Frank Zappa - Mystery Disc (1998)

Tracklist

1. Theme From 'Run Home Slow'
2. Original Duke Of Prunes
3. Opening Night Party At 'Studio Z' (College)
4. The Village Inn
5. Steal Away
6. I Was A Teenage Malt Shop
7. The Birth Of Captain Beefheart
8. Metal Man Has Won His Wings
9. Power Trio Segment From The Saints 'N Sinners
10. Bossa Nova Pervertamento
11. Excerpt From the Uncle Frankie Show
12. Charva
13. Speed-Freak Boogie
14. Original Mothers At the Broadside (Pomona)
15. Party Scene From 'Mondo Hollywood'
16. Original Mothers Rehearsal
17. How Could I Be Such A Fool?
18. Band Introductions At The Fillmore West
19. Plastic People
20. Original Mothers At The Fillmore East
21. Harry You're A Beast
22. Don Interrupts
23. Piece One
24. Jim/Roy
25. Piece Two
26. Agency Man
27. Agency Man (Studio Version)
28. Lecture From Festival Hall Show
29. Wedding Dress Song/The Handsome Cabin Boy
30. Skweezit Skweezit Skweezit
31. The Story Of Willie The Pimp
32. Black Beauty
33. Chucha
34. Mothers At KPFK
35. Harmonica Fun

Between 1985 and 1987, Frank Zappa released a pair of mail-order vinyl box sets called Old Masters that contained remastered and restored versions of all of his albums between Freak Out! and Zoot Allures. Each box contained an album of previously unreleased material called a "mystery disc." Although he eventually reworked and remixed a handful of these cuts for subsequent releases, the majority of these recordings were never again released in any form. As part of their exhaustive reissue of the entire Zappa catalog, Rykodisc tackled the mystery discs, releasing 35 of the 37 tracks (the remaining two, "Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?" and "Big Leg Emma," are included as bonus cuts on the Absolutely Free CD) as the single-disc collection Mystery Disc in the fall of 1998. Only two of these cuts were released in identical forms on another album -- eight other songs were available in different edits or mixes, while the other 25 tracks were never released on disc. For diehard fans -- and there really aren't any other kind -- the Mystery Disc material is essential listening, since it chronicles the original Mothers of Invention in a variety of live performances, outtakes, alternate takes, rehearsals and radio shows, all recorded between 1962 and 1969, with the exception of one cut from 1972. It's material that will only be of interest to serious listeners, but there are enough revelations to make the Mystery Disc worth careful listening.~Stephen Thomas Erlewine