Zappa Books

New Entries.

• 30 November. Rolling Stone, French edition, July/August 2020. Laurel Canyon. Once upon a time in Hollywood.

• 29 November. Italian monthly magazine Raro!.
  - December 1988 : Specialized Digital Audio Gratification
  - May 1993 : interview with Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa
  - February 1996 : Strictly Commercial - The Best of F.Z.

• 28 November. Paul Zollo interviewed Frank Zappa in 1987 and Gail Zappa in 1999. Both interviews were published in Performing Songwriter magazine, Summer 1999, under the title "Frank Zappa: Barking Pumpkin Records". Recommended read.

• 27 November. A lot to read in Italian Mucchio Extra, Summer 2003:
  - article on Cal Schenkel's album art
  - The Real Frank Zappa Book review
  - Cruising With Ruben & The Jets review

• 26 November. Finnish paper Rumba, May 1988. Excellent reviews of the FZ press conference and concert in Helsinki "Viva Zappa!".

• 25 November. Two books on Frank Zappa reviewed in French Juke Box Magazine:
  - October 1994 : Frank Zappa Chronique Discographique
  - February 2004 : Zappa In France 1968-1988

• 24 November. British Music Now, February 1970. On the front page: "Zappa: 'The Albert Hall Is Obscene'"

• 21 November German Musikexpress/Sounds, November 1992. The Yellow Shark concert in Frankfurt.

• 20 November. American bimonthly magazine Teen Scoop, February/March 1968.

• 20 November. Album reviews in Italian monthly Music:
  - December 1988 : The Untouchables
  - January 1989 : Serious Music

• 19 November. Some numbers of the Italian weekly Ciao 2001 from January and March 1982. Including nice cartoon by Massimo Cavezzali.

• 18 November. Album Cucamonga was not very often reviewed. Italian Musikbox, March 1998.

• 17 November. Two older Muziek Expres issues: March 1970 and May 1971. Plus Zappa by phone: "I won't be fooled anymore!", March 1978.

• 16 November. Good read from Dutch Muziek Expres.
  - May 1978 : Zappa In New York
  - April 1979 : Sheik Yerbouti
  - November 1979 : Joe's Garage Act I
  and the most important
  - April 1980 : "The big Zappa interview"

• 15 November. Here we go again. Zappostrophe from Czechia is one of the two paper fanzines on Zappa still in print. The second one is German Arf Dossier. Issue # 144 just arrived, 22 pages in A4 format.

• 27 October. Rock & Folk from France is one of most important music magazines in the Europe. Nice collection of some numbers from the 70s added today:
  - April 1971 : Readers' poll results, FZ is #2 in the World, J-L Ponty is #1 in France
  - June 1972 : Long illustrated article on Captain Beefheart
  - March 1978 : Zappa in Paris, concert review
  - May 1978 : Zappa In New York
  - November 1978 : Studio Tan
  - October 1979 : Joe's Garage, Act I

• 26 October. Ein Tribute an Frank Zappa is an illustrated book containing mostly well-known pictures of FZ. Appeared this Summer.

• 26 October. Some album reviews from French Rock & Folk:
  Fillmore East - June 1971, October 1971
  200 Motels, December 1971

• 25 October. "Frank Zappa meets the Plaster Casters". This excerpt from The Real Frank Zappa Book was printed in Spin, August 1990. Later in the same year it was translated and published in Italy, Il Mucchio Selvaggio, December 1990.

• 20 October. Does Humor Belong In Music? DVD review in Italian monthly Music, January 1987.

• 17 October. Some numbers of the Italian Rockstar magazine, including two containing album reviews:
  - YCDTOSA III, February 1990
  - Mothermania reprint, June 1990

• 17 October. Two album reviews by Massimo Bassoli in Tuttifrutti:
  - Rare Meat, April 1983
  - The Perfect Stranger, January 1985. 

• 14 October. Some early issues of Mojo:
  #2, December 1993, "Dropout Boogie" on CB recording "Willie The Pimp"
  #3, January 1994, review of The Yellow Shark

• 13 October. German Soundcheck, September 1989, reviewing Broadway The Hard Way.

• 13 October. Italian short-living monthly Prisma, June 1981 with the "El Topo" book review.

• 13 October. Italian Musikbox, February and May 1997, Läther review.

• 10 October. "Frank Zappa is a man for all seasons". Interview in Dutch Oor, 5 September 1992.

• 10 October. Mystery Disc review. French Juke Box Magazine, December 1998.

• 10 October. Ship Arriving Too Late review in Il Mucchio Selvaggio, September 1982.

• 10 October. Interview "Humo spoke to Zappa". From Belgian magazine Humo, October 1974.

• 9 October. Frank Zappa New Calendar 2022 appeared.

• 8 October. Record Collector, issues ##447 and 448, December and Christmas 2015. Roxy The Movie ad and Zappa And Jazz review.

• 7 October. More Zappa obituaries from the British press:
  - Daily Mirror, 7 December 1993
  - The Guardian, 7 December 1993
  - The Independent, 7 December 1993

• 6 October. British The Times, 7 December 1993. You can call it Zappa special with four articles:
  - Zappa the iconoclast dead at 52, news
  - Why Zappa died so young, a medical view
  - Frank Zappa, obituary
  - The history of music from A to Zappa, from a fan

• 4 October. French comic book Pop & Rock & Colégram by Jean Solé, Alain Dister and Marcel Gotlib, published in 1978. The album contains the 4-page comic strip "Stinkfoot".

• 1 October. Hip Californian World Countdown, May 1969, with an article on GTOs.

• 1 October. German Twen, January 1970, published German version of the well-known Life article "New Rock" with pictures by Art Kane.

• 30 September. Great issue - New Musical Express, 4 July 1970.
  - interview with Frank Zappa "Shrewd, But With A Lot Of Heart"
  - two-page overview of the Bath festival

• 29 September. French Juke Box Magazine, February 1995, reviewing Rare Meat.

• 29 September. Review of Jazz From Hell, Buscadero, January 1987.

• 28 September. Italian daily newspaper la Repubblica, 6 June 2021. Review of Zappa '88:The last U.S. show.

• 28 September. Review of album sets Threesome No. 1 and Threesome No. 2. Uncut August 2002.

• 27 September. German fanzine Arf-Dossier #106. 

• 27 September. One of the most collectible Zappa books - Zappa Paraphernalia - reviewed in Raro, September 1994.

• 27 September. Vox lists in March 1995 some most popular Zappa websites back in 1995, when the world wide web was only emerging.

• 26 September. Italian music and hi-fi monthly Music, June 1979. Contains Zappa's thoughts on classical music orchestras.

• 25 September. Two issues containing articles one more absurd than the other.
  - German Rock World, May 1993. Wrong and malicious memories of the FZ concert.
  - Italian Popster, September 1978. Fist fight between Paul Simon and FZ.

• 24 September. Bimonthly L'Europeo, December 2006. An overview of forty years of rock music from 1956 to 2006 could not pass Frank Zappa.

• 24 September. Muzak April 1974 from Italy. Apostrophe review plus some snippets more.

• 23 September. Record Mirror, 20 October 1979. Joe's Garage review.

• 23 September. Dutch weekly magazine Veronica. #40 1973 with Overnite Sensation review and #42 1974 with Roxy & Elsewhere ad.

• 22 September. Italian Rockstar, September 1991. Includes Italian translation of Bob Guccione's article "Sign Of The Times" and reviews of Make A Jazz Noise and Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life.

• 22 September. Rock & Folk on the Bath festival. August 1970.

• 21 September. We found that in French Juke Box Magazine, February 1988 was namechecked the Zappa fanzine ZAP. Thereafter we decided to publish all five issues of ZAP in full. These issues were seeded on Zappateers tracker in 2010. ZAP fanzine was published way on down in France from 1985-1988 by Jean-Marie Orliange.

• 20 September. Il Mucchio Selvaggio, September 1988. Contains interview with Frank Zappa about music, family, politics and anything else. Full text available.

• 20 September. French Crossroads, November 2005. The Dub Room Special DVD review.

• 19 September. Yoichi Saito Photobook ROCK, published in 1978. Pictures of rock musicians visiting Japan 1973-1978. Includes a couple of original FZ photos.

• 19 September. American Trouser Press, several entries added or updated, including the following album reviews:
  - December 1978 : Studio Tan
  - May 1979 : Sleep Dirt
  - June 1979 : Sheik Yerbouti
  - December 1979 : Joe's Garage Act I
  - September 1982 : Tinseltown Rebellion

• 18 September. Italian monthly Buscadero,
  - February 1989 : Broadway The Hard Way
  - January 1990 : You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore vol. 3

• 17 September. British bootleg magazine Why A Pig? #4 1994. Apocrypha review.

• 15 September. Two special issues of French Rock & Folk with long lists of the most important albums. Both lists contain two Frank Zappa albums.
  - December 1995 : Freak Out! and Hot Rats
  - December 1999 : Uncle Meat and Hot Rats

• 14 September. Everybody I Shot Is Dead is a high quality 208-page coffee-table book with over four hundred iconic never-before-published photographs of musicians. Photographed by Deborah Chesher. Published in 2007.

• 13 September. Two Studio Tan reviews. Rock Hebdo was the weekly version of the French monthly Rock En Stock. You can compare what these two publications wrote on Studio Tan:
  - Rock Hebdo, October 1978.
  - Rock En Stock, November 1978.

• 12 September. German Vinylrausch #1, August 2020. One Size Fits All ten-page(!) review.

• 12 September. Velvet #1, October 1988. Italian cultural magazine with an article on Captain Beefheart.

• 11 September. "How Zappa got railroaded", on FZ and Grand Funk. Record Mirror, September 1976.

• 10 September. French cartoon book Rock Monsters from 1987.

• 10 September. Some British concert reviews:
  - Record Mirror, 1977 February 19
  - Record Mirror, 1978 February 4
  - Record Mirror, 1979 February 24
  - Record Mirror, 1980 December 6

• 8 September. American underground weekly Chinook. Three issues added:
  - 1970 March : Burnt Weeny Sandwich and Permanent Damage
  - 1971 December : 200 Motels
  - 1971 January : Montreux fire

• 8 September. Italian underground paper Get Ready, #4 1972. Very hard to transcribe, understand and translate article "To penetrate into the skull of sir Zappa".

• 8 September. Rare and short-living DAC Digital Audio Club from Italy. March 1989 issue had a YCDTOSA v 2 review.

• 7 September A pair of Dutch Muziek Expres magazines from 1980 with funny texts to the Zappa pictures.

• 6 September Classic Rock Italia, September 2019. Contains a long article about bootlegs and reissued Orchestral Favourites review.

• 5 September. Economie Eskimo by Pacôme Thiellement. A book about the thought of Zappa: an enigmatic hero in the struggle of free men against ignorance, laziness and fear.

• 5 September. Rock World, German edition. August 1993.

• 5 September. Italian JAM, June 2010. Articles on Bath festival 1970 and 200 Motels.

• 5 September. Buscadero, October 2012. Article on FZ album reissues.

• 4 September. Italian Raro, June 2006. Includes article on cover art about using photo-portraits on the album covers, especially the ones with references to the Islamic world.

• 4 September. Italian monthly Rockerilla, February 1996.

• 4 September. Two issues of the French Rock & Folk. April 1994 and November 1995.

• 3 September. Interview and Christmas card by Captain Beefheart. The Straight Creek Journal, January 1973.

• 3 September. If you want a very critical review for a change, here it is. "Frank Zappa. Wembley Arena." From Melody Maker, 30 April 1988.

• 2 September. Guitar World, June 1999. The issue contains two album reviews by Andy Aledort, who is well known as a Zappa music transcriber:
  - Uncle Meat
  - Trout Mask Replica

• 1 September. German metal bimonthly Deaf Forever #41, March 2021.

• 1 September. French Crossroads. Two issues:
  - 2004 September - some books on FZ reviewed
  - 2006 May - Zappa Plays Zappa

• 31 August. French Rock First, August 2011. "50 songs that wanted to change the world" includes "Trouble Every Day".

• 31 August Italian Rockstar, May 1988. Article on the year 1968 in music.

• 30 August. French Guitare & Claviers, July 1988. Several pieces contained here:
  - article on Frank Zappa, especially on album Guitar.
  - interview with Dweezil Zappa
  - article on Ike Willis
  - Dweezil Zappa's album My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama review.

• 29 August. Uncut, September 2000. "Sacred Cows. Reputations reassessed: Frank Zappa." You have to read it! "... But as his turgid orchestral pieces attest, Zappa was to classical music what Prince Charles is to impressionist painting ..."

• 27 August. Oldest jazz magazine in the world, French Jazz Hot, February 1994 issue. Zappa obituary with the best possible title: " The Perfect Stranger".

• 27 August. Italian Rockstar, February 1994, with 5-page FZ obituary.

• 27 August. Rock & Folk, September 1993. A 6-page article on FZ.

• 25 August. Some articles more from Ciao 2001:
  - 1973 September : very long story covering all the FZ/MOI history
  - 1975 August : interview and One Size Fits All review

• 24 August. Two issues of the Italian Ciao 2001 from October 1975 with some Zappa news, including the picture of the band and "Contemporanoe" concert review.

• 24 August. Short-living French magazine Rockland, Summer 1988, with Uncle Meat CD review.

• 23 August. Rock And Blues International is a free online monthly publication. Three issues added here:
  - 2021 May : Frank Zappa's final American show released
  - 2020 September : Lady Bianca
  - 2020 August : The Mothers 1970

• 22 August. Rock & Folk, February 1978. "The eagle of the mothers" by Jean-Marc Bailleux"

• 22 August. In 1981 several books on Zappa appeared in Italy. These are reviewed by Maurizio Bianchini in two consecutive issues of Il Mucchio Selvaggio, April and May 1982.

• 22 August. Norwegian progressive rock Tarkus, June 2000 and March 2004.

• 21 August. Permanent Damage by Mercy Fontenot. Published on 24 June 2021.

• 20 August. Rock World, December 1992. Playground Psychotics review.

• 19 August. Italian monthly Tutto Musica e Spetaccolo, September 1988. Article "A guitar to 'burn your dad'" on Dweezil Zappa.

• 18 August. Long interview made in Zappa's log cabin Summer '68 by one of the krautrock key persons Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser. Published in French monthly Actuel:
  part 1 - January 1970
  part 2 - February 1970.

• 17 August. Weasels Ripped My Flesh review. DownBeat, 10 December 1970.

• 16 August. Two volumes of the Q Magazine photographic supplement containing FZ photos. Volume 5: Portraits and Volume 7: In the studio.

• 16 August. French Recording magazine, January 2004. Reviews on One Size Fits All, Baby Snakes and Does Humor Belong In Music?

• 15 August. British Q, January 1988. Four first Zappa/MOI albums remastered and reissued as CD, review by Andy Gill.

• 14 August. Rock & Folk, December 1970. Contains article by Geoffrey Cannon based on the interview with FZ in Hilton Rome and Chunga's Revenge review.

• 13 August. Record Mirror, 14 September 1968. "Frank Zappa reveals that he pays the Mothers of Invention and himself two hundred dollars a week each (about £80) and then every four months they have a big share out of all the money left after expenses have been taken out."

• 12 August. "Resurrection of a ramshackle genius" from Italian Ciao 2001, 25 March 1973.

• 12 August. Italian Il Mucchio Selvacchio, 3 album reviews:
  - 1983 April : The Man From Utopia
  - 1985 March : Thing-Fish
  - 1986 May : Does Humor Belong In Music?

• 11 August. Several issues of the Guitar Techniques added after combing the archives:
  - 1997 June: FZ received a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement
  - 1998 November : Mystery Disc review
  - 1999 Christmas : Confessions Of A Stunt Guitarist - Mike Keneally
  - 2003 January : Vaulternative launching
  - 2004 February : Baby Snakes DVD review
  - 2006 Spring : Dweezil Zappa - Artist Interview
  - 2007 August : Classic Albums: Apostrophe/Over-Nite Sensation (review)
  - 2008 May : Zappa In Barcelona (review)
  - 2008 June : Live Transmission (review)
  - 2009 March : Freeze Frame, FZ in Hammersmith Odeon, January 1978
  - 2009 May : Dweezil Zappa - Zappa Plays Zappa (review)
  I can say again, that if you need scans of higher resolution, drop me a line. Almost all scans presented at afka.net I have also hi-res.

• 9 August. French Rock & Folk, January 1971. Paris Gaumont Palace concert review and article on Captain Beefheart.

• 9 August. Italian Buscadero, June 1988. "Prolific or verbose genius", article on remastered and reissued albums. Includes the Guitar album review.

• 9 August. Two issues of the Guitar Techniques:
  - Spring 2012 : Carnegie Hall review
  - December 2020 : Halloween '81 review

• 7 August. Guitar Player, April 2021. 25 essentials prog rock guitarists.

• 7 August. Australian Guitar, vol 143, 2021. "Perfectly Frank", article published earlier and more completely in Guitarist, June 2021.

• 7 August. Classic Rock UK:
  - January 2021 : Zappa DVD review
  - May 2021 : 100 Most Influential Guitar Heroes
  - July 2021 : Hi-res reissues reviewed
  - Summer 2021 : Zappa 88, The Last U.S. Show

• 6 August. Prog UK, February 2017. The Prog Interview: Terry Bozzio.

• 6 August French Rolling Stone, September 2016. Translated article "Zappa contra Zappa".

• 5 August. French Rock & Folk, May 1971. This issue has an interview with Don Sugarcane Harris "Sugar cane blues" and overview article on the 60s rock music.

• 4 August. Rock World, August 1993. "Children Of The Revolution" - on rock stars children.

• 3 August. Tinsel Town Rebellion reviewed in Italian Nuovo Sound, September 1981.

• 2 August. Disc & Music Echo, 4 July 1970, had a 4-page Bath Festival special, which contained a press conference review "Zappa's band of band leaders!".

• 2 August French Juke Box Magazine, March 1991. Article "Video Rewind".

• 1 August. Very limited (150 numbered copies) Czech edition of The Real Frank Zappa Book appeared in July 2021. Instead of the original illustrations, this book includes many photos and special fore- and afterwords by Czech FZ fans.

• 1 August. Italian bimonthly Vinile, November/December 2018. Contains article on rock music theatre and 2 album reviews:
  - Marco Pacassoni Group "Frank & Ruth"
  - new vinyl issue of the "Burnt Weeny Sandwich"

• 18 July. Almost a "black square". The Absolutely Free ad in British International Times #18, August 1967.

• 18 July. Classic Rock, August 2002. Overview article on jazz rock by Tommy Udo.

• 16 July. French edition of the Rock World:
  - December 1992, Playground Psychotics reviewed
  - April 1993, article on "The Zappa Dynasty", Dweezil and Ahmet.

• 16 July. German Musikexpress/Sounds, November 1993. This is the "100 best albums in the Rock History" special, where Hot Rats was #37.

• 15 July. French Rock & Folk, October 1970. Weasels Ripped My Flesh reviewed.

• 15 July. Italian Buscadero, July/August 1988. Zappa's press conference and concert in Milan. Plus review of one of the most important FZ bootlegs Serious Music.

• 15 July. Jeff Beck to play with Zappa? Short news in Disc & Music Echo, 10 October 1970. Recently the Ultimate Classic Rock website published some short anecdotes by Beck on Zappa: "Frank Zappa could have been a successful U.S. President."

• 6 July. Italian monthly youth magazine Doppiovù, November 1977. Includes a five-page article on Zappa with discography and good pictures.

• 5 July. Rare Mexican magazine Boum, November 1968. 

• 5 July. French Rock En Stock, June 1979. March 19 Paris concert review.

• 4 July. Small Zappa piece in Music Connection, May 29, 1989.

• 1 July. German Musikexpress/Sounds April 1992 included some caricatures by the illustrator Jeff Wong: Ozzy Osbourne, L.L. Cool J, Prince, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Frank Zappa.

• 30 June. Rare bird - short-living French edition of the Mojo magazine, November 2012 issue.

• 29 June. French Juke Box Magazine published since its #22 in each issue 4 pages of the dictionary by Philippe Thieyre - listing all the US psychedelic groups from 1966 to 1973, with biographies and discographies. Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention appeared in issues ##48-51, May - September 1991.

• 28 June. Italian progressive music monthly Muzak, November 1973. Article on Frank Zappa / Edgard Varèse and reviews of Jean-Luc Ponty's King Kong and Over-nite Sensation.

• 26 June. Rock World, September 1992. "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore!" screams his album cover, but Frank Zappa has done it – on stage, on record and on film. On the release of the sixth and final volume of Zappa's 'greatest bits', Chris Welch investigates a career that has produced some of the most challenging music and outrageous ideas of the rock epoch.

• 25 June. Like clockwork - every three months another issue - Arf Dossier #108, Juni 2021.

• 25 June. French Télérama special issue June 1993. Article on bizarre rockers plus Hot Rats review.

• 24 June. Italian monthly Velvet, June 1990.

• 23 June. First time the Mothers Of Invention mentioned in the British Press  - New Musical Express, 14 October 1966. As participants of the annual croquet match with the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield and others! Not kidding.

• 22 June. "This is Frank Zappa the prophet of underground music", from Qui Giovani, February 1971.

• 20 June. Frank Zappa's Mystery Disc reviewed in Tempi Dispari, November 1998. Of course, please also read the interview with FZ by Guido Harari made in April 1982 - Tempi Dispari, September 1998.

• 20 June. Legendary Drummer: Terry Bozzio. This 160-page book in Japanese was published to commemorate Terry Bozzio's 70th birthday, featuring an exclusive interview, his comprehensive discography, and the detailed specs on his drum sets. Published in December 2020.

• 19 June. Frank Zappa's Guitar reviewed in Italian Rockerilla, May 1988.

• 19 June. Late For The Sky is a periodical magazine made by Italian fans that deals with rock music. December 2003 issue contains article on "rock'n'roll and the Italian music press".

• 17 June. Musica, rock & altro! was a weekly publication of the Italian newspaper la Repubblica. Several issues added. Good read is "Immortale Zappastory" by Riccardo Bertoncelli. Or you will know what has Tom Waits to say about Yellow Shark and Trout Mask Replica, - No.330 May 2002.

• 16 June. Italian underground paper Get Ready, #3 1972. Just Another Band From L.A. review.

• 15 June. Boulez Conducts Zappa - The Perfect Stranger review in Il Mucchio Selvaggio, January 1985.

• 14 June. Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention review in Buscadero, January 1986.

• 13 June. Interview with Captain Beefheart, quoted in most books on Zappa is "Zappa stole my ideas, says the Captain". Taken from Disc & Music Echo, 1 April 1972.

• 7 June. Another view on Zappa in New York by Massimo Bassoli, Popster, June 1978.

• 5 June. Zappa In New York review in New Musical Express, 8 April 1978.

• 4 June. Rare French monthly Rock & BD, November/December 1983. Article on album Rare Meat.

• 4 June. One of the very best rock photographers is Guido Harari. "La galleria di Harari - Frank Zappa" is short but nice. Taken from Italian monthly JAM, November 1995.

• 1 June. Very good French monthly Best. Added nine issues from December 1971 to November 1973. Best pieces:
  - "Joe, Leon, Frank, les Chiens Dingues, les Anglais, les 200 Motels, et les Mamans ...", article on Mad Dogs & Englishman and 200 Motels
  - "Zappa à Montreux", concert review
  - "Zappa chef d'orchestre", review of the Petit Wazoo orchestra