Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (') Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		5.0

Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (') Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 3, 2024

For anyone who tends to think of Frank Zappa as "only" an agent provocateur in an individualistic nook and/or cranny he pretty much singlehandedly carved out for himself in the so-called "rock world", well, yeah, there is that, but Zappa's approach was so unbelievably eclectic that it seems positively unfair to consign him to any one genre or idiom. There's abundant evidence in virtually all of Zappa's recordings of his almost overwhelming mastery of everything from almost Spike Jones-esque sonic mayhem to quasi-bop filigrees ornamenting various tunes to almost musique concrète elements that no doubt echo one of Zappa's own self admitted influences, Edgard Varèse. Kind of hilariously, given that concatenation of "ingredients", an array that was already in full flower in some of Zappa's previous recordings (of course), Apostrophe provided Zappa with his first "hit single", albeit one that only reached a relatively lowly 86 on the Billboard Hot 100. But when you consider the fact that the tune was called "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow", and it indeed "focused" (?) on just such an activity (or at least advice to not engage in that activity), it's kind of amazing the song got any airplay at all, especially back in the seemingly more prim and proper early to mid seventies. If the single didn't charge right into the upper echelons of its chart, the album was actually Zappa's first foray into the Top 10 (then) LPs on that particular Billboard chart, and revisiting it now decades later, and with all of that preceding multi-genre blather above kept in mind, it's not hard to understand why it has remained a longtime favorite of Zappa aficionados.

The album's track listing can be seen in screenshot 9.

Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (') Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Frank Zappa: Apostrophe is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Zappa Records and Universal Music Group, and, yes, there is an actual video component to this "audio" Blu-ray, courtesy of an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Some care has been taken with this release to offer some fun visuals to accompany the music. Once you've chosen your audio codec and move on to playing the album, there's a brief but kind of quaintly sweet moment documenting a hand taking an old style tonearm on a record player and placing it on an LP. Some old timers (ahem) may miss that great "analog" crunch and hiss before the first track (there's no sound until the first tune starts in a moment), but one way or the other, the imagery returns to the album playing in between interstitial photos, and it's always literally "tracking" on the LP with what's actually being played, including switching to what was Side II on the original LP (there's no return of the tonearm after Side I ends, perhaps wisely).

Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (') Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Frank Zappa: Apostrophe offers a smörgåsbord of (yellow snow free) audio options, including Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 5.1, an ostensible Dolby TrueHD Quadraphonic track (which showed up as another Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track for me), and two LPCM 2.0 tracks. You can't really go wrong with any of these, and the two stereo tracks provide an accurate rendering of the original two channel release, but my advice is head straight to the Atmos track and then simply sit back and revel in the incredible uptick in not just amplitude (you might be surprised at the volume difference, frankly), but just general energy the Atmos track provides. Immersive activity including clear engagement of the Atmos speakers is evident from the get go, with those swirling "Arctic winds" that waft overhead pretty convincingly, but the entire Atmos rendering of this album features fantastic engagement of the side and rear channels throughout, with some really forceful midrange and low end. Clarity is exceptional and dynamic range wide, though Zappa does like to "turn things up to 11" a lot of the time. Separation of lead and backup vocals is also exceptional in the Atmos track in particular.

Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (') Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As I often mention in my reviews of audio Blu-ray releases, one fan's "extra" is another fan's "main feature", but this is the rare case where the Blu- ray disc actually has a bonus feature, while the rest of the package features a veritable smörgåsbord of (hopefully yellow snow free) offerings:

Blu-ray Disc

• TV Ad (HD; 00:31) is an expectedly gonzo and manic animated ad.

Five CDs are included:

Disc 1 - Original 1974 Album - 2024 Remaster + Album Session Bonus Tracks

1. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow

2. Nanook Rubs It

3. St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast

4. Father O'Blivion

5. Cosmik Debris

6. Excentrifugal Forz

7. Apostrophe

8. Uncle Remus

9. Stink-Foot

10. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow (Basic Tracks/Alternate Take)

11. Nanook Rubs It (Basic Tracks/Outtake)

12. Nanook Rubs It (Session Outtake)

13. Cosmik Debris (Basic Tracks - Take 3)

14. Excentrifugal Forz (Mix Outtake)

15. Apostrophe (Mix Outtake)

16. Uncle Remus (Mix Outtake)

17. Apostrophe (Unedited Master/2024 Mix)

18. Uncle Remus (Piano and Vocal Mix 2024)

Disc 2 - Bonus Concert 1 - Colorado Springs, CO 1974

1. Show start/Band Intros

2. Village Of The Sun

3. Echidna's Arf (Of You)

4. Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?

5. Babbette

6. Approximate

7. Cosmik Debris

8. Pygmy Twylyte

9. The Idiot Bastard Son

10. Cheepnis

11. Montana

12. Dupree's Paradise Intro

Disc 3 - Bonus Concert 1 - Colorado Springs, CO 1974 (Continued)

1. Dupree's Paradise

2. Is There Anything Good Inside Of You?

3. Florentine Pogen

4. Kung Fu

5. Penguin In Bondage

6. T'Mershi Duween

7. The Dog Breath Variations

8. Uncle Meat

9. RDNZL

10. Medley: King Kong/Chunga's Revenge/Son Of Mr. Green Genes

Disc 4 - Early 1974 Bonus Live Track + Bonus Concert #2 – Dayton, Ohio, Hara Arena 20 November, 1974

1. Inca Roads - Salt Lake City, Utah - 3-18-74 - Terrace Ballroom

2. Tush Tush Tush (A Token Of My Extreme)

3. Stink-Foot

4. RDNZL

5. Village Of The Sun

6. Echidna's Arf (Of You)

7. Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?

8. Penguin In Bondage

9. T'Mershi Duween

10. The Dog Breath Variations

11. Uncle Meat

12. Building A Girl

Disc 5 - Dayton, OH Show (Continued) + Bonus

1. Dinah-Moe Humm

2. Camarillo Brillo

3. Pygmy Twylyte

4. Room Service

5. Tush Tush Tush (End Vamp)

6. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow

7. Nanook Rubs It

8. St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast

9. Father O'Blivion

10. Apostrophe TV Ad

11. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow- Single Edit

12. Goteborg GTR

13. Approximate – Bale

14. …the poodle bites…

Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (') Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I've mentioned in some other Zappa-centric reviews I've written that as unlikely as it may sound, growing up largely in Salt Lake City actually gave me an early entré into Zappa's music, since the venerable Fowler Brothers hailed from that city and actually had attended the same high school I did (several years before I did). Their father was also the Dean of the University of Utah Music Department for many years, though he had left by the time I studied there. (In fact, some of my earliest live concert experiences in my largely misspent youth were at the Terrace in Salt Lake, mentioned in the track listings above.) Also perhaps even more hilariously, in my own father's civilian life he managed the downtown Salt Lake City Sears store, which has always made Frank's question "Now, is that a Mexican poncho, or is that a Sears poncho?" in "Cosmik Debris" a literal laugh out loud moment when I was a kid, and in virtually every subsequent listening session since then. This album is delightfully funny a lot of the time, as evidenced by its "hit", but it's also a whirlwind of compositional genius. Zappa Records and Universal Music Group have done fans proud, with an exceptional sounding audio Blu- ray and a glut of superb CD bonus items. Highly recommended.