Mudd Club & Munich

Presenting 2 previously unreleased concerts from Frank Zappa’s short lived 1980’s band, the latest exciting live collection to be released from The Vault, "Zappa 80 : Mudd Club/Munich", offers fans an opportunity to hear 2 blistering shows recorded in 2 distinct settings: the intimate 240 capacity Mudd Club in New York City and the massive 12 000 seat German arena, Olympiahalle in Munich.

Produced by Ahmet Zappa and Zappa vaultmeister Joe Travers, this historically significant release, releasing March 3rd, 2023, via Zappa Records and Universal Music, marks the 1st time that full concerts have ever been released featuring the 1980 lineup of Zappa leading the 5 strong band which included the dual vocal attack of Ike Willis and Ray White, Arthur Barrow on bass, Tommy Mars on keyboards, and newcomer David Logeman on drums. Additionally, this is the 1st posthumous release of this distinct, brief lineup, as Logeman, who replaced drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, would end up leaving when Colaiuta returned to the band.

The Mudd Club show was recorded on May 8th, 1980, by Klaus Weidemann on a 2 track Nagra tape recorder, while the Munich show at Olympiahalle was recorded and mixed by engineer Mick Glossop direct to digital 2 track stereo and has the distinction of being the 1st digital live recording of Zappa ever. The maestro was early to embrace the emerging technology and would importantly shift to it as a result of this recording. Made on a Sony PCM 1600 recording system, the show was recorded on 3/4” U Matic videotape, which at the time was state of the art, but is now a relic of the rapid evolution of sound recording. The show was transferred from the original digital masters and audio drop outs, a common issue with this format, were fixed by Travers using multiple tape backups, some analog, some digital, that Zappa worked on, signaling he was considering a potential release at some point. Both shows were mastered by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.
 
"Zappa 80 : Mudd Club/Munich", will be available digitally and as a 3 CD set with the 15 track Mudd Club performance in its entirety on disc 1 and the 22 track full Munich concert spread across discs 2 and 3. The package features cover photography and a host of rare and unseen photos of Zappa and the band members in the accompanying 17 page booklet shot on tour by superfan George Alper. Alper, the son of seminal 60's photographer Joe Alper, who befriended Zappa and became part of his inner circle in N.Y.C. and eventually sold merch on tour, provides some of his personal memories in the extensive liner notes that also includes an introduction from Joe Travers, a detailed track by track of the setlists by band member, Arthur Barrow, who also offers up a reminiscence about the tour and 1980 lineup, and is rounded out with an illuminating essay by Steve Vai who attended the Mudd Club show as a 19 year old fan who was hired by Zappa to transcribe recently recorded guitar solos and drum tracks. A few months later Vai was invited to join the band and as the virtuoso guitarist and songwriter pens in the liners, “From that point on, the whirlwind world of Frank Zappa that I embarked on for the next 3 years was intense, funny, terrifying at times, but deeply and soulfully rewarding”. 

In addition to the 3 CD set, the Mudd Club and Munich shows will also be available separately on 180 gram vinyl, with the Mudd Club pressed on 2 LP at 45 rpm and Munich on 3 LP 33 1/3 rpm vinyl. zappa.com are also exclusively offering a limited edition 180 gram color pressing of each title with Mudd Club on coke bottle green and Munich on transparent orange vinyl, which both come with iron on transfers. Like the CD and digital, the vinyl releases have also been mastered by Bernie Grundman.