Zappa Books

New Entries.

• 31 March. Suosikki, April 1976. FZ press conference and Helsinki concert review.

• 29 March. German free monthly Start, July 2020. The Mothers 1970.

• 29 March. Guitar Player Brazil, January 1999. 2nd part of the Frank Zappa's techniques.

• 28 March. First Zappa book published in 2023. Zappa Every Day is a DIY fanzine dedicated to the music of Frank Zappa by Flake, who listened to 34 Zappa albums in 34 days and wrote one review every day.

• 27 March. Hungarian Pesti Müsor, February 2011, on local band Cosmic Debris, which next year performed also at the Zappanale festival.

• 26 March Japanese Rockin' On, December 1982, contained a photo of FZ and Moon by David McGough.

• 25 March. Dutch monthly pop magazine Teenbeat, November 1967. Magazine readers' questions and answers session with Frank Zappa. 

• 24 March. Interview with Frank Zappa "To Be Frank". International Musician and Recording World, December 1985.

• 23 March. Classic Rock, September 2016. The Lumpy Money Project/Object, Road Tapes Venue #1 - #3

• 22 March. The Swedish Schlager #12, 1984, presented the 30 biggest names in rock music, selected from 1954-1984. One name from each year. Zappa represented the year 1967.

• 19 March. Japanese monthly magazine Strange Days:
  - 2005 November : Baby Snakes DVD
  - 2007 September : The Dub Room Special DVD

• 18 March. It is now possible to read almost in its entirety Charles Shaar Murray's long - over 2,000 words - opus "Frank Zappa Lookin' Back", which appeared in three issues of NME on 16, 23 and 30 November 1974.

• 17 March. Finnish Soundi, some editions:
  - 1985 October : Zappa's speech in New Music Seminar
  - 1987 January : Dweezil Zappa Havin' A Bad Day
  - 1987 February : Jazz From Hell

• 16 March. Bass Player, May 2007. Arthur Barrow. Audition Absurdities: Frank Zappa's "St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast".

• 15 March. Italian monthly Blow Up, July 2020, contained an 8-page (!) review of the album The Mothers 1970 by Riccardo Bertoncelli, titled "Chunga, Sharleena and the bulky Turtles".

• 15 March. Finnish Suosikki, October 1970. "The child is the father of the man!" is about many progressive rock bands.

• 14 March. 30-anniversary issue of the Czech Rock & Pop with Zappa on the cover again. Printed in May 2020.

• 14 March. Special issue "Foto Rock" of the Spanish Vibraciones, May 1978. Some rare pictures presented.

• 13 March. Japanese Player, April 2022. Zappa film and 1990 archive interview.

• 13 March. Eat That Question film reviewed in German Das Magazin, January 2017.

• 12 March. A very interesting read for Sunday. Aaron Sternfield interviewed FZ in Greenwich Village restaurant in 1967 during the Garrick Theatre time. "Frank Zappa - the most beautiful on earth" - what he said on Beatles' When I'm 64, Eric Burdon etc. Taken from Finnish Suosikki, January 1968.

• 9 March. 12-page Frank Zappa file in Greek monthly Pop & Rok, February 1994.

• 9 March. Finland's Soundi, November 1981. You Are What You Is.

• 8 March. Zappa - il fumetto, an Italian book published in 2022 and recommended to everybody - contains a lot of comics and drawings.

• 7 March. Britich boys' comic The Hornet, 6 October 1973. "The Hornet file on Frank Zappa".

• 6 March. Musicians' magazine from Poland - Top Guitar, March 2006. FZ profile article.

• 5 March. Japanese Music Life, March 1971. Nice B&W photo of FZ.

• 5 March. German Musikexpress, December 1994. Civilization Phase III.

• 4 March. Interview with Jeff Simmons. British Shindig!, January 2015.

• 4 March. French Jazz Magazine, May 2017. Eat That Question - Frank Zappa In His Own Words by Thorsten Schütte.

• 3 March. A good read for the weekend by Charles Shaar Murray "How to complete the subbing and layout of a very long Frank Zappa Lookin' Back". From NME, 30 November 1973.

• 2 March. First magazine from Romania on our list - Orient Expressz. It was the Hungarian language weekly launched in Bucharest, Romania, in November 1992. One of the first issues contained an interview with FZ.

• 1 March. Ciao 2001, 15 November 1981. Three pages on You Are What You Is - "In the sign of Zappa".

• 28 February. Japanese Player, February 2003. Contains a 12-page(!) Sheik Yerbouti special, including interviews with Terry Bozzio and Steve Vai, equipment, technique and recording room chapters.

• 28 February. Back Beat, a magazine from Finland.
  - March 1980 : Joe's Garage 1, 2, 3, a very critical review
  - March 1981 : Tinsel Town Rebellion, a much more complimentary review

• 24 February. Mojo, February 2023. Waka/Wazoo.

• 24 February. Playgirl, January 1994. Dweezil Zappa on the cover. "Sons of Invention" is the title again, but the article is different. We don't have the text here, but we have the pictures!

• 24 February. International Herald Tribune, 25 June 1993. We don't have the pictures here, but we have the text. "Sons of Invention."

• 24 February. Japanese Rhythm & Drums Magazine, June 1995. Tutorial article of the Zappa In New York version of "The Black Page".

• 23 February. Finnish monthly Musa, July 1972. Just Another Band From L.A.

• 23 February. Greek music monthly Pop+Rok, June 1991 Nice full-page picture of FZ.

• 18 February. The Varsity, student newspaper from Toronto, Canada. Three articles from December 1967 and January 1968 on The Mothers of Invention performing in Convocation Hall, Toronto, at the (B)abel festival in 28 January 1968.

• 17 February. Very good read, concert review "Caught In The Act" from DownBeat, 7 June 1973.

• 16 February. Japanese cultural magazine Studio Voice.
  - July 2001 : "Frank Zappa's Political Studies"
  - December 2001 : Yoko Ono is featured in this issue, and FZ is mentioned in an article about the related artists.

• 15 February. British film magazine Sight and Sound, January 2017. "Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words."

• 12 February. Long-running Norwegian magazine for young girls, Romantikk, 14 June 1983.

• 11 February. The theatre and film magazine from New York, Audience, December 1971. "200 Motels"

• 10 February. French monthly Pop 2000.
  - January 1972 : FZ press conference on 200 Motels
  - November 1972 : Cruising With Ruben & The Jets

• 9 February. In Tune, a free magazine from South Jersey, issued from March 1992 to September 1997.
  - December 1993 : Frank Zappa obituary
  - March 1997 : Läther

• 8 February. Page scans added to the Chilean magazine Onda, 15 October 1971. The magazine contains a four-page article "Frank Zappa: el nuevo genio pop".

• 8 February. Beat Instrumental, December 1969. Trout Mask Replica reviewed: "For people who dig Beefheart and where he's at, this record is great. For those who don't  – keep taking the tablets."

• 5 February. One book more from 2022 - Frank Zappa: Il Grande Uccello by Riccardo Bertoncelli. This is the 9th book by RB in our index!

• 4 February. Japanese magazine for young men GORO. February 1976 edition has a short announcement of FZ's Japanese tour.

• 3 February. Very rare and interesting interview in British Sound Engineer and Producer, April 1987. Jeff Burger made the interview "At home in his kitchen". Contains a lot of producer knowledge you've never heard of.

• 2 February. German TV listing magazine Hörzu, 20 March 1971. "200 Motels or how Frank Zappa wanted to make a film".

• 1 February. Ciao 2001, 19 July 1981:
  "Zip Zap" - Zappa's press conference before the "Varèse Tribute" concert on 17 April 1981.
  "Fuoci d'artificio" - Tinsel Town Rebellion review

• 31 January. British magazine for musicians, Beat Instrumental, February 1973 - a very brief Grand Wazoo album review.

• 30 January. A book in Hungarian - A progresszív rock mai sztárjai (Today's stars of progressive rock) by László N. Göbölyös. It was printed in 1989 and contains a chapter on Frank Zappa, which is available in full text.

• 29 January. The world's second oldest still publishing blues (print) magazine comes from Finland - Blues News. The 1985 #5 issue contains a funny review on Zappa's first '58 recordings.

• 28 January. The most popular Swedish youth magazine in the 60s Bildjournalen, October 1967. They interviewed Frank Zappa when he was with the Mothers in Sweden. "Frank Zappa - King of Hippieland: Down with the old man rule".

• 27 January. Two issues of the Rolling Stone on 200 Motels film:
  - 1971 February 18 : "Zappa Film Stars Rubber Doll"
  - 1971 December 23 : "200 Motels" by John Weisman

• 26 January. Rolling Stone #34, 31 May 1969. In random notes: "Frank Zappa has become a professional lecturer, popular among college students from coast to coast ...". Plus Uncle Meat reviewed by Alec Dubro.

• 25 January. The quarterly magazine Lizard from Poland. Their current edition, #47, December 2022, is a Frank Zappa special with several articles on FZ.

• 24 January. Free Danish music monthly Gaffa. The July 2013 edition gives five stars to the A Token Of His Extreme.

• 23 January. The once popular Mexican weekly Mexico Canta, #328, May 1971.

• 22 January. The largest newspaper in Canada, Toronto Star, 23 December 1967. A big part of the article "Opera – the next big thing in rock" is about Absolutely Free.

• 21 January. Paternoster was a quarterly review for art and criticism, issued first in Vienna and later in Prague. Some Czechoslovakian young expats visited FZ concerts in 1982 in Vienna and Linz. Their adventures are cronicled in "Interview with Frank Zappa", published in Paternoster #2, 1983.

• 20 January. Portuguese weekly Expresso. Some album reviews that appeared in 1986 in connection with local Portuguese record releases:
  - 1986 March : Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch
  - 1986 April : Tinseltown Rebellion
  - 1986 May : FZ Meets The Mothers Of Prevention

• 19 January. Frank Zappa in Stockholm, Sweden, in February 1978. "A musical happening" is the concert review in Svenska Dagbladet.

• 18 January. Pelo is probably the most famous Argentinian music magazine of all time. From time to time you can still find new relevant publications.
  - 1970 #1 : Mothers Of Invention as one of the 30 bands of the pop revolution
  - 1970 #7 : Zappa revives the Mothers
  - 1970 #8 : The most important North American bands
  - 1970 #9 : The day Zappa drove the Philharmonic crazy

• 17 January. Greek music monthly Pop+Rok, August 1988. The article is titled "Permanent Freak Out".

• 16 January. A bunch of album reviews from Finnish music monthly Soundi. They are all good read. Try it!
  - 1975 July : One Size Fits All
  - 1976 November : Zoot Allures
  - 1978 July : Zappa In New York
  - 1978 November : Studio Tan
  - 1979 April : Sleep Dirt and Sheik Yerbouti
  - 1980 January : Joe's Garage Acts II & III

• 15 January. Poeira Zine, an independent magazine from Brazil. The introductory edition #0 from 2003 contains a Zappa buying guide.

• 14 January. British trade paper Music Week:
  - 1987 January 10 : Jazz From Hell
  - 1993 February 6 : Music For Nations 10th anniversary
  - 1993 December 18 : laconic full page obituary
  - 1995 April 8 : back catalog ad

• 13 January. Dutch Soundz, #1, 2017. Crusing With Ruben & The Jets.

• 12 January. We added scans of some great editions of the Spanish monthly Vibraciones:
  - 1979 April : "The grandma tales" - Zappa in Barcelona
  - 1980 April : First part of the exclusive Zappa interview "My drug is sex"
  - 1980 May : 2nd part of the exclusive Zappa interview

• 11 January. Guitar Magazin, Japanese monthly magazine "for all guitar players":
  - 1988 April : FZ exclusive interview
  - 2007 July : Zappa's Gibson SG

• 10 January. 1973 September 2, Zürich, Switzerland concert revue. Nouvelle Revue de Lausanne. "This music, this Zappaian theater, is in fact only an immense gag interspersed with sequences where the actors become serious again."

• 9 January. Turkish weekly Rock Kazani, 11 July 1994. One page is dedicated to the children of rock stars: Dweezil and Moon Unit Zappa, Julian Lennon and Jimi Hendrix's son James Daniel Sundquist.

• 8 January. Australian radical counterculture magazine Revolution. 
  - 1970 June : Hot Rats
  - 1970 August : random news
  - 1970 December : Trout Mask Replica
  - 1971 January : Chunga's Revenge

• 7 January. The president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, lived in New York in his youth. In his interview he recalled the Mothers Of Invention concert at the Garrick Theatre. Aplaus, Winter 2013.

• 6 January. Hungarian large format magazine Volt:
  - 1993 April : Review of the Hungarian edition of The Real Frank Zappa Book
  - 1994 March : vecy nicely formed Zappa obituary

• 5 January. Beat, February 1995, from Norway. Civilization Phase III. "Zappa is a part of life".

• 4 January. Some newer issues of the French Rock & Folk:
  - 2019 August : photographer Jerry Schatzberg
  - 2020 February : Eat That Question
  - 2022 May :  the Hot Rats album's cover is reviewed

• 3 January. The May, June, and July 1993 issues of the German monthly magazine Musikexpress/Sounds contained several album reviews, including reviews of The Man From Utopia, The Yellow Shark, and Ahead of Their Time.

• 2 January. In an interview with Hit Parader in July 1969, Henry Vestine revealed that he briefly met Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart for the first time in a jam session at the Sea Witch club in Hollywood in 1963.

• 1 January. Italian giant glossy "rock, pop and progressive music" monthly magazine TOP. A full-page Frank Zappa picture was found in issue number 22, 1987.

• 30 December. Pierre Boulez and Frank Zappa were worlds apart. And yet they came together for a common project. German Fono Forum, March 2016.

• 29 December. "Zappa performance a Shea's crowd-pleaser" in Buffalo State Record, 11 March, 1988.

• 28 December. Norwegian Puls, 10 December 1993. Zappa obituary.

• 28 December. Greek Jazz & Tzaz, January 2004. Zappa obituary.

• 28 December. Hungarian art, culture and science magazine Interpress Magazin, March 2004. Zappa obituary.

• 27 December. Spanish long-running monthly Ruta 66. Several editions added:
  - 1993 December : The Yellow Shark
  - 1994 January : Zappa's Universe
  - 1995 April : Captain Beefheart
  - 1996 January : Krautrock guide
  - 1996 December : The Lost Episodes and Läther

• 26 December. Italian weekly Ciao 2001:
  - 1980 February 17 : Joe's Garage I, II, III
  - 1980 February 24 : "America has a voice"

• 26 December. Buffalo State’s student-run newspaper The Record, 18 October 1980. "Zappa music still superior; flaws blamed on audio-overkill". This concert has been officially released in 2007 as Buffalo.

• 24 December. Excellent special issue "The Art Rock" of Juxtapoz magazine. Contains the greatest record covers of all time.

• 23 December. Turkish culture magazine Calinti, April 1995. FZ obituary translated from The Guardian.

• 22 December. Buffalo State’s student-run newspaper The Record, November 30, 1973. "Frank Zappa twitches and tangos with his Mothers in Aud".

• 21 December.  Arf Dossier, "an international insidermagazine", appears in March, June, September, and December. And here is the current number #114.

• 20 December. New Light Music, April 1976. Japanese magazine was started by the world's largest musical instruments manufacturer Yamaha.

• 19 December. The japanese progressive rock quarterly Euro-Rock Press, February 2008 edition, which featured a live report on the Zappa Plays Zappa tour.

• 18 December. Two peculiar concert ads in Shakin Street Gazette, October-November 1973.

• 17 December. Ruta 66 (Route 66) is a Spanish magazine. Added issues #2 from December 1985 and #7 from May 1986.

• 16 December. Interview with Matt Groening. Spin, January 1993.

• 15 December. German Stereoplay, three issues from 1981:
  - 1981 May : 4-page article on Zappa
  - 1981 July : Tinsel Town Rebellion
  - 1981 December : You Are What You Is

• 14 December. Frank Zappa: 1940-1993 is a biography, 790 pages, written by Román García Albertos, who is also the creator of one of the best websites about Frank - El Tercer Poder. Just released in December.

• 14 December. Greek left publication Anti, December 1993. Three pages of Zappa obituaries.

• 13 December. German Musikexpress/Sounds, November and December 1993. These issues contain the list of "100 best albums in Rock History", where Hot Rats, Over-Nite Sensation and Safe As Milk and Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart are presented.

• 12 December. Roll was likely the top rock music magazine in Turkey, running from 1996 to 2009. One notable issue was the September 2002 edition, in which Alice Cooper praised Frank Zappa, stating "I would sit next to him like a little mouse and watch how it worked..."

• 11 December. Spanish Mundo Musical, November 1974. FZ at the press conference held at the Manila Hotel in Barcelona, prior to the concert in Badalona; comments on the concert itself by Jaime Martín and post reflection by Gaspar Fraga who is also the author of the photos and author of Zappa & Madres.

• 9 December. Rolling Stone, November 1991. "100 Classic Album Covers - Weasels Ripped My Flesh".

• 8 December. Frank Zappa spend some days in March 1989 on the island of Ibiza and gave an exclusive interview to the local paper La Prensa de Ibiza. He chatted about the projects that he has raised to the mayor of Madrid for the creation of an "Orchestra of the World" and a computer-assisted alchemy study center.

• 7 December. Spanish monthly Rock Espezial, published from 1981 to 1984. Three issues out of 38 contained FZ content:
  - 1982 October : Adrian Belew
  - 1984 September : an old punk FZ is visiting Spain
  - 1984 October : interview with FZ

• 6 December. Mojo, January 1997. A rare review of the album Frank Zappa Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa.

• 5 December. Argentinian magazine Mordisco, issue #3, 1974. Four-page Frank Zappa poster.

• 5 December. Turkish weekly Hey:
  - 1971 December : Zappa lost his equipment, and his leg is broken
  - 1972 October : Mothers of Invention finished, Hot Rats started

• 4 December. Greek Hxos & Hi-Fi:
  - 1982 June : Odeon Hammersmith concert review
  - 1982 December : Ship Arriving Too Late ...
  - 1984 June : Interview. FZ: I belong neither to rock nor to modern music. I'm not a rock star, and I play no major role in the foundation of serious music. I have no teaching intention. I don't work to educate the listener. I write and play the music I like.

• 3 December. Rolling Stone, 16 May 1991. "McCartney and Zappa "Bootlegs" Due".

• 3 December. German Musikexpress, December 1992. Can musicians paint too?

• 2 December. Phonograph Record Magazine, December 1973. Over-Nite Sensation full-page ad.

• 2 December. Hungarian tabloid Kurír. The September 1991 issue is is on Hungarian translation of The Real Frank Zappa Book.

• 1 December. The violin according to Jean Luc Ponty. French Rock & Folk, June 1971.

• 30 November. German Stereoplay, January 1985. Interview made during the 1984 world tour "I get into trouble with all kinds of people".

• 29 November. Canadian Pop-See-Cul, June 1967. Some nice quotes and ads.

• 28 November. American WIN, February 1973. "No Commercial Potential".

• 28 November. Slovakian weekly in Hungarian, A Hét, January 1994. Zappa obituary.

• 27 November. British Sound On Sound, August 1997. Paul D. Lehrman took six players, four samplers and a computer, and created a live‑performance piece based on the music and words of Frank Zappa.

• 27 November. Greek jazz magazine Jazz & Tzaz, April 1999, contained very interesting list of 100 most important records that characterize the music of the 20th century in all styles, from Caruso to Björk. The list includes Hot Rats and Civilization Phase III.

• 26 November. Alternative magazine from Illinois, SunRise:
  - 1974 #3 : interview with FZ
  - 1975 #3 : One Size Fits All
  - 1975 #4 : Bongo Fury

• 26 November. Greek publication Psychagogos (The Entertainer). Two issues from 1990, one about Captain Beefheart, and the other about Frank Zappa.

• 22 November. German classical music Fono Forum, February 2004. Review of the Ensemble Modern Plays Frank Zappa album.

• 21 November. Record Collector, July 2013. The Confessions Of Kaylan: "... Frank always knew something nobody else knew. He was very much Bowie-esque with that. He could see the future ..."

• 21 November. Lugano concert review, Italian Muzak, April 1976.

• 20 November. Rolling Stone, 27 August 1987. The 100 Best Albums of the Last Twenty Years - #77 We're Only In It For The Money

• 19 November. Italian Best, May 1977. Special issue of avant-garde artists from USA, UK, Germany, France and Italy. Captain Beefheart and Wild Man Fischer are featured.

• 18 November. British The Spectator, 1971 February. Definitely a good read - "Necessity and Invention" by the director of the 200 Motels Tony Palmer.

• 17 November. Swiss French-language weekly L'Hebdo. Several issues from 1982 to 2001.

• 16 November. British Record Hunter, August 1991. You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol 4 / Make A Jazz Noise Here.

• 16 November. Italian weekly Sound Flash, March 1973. Captain Beefheart.

• 16 November. Norwegian Backstage, December 2004. How marginal Zappa became famous overnight in Norway with his album Sheik Yerbouti.

• 15 November. Italian Ciao 2001, issues from 1978:
  - March 26 : George Duke
  - May 14 : Frank Zappa & the legal war
  - July 2 : Foto ~ Zappa
  - July 9 : Zappa In New York
  - December 3 : Studio Tan

• 14 November. Two very different Danish magazines.
  - Euroman, a men's lifestyle magazine with a nice story on The Man From Utopia
  - DMT, a serious classical music magazine with reviews of Boulez Conducts Zappa and The Yellow Shark

• 13 November. Two magazines with pictures from the same event, "Rock for Rep" benefit hosted by Frank Zappa:
  - American lifestyle magazine Details, February 1987
  - German Musikexpress, March 1987

• 12 November. The first book in English on Zappa was No Commercial Potential by David Walley. An excellent review by Andrew Gordon in Rolling Stone, September 1972.

• 11 November. Turkish Express.
  - 1994 December : FZ obituary
  - 2004 July : FZ interview translated from Mojo

• 11 November. Hungarian cultural magazine Beszélő, December 1993. FZ obituary.

• 10 November. Two Record Mirror issues with Zappa bits:
  - 1969 March 1 : Underground groups - professional is the key word
  - 1978 January 7 : Frank zaps in

• 10 November. French Les Inrocks2. 50 ans de rock, vol. 4 les années 60.

• 9 November. Norwegian alternative publication Gateavisa.
  - 1970 #1 : "Plastic People" lyrics
  - 1973 #2 : well-known picture of FZ holding this issue
  - 1974 #1 : an interview with FZ
  - 1993 #1 : excerpt from The Real Frank Zappa Book

• 8 November. Italian Raro, May 1994. "40 years of rock" with some good pictures.

• 7 November. German Grand Guitars:
  - 2020 January/February : 50 years of Hot Rats
  - 2021 July/August : What Frank Zappa left to his compatriots

• 6 November. Ryboun - the Thing-Fish libretto in Czech. "... our small group of translators spontaneously decided in 1986 to translate the text of the libretto of this triple album into the mother tongue. ... After 36 long years, we are now providing our translation in the form of a set of scans of the original transcription made on the then only possible typewriter to the members of the Czech Frank Zappa fan club ..."

• 6 November. Hungarian weekly Reform. Four magazine issues have been added, among which the one from September 1993 contains an article about Czaba Varga's animation film studio. One of their films is Bestiak, based on the music of Frank Zappa.

• 5 November. Prog Italia #35, April 2021. "Sinfonie Zappiane" on 8 pages.

• 4 November. Rolling Stone, October 1996. Läther.

• 3 November. Turkish short-living rock & metal magazine Rock!, January 1994.

• 2 November. Zappa / Cruising with Ruben & the Jets reference in British Record Mirror, 31 May 1969.

• 1 November. Mania is the free magazine of the Dutch record store chain Plato. A whole range of issues from the last ten years give a good overview of more or less all FZ rereleases.

• 1 November. Finnish short-living weekly Pointti #13, 1972. FZ on the back cover.