Frank Zappa: Cheaper than Cheep Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		2.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

Frank Zappa: Cheaper than Cheep Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 8, 2025

If even diehard Zappa fans are understandably a little taken aback by the close to $200 asking price the Zappa Store is listing for this release (offered in two different versions), keep in mind as of the writing of this review a major online auction featuring Zappa's "Baby Snakes" guitar has just closed without yet disclosing its sale price, but with bidding expected to come in at around $500,000. And, no, that's not a typo. Cheaper than Cheep was a 1974 brainstorm of Frank's that he wanted to be a television special, but which for technical reasons (video and audio were not in sync) never saw the broadcast light of day. The Zappa heirs and assigns have been fairly ubiquitous lately with offerings from Frank's life and career, including this very release, the aforementioned guitar, and other outings like the recently reviewed Frank Zappa: One Size Fits All, and even without great video quality on the Blu-ray disc here (more about that below), there's still a Dolby Atmos mix of the concert and so much supplemental material that it might (speaking of Zappa's heirs and assigns) make your average valley girl swoon rather than ask to be gagged on a spoon.

The Blu-ray features the following tracks:

• 1. Intro / Cheepnis - Percussion / “Cheaper Than Cheep”
• 2. Cosmik Debris
• 3. Band Introductions
• 4. RDNZL
• 5. Village Of The Sun
• 6. Montana
• 7. Duke Goes Out
• 8. A Visit To The Art Studio
• 9. Inca Roads
• 10. “Get Down Simmons”
• 11. Penguin In Bondage
• 12. T’Mershi Duween
• 13. The Dog Breath Variations
• 14. Uncle Meat
• 15. How Could I Be Such A Fool
• 16. I’m Not Satisfied
• 17. Wowie Zowie
• 18. I Don’t Even Care
• 19. Let’s Make The Water Turn Black
• 20. Dupree’s Paradise Introduction
• 21. Dupree’s Paradise
• 22. Oh No
• 23. Son Of Orange County
• 24. More Trouble Every Day
• 25. Apostrophe’
• 26. Camarillo Brillo

The Zappa Store is offering two editions of this release, both branded as Super Deluxe, but with a Limited Edition coming at a somewhat heftier price tag and offering four bonus lithos and with the three LPs with picture vinyl. Otherwise, the (massive) contents are the same.

CD 1:

• 1. “Cheaper Than Cheep”
• 2. Cosmik Debris
• 3. Band Introductions
• 4. RDNZL
• 5. Village Of The Sun
• 6. Montana
• 7. Duke Goes Out
• 8. Inca Roads
• 9. “Get Down Simmons”
• 10. Penguin In Bondage
• 11. T’Mershi Duween
• 12. The Dog Breath Variations
• 13. Uncle Meat

CD 2:

• 1. How Could I Be Such A Fool
• 2. I’m Not Satisfied
• 3. Wowie Zowie
• 4. I Don’t Even Care
• 5. Let’s Make The Water Turn Black
• 6. Dupree’s Paradise Introduction
• 7. Dupree’s Paradise
• 8. Oh No
• 9. Son Of Orange County
• 10. More Trouble Every Day
• 11. Apostrophe’
• 12. Camarillo Brillo

LP 1

Side One:

1. “Cheaper Than Cheep”

2. Cosmik Debris

3. Inca Roads

Side Two:

1. RDNZL

2. Village Of The Sun

3. Montana

4. Duke Goes Out

LP 2

Side Three:

1. “Get Down Simmons”

2. Penguin In Bondage

3. T’Mershi Duween

4. The Dog Breath Variations

5. Uncle Meat

Side Four:

1. How Could I Be Such A Fool

2. I’m Not Satisfied

3. Wowie Zowie

4. I Don’t Even Care

5. Let’s Make The Water Turn Black

LP 3

Side Five:

1. Oh No

2. Son Of Orange County

3. More Trouble Every Day

Side Six:

1. Dupree’s Paradise

2. Apostrophe’

3. Camarillo Brillo

Frank Zappa: Cheaper than Cheep Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Frank Zappa: Cheaper than Cheep is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Zappa Records and Universal Music Group with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.32:1. There's some fascinating historical information imparted by "Vaultmeister" Joe Travers about the technical issues with the original video and audio elements, and the restoration efforts here to re-sync the video and audio are fantastically commendable. That still can't overcome what are obvious deficiencies in the actual video quality. This shows all of the typical anomalies associated with upscales, including quite a bit of aliasing, macroblocking, pixellation and (kind of interestingly as with some of the bonus video included on Frank Zappa: One Size Fits All), noticeable ghosting (look at the cup on George Duke's keys for one example). This entire presentation also struck me as just slightly squeezed for some reason, as perhaps evidenced by the 1.32:1 aspect ratio (compare the general look of Frank in the screenshots here with the first screenshot in the One Size Fits All review).

Frank Zappa: Cheaper than Cheep Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Frank Zappa: Cheaper than Cheep offers three great sounding audio options, Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and LPCM 2.0. Surround activity is noticeable from the get go with some quick "establishing" footage documenting a plane landing in Los Angeles, and then (especially) with regard to a soundcheck with Zappa in a remote booth and Ruth Underwood and Chester Thompson whacking away on drums and percussion while Frank listens. There's quite a bit of background clamor throughout this opening that clearly engages all of the surround channels. The music, which includes probably a higher than average number of quirky moments (even for Zappa), is beautifully rendered on both the Atmos and 5.1 tracks in particular. Discrete channelization may arguably tend to be most noticeable with regard to some of the battery of percussion instruments, as well as some of Frank's typically bizarre "narrated" moments. It will probably be noticeable to those acquainted with some of the studio versions of some of the tunes included that the band is at times a bit looser and more ragtag, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Frank Zappa: Cheaper than Cheep Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray disc has the following bonus content:

• Time is Money (Excerpt) (HD; 2:29)


• Echidna's Arf (Of You) (Incomplete) (HD; 3:59)


• Art Studio Outtakes (HD; 2:23)


• The Amazing Mr. Bickford (Excerpt) (HD; 3:35) is a cool look at some stop motion animation.

Note: The live performances commendably feature all three audio codecs mentioned in the audio section. The more documentarian shorts feature LPCM 2.0 audio.

This is an extravagantly packaged release that will almost certainly delight Zappa fans. A sturdy slipbox measures approximately 13" square by around 1 1/4" deep. Inside the slipbox is what the Zappa store calls a "telescoping slipcase", namely another sturdy insert with an angled opening that holds all of the contents. Those include what amount to two gatefold LP covers. The first is a triptych which houses the three LPs, and the second is a "standard" two panel gatefold with the two CDs and Blu-ray disc, along with credits. A really nice (nearly LP sized) booklet is included which has some fantastic writing by Ruth Underwood, including a touching remembrance of the late, great Tom Fowler. Readers of some of my other Zappa reviews may recall I grew up in Salt Lake City, where the Fowler Brothers were legends and where their father was Dean of the School of Music at the University of Utah, all of which helped foster my very early love of Zappa's music. As mentioned above, the heftier priced Limited Edition includes four lithographs reproducing some of the group shots seen elsewhere in the package, along with picture vinyl on the LPs.

Frank Zappa: Cheaper than Cheep Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This release may not in fact live up to its title, but for diehard Zappa fans, this is something of a Holy Grail and it has been lovingly attended to by the Zappas and Universal Music Group. Video quality is admittedly pretty shoddy, but the audio is fantastic and there is so much additional content here that this easily comes Highly recommended.