysta, January 2013. Cover story on Dweezil Zappa.

• 13 January. Mladý svět (Young World) from Czechoslovakia, August 1990.

• 12 January. Norwegian progressive rock magazine Tarkus #29, June 2004. Article on FZ by Trond Gjellum, drummer and composer of the band Panzerpappa.

• 11 January. We're Only In It For The Money reviewed in Record Mirror, 18 June 1968.

• 10 January. Danish semi-annual publication Rock City, November 2011, with FZ cover story.

• 9 January. The most important Argentian rock magazine Pelo, #100, 1979.

• 9 January. Polish weekly Razem, June 1984. The full-page articles on FZ were quite rare in eastern bloc countries.

• 8 January. Short interview with Frank Zappa for a preliminary introduction of the coming album Joe's Garage. Rolling Stone, 26 July 1979.

• 8 January. Two short reviews from 1967:
  - SP "Big Leg Emma", Record Mirror, 23 September 1967
  - LP Absolutely Free, Record Mirror, 30 September 1967

• 7 January. Illustrated weekly Svet from Bratislava, Slovakia. Issued in February 1990.

• 6 January. Norwegian long-running music paper Nye Takter. In 1979 from February to May a four part Zappa article by Jan Arne Handorff was published. February, March and May issues are here.

• 5 January. German Musik Joker, February 1976, including the interview with FZ by Armano Gallo.

• 5 January. Interview with Joe Travers "Not Your Average Joe" from Talking Drums, 1995.

• 4 January. French Superhebdo, 10 February 1971 with an indeed bizarre Frank Zappa poster.

• 3 January. A reminder of the Scott Thunes interview five years later in Bass Player October 2012.

• 2 January. An old one and difficult to access, but still a good read, interview with Scott Thunes "Requiem For A Heavyweight?". Bass Player, March 1997.

• 2 January. Yugoslavian/Croatian music magazine Heroina, April/May 1991.

• 31 December. The last months of this year brought us several interesting new Zappa books. At the end of the year, we are pleased to present the Japanese FZ disc guide Shut Up 'N Collect Yer Books by Wakui Koji.

• 30 December. Mint is the magazine for German vinyl enthusiasts. December issue #41 contains the cover story "including special highlights the life's work of the exceptional Californian artist with a special vinyl focus."

• 29 December. "Zappa saves his show from shambles" – Judy Sims tells us what happened at the Pauley Pavillion concert where Frank Zappa and his Mothers joined with the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Zubin Mehta. Disc and Music Echo, 30 May 1970.

• 28 December. After a three-year break, at once appeared 3(!) issues of the world's oldest Zappa fanzine Zappostrophe, ## 137, 138, 139. Nice Christmas present to all Czech Frank Zappa fans.
  There are still two Zappa fanzines in print - Czech Zappostrophe, founded in 1986 and German Arf-Dossier, founded in 1994.

• 26 December. Let It Rock, November 1973. Over-nite Senseation reviewed by musicologist Simon Frith. "Ugly, vulgar, insulting – Zappa scores!"

• 25 December. Frank Zappa - The Nordic Stories, by Erland Bekkelund, Cege Berklund, Matti Laipio, Ole Lysgaard. The book is a collection of stories, interviews and anekdotes, accompanied by over 250 unpublished photos from the Mothers' first visit to Europe in 1967 right up to Frank's last ever tour in 1988.

• 23 December. Polish quarterly magazine Lizard, #38, September 2020. Great 10-page analysis of Zappa's connections with 20th century modernity.

• 22 December. German short-living music paper Concert 71, November 1971. Contains an opinion on Zappa from 60s folk singer and songwriter Christopher Sommerkorn, a member of the duo Christopher & Michael. Full text with translations available.

• 21 December. Italian monthly for record collectors Raropiù. Successor of the magazine Raro!. September and October issues contained FZ USA discography.

• 20 December. Melody Maker, 13 January 1973. The Grand Wazoo review.

• 19 December. Player, January 1979, from Japan. Contains some FZ album reviews. Illustrations by Yagi Yasuo are always striking.

• 19 December. Czechoslovakian monthly tabloid paper EX'pres. Three issues from 1990 containing article on Czech Frank Zappa Fan Club.

• 18 December. Serious Norwegian literature magazine Vagant, no. 2 1990, with an article by zappologist Jonathan Jones.

• 17 December. Melody Maker, 18 December 1971. Interesting issue containing first feedback after the Rainbow Theatre incident "Frank Zappa out for three weeks" and interview with Ian Underwood "Mothers' Pride".

• 16 December. Norwegian progressive rock quarterly magazine Tarkus. Two issues with interesting articles on FZ - #44, March 2008 and #51, December 2009.

• 15 December. Frank & Co by Co de Kloet contains 460 pages of unique material about Frank Zappa, based on over 25 hours of tape recorded between 1977 and 1990. Published on 20 November 2020.

• 14 December. Japanese Crossbeat, January and August 1995. Containing so called The Frank Zappa Reverse Dictionary parts 1 and 2.

• 14 December. Belgian weekly Ciné Télé Revue. Two issues from December 1993 with FZ obituaries.

• 13 December. Two great December issues with FZ cover stories: Italian Musica Jazz and French Jazz Magazine. 

• 13 Dezember. Czechoslovakian magazine for soldiers, Zápisník, June 1990.

• 12 December. Japanese Strange Days, October 2007. A disc guide for Zappa Box set compiled by Video Arts Japan.

• 10 December. Finnish Suosikki, October 1975. Interview with Frank Zappa - full text with translations available.

• 9 December. Brazilian Bizz, February 1986 with translated from USA Today interview.

• 9 December. Argentinian Pelo, #17 1971, on 200 Motels.

• 8 December. Another great issue of Norwegian Puls, May 1991, including interview with Frank Zappa. Full text with translations available.

• 7 December. Czechoslovakian music monthly Melodie, June 1990.

• 6 December. "Jottings for the Beefheart Archives", from Zigzag #29, March 1973.

• 5 December. Strange Things Are Happening, April/May 1989 with 14-page Zappa/Mothers special. All page scans added.

• 3 December. Monster interview with Frank Zappa by Lars Esselius published in three consequtive issues of Norwegian music magazine Puls - December 1986, January and February 1987. Full text with translations available.

• 1 December. Current German Good Times, December/January issue. Included are FZ profile and article on Pauline Butcher's book Freak Out.

• 1 December. Two issues of Norwegian monthly Puls, February and June 1980. Both containing articles on FZ.

• 30 November. Frank Zappa and the MOI concert tour and albums ads, Melody Maker, 6 November 1971.

• 29 November. Czech rock monthly Rockshock, May 2005, containing long exclusive interview with Gail Zappa.

• 28 November. Czechoslovakian monthly magazine Zvon, April 1990. Interview with Frank Zappa visiting Prague. "How did Prague receive you? Without exaggeration, I must say that in twenty-five years I have not received such an acceptance as here. Many thanks for them."

• 27 November. Zappa by Alex Winter is a limited printing collector's picture book. This book was sent in these days to about 2000 backers of the project WHO THE F*@% IS FRANK ZAPPA? all over the world. The corresponding documentary Zappa was released in North America today, 27 November.

• 25 November. Record Collector News, November/December 2020. Feature article and interview: "A new Frank Zappa documentary from director Alex Winter mines archival footage to examine the musician's private side"

• 24 November. Norwegian bimonthly music paper Backstage, #3 2003, containing article on groupies.

• 23 November. Australian Go-Set, 21 April 1973. Interview with Frank Zappa reprinted from British NME.

• 22 November. 60s Norwegian music magazine POP-Revyen. Introduced with four issues from 67-68 containing most interesting Zappa-related articles. Even one exclusive interview with Frank Zappa.

• 22 November. Zappa had a concert in Oslo in 2 March 1979. Two issues of Puls monthly - March and April - covered this event. A lot of pictures included.

• 22 November. Norwegian youth magazine Pop Nytt, March 1968.

• 21 November. Norwegian monthly magazine Beat. Three issues containing articles on FZ: March 1991, January 1994 and May 1996.

• 20 November. "200 Motels Can Make You Crazy" by Matt Groening. Printed in Cooper Point Journal, 29 April 1976. "The essence of 200 MOTELS is very difficult to capture. Frank Zappa's 1971 feature-length movie operates on so many levels that isolating any element will not do it justice. It is a musical/visual/comic extravaganza that compresses time and space into a 99-minute pulsating lump, combining real incidents and Zappa's fantasies into a surrealistic documentary unlike any other movie ever seen."

• 17 November. Captain Beefheart and Cal Schenkel art exhibition review by Matt Groening: "Portrait of the Mutants as Young Artists". Cooper Point Journal, April 1976. From 1972 to 1977, Matt Groening attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. He served as the editor of the campus newspaper, the Cooper Point Journal, for which he also wrote articles and drew cartoons.

• 13 November. Interview with Herb Cohen "Is Herb a father to the Mothers?". He talks about Wild Man Fischer, Captain Beefheart and GTOs. Melody Maker, 13 November 1971.

• 10 November. Lester Bangs interviewing Captain Beefheart in Boulevards magazine, May 1981.

• 7 November. A small book printed in Italy in 1982 - I trasgressori (The offenders). Contains chapters on the following artists: Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Velvet Underground, Fugs, Iggy Pop, MC5. What a list!

• 6 November. Spot the errors contest in 16 magazine, September 1967.

• 2 November. Another laudatory review of Hot Rats. "This is the best fucking, ballsy, brilliant, ambitious, masterful, funky, down home, dynamic, motherfucker of an album I have ever heard." Los Angeles Free Press, 5 December 1969.

• 1 November. "Yes, Greater America may have Nixon, cold cream, and vacuum-pack lima beans, but we at Reprise are now allied with Frank Zappa and his Merry Pranksters. And from them we have a disgusting new album called Uncle Meat." This ad ppeared in the Los Angeles Free Press, 16 May 1969.

• 1 November. Short but completely exhaustive and excellent review by Chris Welch – "Hot Rats - hot Zappa!". Melody Maker, 4 April 1970.

• 31 October. Finnish Suosikki, March 1977. Frank Zappa inteviewed by Freeman, Finnish number one singer in these days. Full text w translation available.

• 30 October. The Chicago Seed, August 1970. Mike Gold on several FZ and MOI albums.

• 29 October. Los Angeles Free Press, 28 August 1970. Albums review by Nigey Lennon "Adderly blows but Zappa's at the wheel".

• 25 October. Good read. Captain Beefheart meets Kristine McKenna. Ian Wright illustrates. NME, 9 August 1986. "As far as my career in music, I think I'm in pretty good stead and that I did what I wanted to do - which is not to say that I'm finished with music. The only thing that stops a composer from thinking about music is: rigor mortis - and I still compose all the time."

• 21 October. Canadian fanzine Pop-See-Cul, Autumn 1967. Frank Zappa was interviewed during MOI two-week engagement in Montreal.

• 20 October. Two issues of New Musical Express:
  September 9, 1967 - containing Royal Albert Hall concert ad
  September 30, 1967 - with a Royal Albert Hall concert feedback

• 17 October. Captain Beefheart by Riccardo Bertoncelli. This book in Italian was printed in April 2020 as a supplement to the music magazine Blow Up.

• 16 October. Finnish music magazine Back Beat, #2 1980. Joe's Garage 1, 2, 3 review.

• 15 October. The Rocket, February 1986. Free beweekly newspaper from Seattle.

• 13 October. New Musical Express, September 23, 1967. "The Mothers of Invention - tame but really great". A review of the "Big Leg Emma" single.

• 13 October. New Musical Express, April 6, 1974. Beefheart's UK concert dates announced.

• 11 October. Italian music monthly Outsider, issue 14, June 2014. Roxy By Proxy.

• 10 October. Very interesting avant-garde music quarterly from Japan – G-Modern. Two-part Beefheart biography and Zappa obituary in 1993 issues #4 and #5.

• 9 October. Disc & Music Echo, March 23, 1968. We’re Only In It For The Money reviewed. "A record like this transcends all boundaries, provoking thought at all levels ... A staggering record, highly recommended to freaks of all ages! "

• 8 October. Weasels Ripped My Flesh presented in Disc & Music Echo, September 19, 1970.

• 7 October. Pop-musiikin vuosisada (The pop music century), the book printed in Finland in 1968, was one of the first books with some pages about Frank Zappa.

• 5 October. German magazines on The Mothers 1970:
  - Audio, August 2020
  - Gitarre & Bass, August 2020
  - Good Times, August/September 2020
  - Rolling Stone, August 2020

• 4 October. More reviews of The Mothers 1970, now from British press:
  - Classic Rock, August 2020
  - Record Collector, August 2020
  - Shindig! July 2020

• 3 October. After some break, here we go again. American Goldmine, August 2020. "Mothers & Others" contains The Mothers 1970 review.

• 12 September. Arf Dossier #105 is out now.

• 8 September. More from Japan. Record Collectors' Magazine, July 1990.

• 7 September. Japanese Music Magazine, March 1985. For this issue, the editors of the magazine asked Kojima Sachiho, the leader of Japanese all-girl rock band Zelda, to write an article on FZ.

• 5 September. Japanese Record Collectors' Magazine, April 2020. Contains extensive over 20 pages feature on Hot Rats, which comprises several articles by the magazine's regular contributors.

• 30 August. British Rave, September 1967, on the underground groups - "The Big Pop Movement".

• 29 August. British weekly music paper Top Pops, May 24, 1969. Mothermania - a good Album which will sell well to aware people. 
  Plus Dutch edition of Top Pops, November 2 1968, with a FZ interview.

• 27 August. Stereophile, June 1989. Part IV of Richard Lehnert's exploration of the recorded world of this iconoclastic composer – "The Old Masters".

• 26 August. Stereophile, November 1991. Many new releases reviewed: "15 new Zappa CDs, 10 new LPs".

• 25 August. Small Zappa bit in EC Rocker, February 7, 1990.

• 19 August. Mojo #321, August 2020, with a 10-page FZ special has usually Paul Weller on the cover. But there is another version for collectors with the Frank Zappa cover.

• 17 August. The first Soviet rock paper was Ivanov. Its last issue #6, 1994 contained FZ obituary.

• 16 August. Soviet newspaper Pop-Avtograf, issued in small Siberian city Blagoveshchensk in 1991.

• 15 August. New Musical Express, May 7, 1977. "Zappa sues previous licensees of Rainbow".

• 14 August. "The literary rock'n'roll project of united underground, overground and neverground" - Sovsem Drugaya Muzyka (Completely Different Music) #4, October 2000.

• 13 August. An independent music paper from Kiev, Ukraina - Aut, January 1994.

• 13 August. Melody Maker, June 19, 1971. Al Aronowitz reports on a weird jam session at New York’s Fillmore East: "The ballad of John, Yoko and Frank Zappa".

• 12 August. German Stereoplay, September 2020. Review of The Mothers 1970.

• 11 August. Music Connection, October 1986. "Dweezil Zappa, Self-Made Boy."

• 10 August. Issue 14 of the Ray Gun magazine included a full page Zappa portrait.

• 25 July. Modern Drummer, December 1984. Contains interview with Terry Bozzio and some FZ rhythm examples.

• 23 July. Frank Zappa by Harry Lime is just another cheap print-on-demand book about Frank Zappa. Nothing new here.

• 21 July. True Soviet time underground samizdat paper from Kiev, Ukraine – Guchnomovets, April 1988.

• 21 July. Prog UK, July 2020. The Mothers 1970 review.

• 18 July. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, July 16, 2020. Contains article "Rock and mosquitoes" on the concert at Parco di Redecesio, Segrate, Italy on July 7, 1982.

• 17 July. Arf Dossier #104 is out now. Don't forget to visit Zappanale festival live streaming site 17.-19. July.

• 14 July. Melody Maker, April 8, 1978. Zappa In New York review – "Double dose of declining Zappa".

• 13 July. Italian monthly Blow Up, October 2002. Five reviews of Freak Out! from five critics.

• 12 July. New version 2.0 of Compositions by Frank Zappa by Heikki Porila, a music librarian from Finland. First version published in 2017 had 315 pages. This new updated and expanded version has 403 pages. The book is available for free as a downloadable PDF file! Recommended!

• 11 July. British Disc and Music Echo, November 19, 1966. "Freak Out!" by the fearsome-looking MOTHERS OF INVENTION hasn't been released over here yet, and if it is a lot of people are going to wish it hadn't been. The way they can make you scream with laughter and give you the horrors at the same time is compellingly evil. If psychedelic music can exist (debatable) this is it.

• 8 July. Liberator, May 1970, underground paper from West Virginia. Attractive cover, but no Zappa/Mothers content inside.

• 8 July. Disc & Music Echo, September 23, 1967. "Big Leg Emma" single reviewed by Penny Valentine. "I just think it's rather sad that a man of – so I have heard – such intelligence and ability as Frank Zappa should feel the call to do the things he does."

• 8 July. A rare magazine from Boston, New England Scene, January 1968.

• 7 July. Recommended read - "Uncle Meat" review by Richard C. Walls. Taken from a vintage Creem, Vol. 2 #1, June 1969.

• 6 July. Sounds, February 4, 1978. Zappa's concert in London's Hammersmith Odeon reviewed.

• 6 July. The Polytechnic, February 27, 1975. Roxy & Elsewhere review "Zappa and crews live album showcases bizarre brilliance".

• 5 July. From Philadelphia - The Drummer, November 9, 1976. "Zappa, Mike & J.J. - A Token of Their Extreme" is on Frank Zappa in Mike Douglas show.

• 5 July. Good Times it is the oldest music and entertainment newspaper in USA, established in 1969. July 11, 2017 issue contains article "Dweezil Zappa Calling His Own Shots In Westhampton Beach".

• 4 July. New York Free Press, March 28, 1968. This issue contains a We're Only In It For The Money review - "Leader Of The Mothers".

• 4 July. Danish music monthly MM, April 1988. Article on FZ titled "The Einstein of music" and London Symphony Orchestra Vol. II review.

• 3 July. Melody Maker, September 16, 1978. Knebworth festival.

• 1 July. The Frank Zappa Vinyl Bootleg Compendium by Burkhard Schempp. This exclusive edition is limited to 100 copies. It was intended to be available at Zappanale 2020 Exhibition. Because of the corona pandemic the book is available directly from the author at www.vivavincent.de.