Frank Zappa - Halloween DVD-A? (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Larkin]

Does anyone have it? Comments?

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I have it.

Stereo PCM 24/48 that plays on all DVD-A players.

DTS 5.1 that plays on all DVD players.

MLP 24/48 5.1 that plays on all DVD-A players.

The mix is non-aggressive except for one track:."Zeets", the drum solo
The rears are mostly used for ambience and broadening the soundstage.

The quality of the recording is excellent. The guitar solos are excellent.

Songs like Camarillo Brillo and Dinah Moe Humm are rushed, certainly not the best versions I have heard. I like the Baby Snakes band with Belew better than this band, and I like the 72-74 live bands more than any of them (except maybe 1988). But regardless the disc is excellent and is absolutely mandatory for anybody who likes Zappa.

$19.99 at Best Buy. Also at some Borders.

 

[Justin Lane]

I just picked up this disc at Best Buy this past weekend and have to agree with Michael. If you are a Zappa fan, or a fan of great guitar work, this is a must buy.

MLP 24/48 5.1 that plays on all DVD-A players.

Slight correction. The 5.1 track is a 24/96 flavor while the stereo only track is 24/48.

The 5.1 mix is primarily front centered throughout, while the surrounds are very tastifully used. They contain a bit ambience as well as crowd noise to bridge the tracks (Note: though some songs are in the order the appeared in the shows originally, this album is a collection of songs from three different shows, still the transistions are pulled off flawlessly.) The only track which breaks out of this mold is Zeets which is now one of my 5.1 demos. The stereo track sounded very nice to me (though because this is a brand new release I have no reference to any other release).

I actually found nothing wrong on this disc at all. One of best live recordings I have heard to date (and in Hi-res to boot). Highly recommended

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Justin,

Yep, my bad on the 24/48, the MLP surround is definitely 24/96. A typo on my part.

 

[CurtisC]

Agreed,certainly one of the best live dvd a's I have heard.This is as mentioned a great 5.1 demo,zeets especially.This was recorded on 24 track master,Frank was into 6 channel long ago.I gotta say I get a very full sound from surround speekers.(compared to most 5.1)on dvd-a.If your a Zappa fan(who ain't) you love it,even if not its a great listen to hear your sytems full potential.It really made my day,kinda like back in the day when your favorite band came out with a great new album and you just installed a new cartridge.

 

[Mike Broadman]

I have not listened to the surround track yet and can't until they fix my stupid water pipe and I can hook-up my left rear speaker again.

The musical gem on the album is the last track, featuring some of Zappa's most blistering guitar work. This alone makes me thrilled to own the disc.

Camarillo Brillo and Muffin Man are not as strong as on other live albums. My favorite Zappa is still the You Can't Do That On Stage series.

 

[Trina]

I'm more than pleased that my first post on this fine forum
is in regard to the super fine sounding FZ Halloween release.

At first I wasn't too thrilled about the setlist and what was left out in favor of what was included. However, I've come around and accepted the disc as is, and I'm loving it.

Ancient Armaments and Black Napkins/(Deathless Horsie) are worth the investment alone. However, there are some really nice guitar solos as well as some L. Shankar violin solos that should appeal to the hardcore FZ freaks who aren't thrilled about another version of Stink-Foot or Easy Meat. Zeets is a nice example of why Vinnie Colaiuta was one of Frank's favorite drummers.

It's by far the best sounding DVD-A I own. I can only hope the ZFT releases more from the Vaults in this format. It'd be really nice to have the rest of the show one day, but this is a good start.

T

 

[Patrick Larkin]

help. i can't find this DVDA anywhere! Where do you buy DVDA's? DVDEmpire is out of stock. Amazon doesn't list it. No one does! Best Buy...nobody.

Oh, and my local CD store (who stocks DVD-A's) looked at me like I was nuts when it didn't show up in their databases.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Patrick,

Try CDUniverse.com and DVDEmpire.com.

Did you check carefully in the racks at Best Buy? You can't go by the online site...

 

[Mike Broadman]

Hi, Trina, great to see another FZ fan.

It'd be really nice to have the rest of the show one day, but this is a good start.

Just for clarity, this DVD-A is a composite of a couple of shows. I wonder how much material there is from all of these performances? It could make a sweet box set.

It looks like the Zappa family is taking some tentative steps to release some vault material. I hope it leads to lots more material.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

USA used to show a live Zappa film many many years ago. I wish whatever it was would be released on DVD. The Zappa site talks about possible plans to release "laserdiscs" - I take it that is an old update.

 

[Trina]

Yeah, I'd love to see the old Honker Home Videos on DVD. There was also talk of releasing the Roxy '73 show on DVD, but that seems to have fallen by the wayside. At least the ZFT are releasing a few things from the Vault. According to an interview with Gail last year, she hopes to put out 4 releases a year. We can only hope.

Crank Some Frank:star:

T

 

[Patrick Larkin]

Well, I found it at Best Buy (thank you Michael). Let me just say, I spent about 3 hours listening to it this afternoon. It sounds INCREDIBLE. Black Napkins - wow.

Videos are disappointing. Suicide Chump looks like it was filmed behind a dirty window. The SNL video is good but I would have liked to see both numbers.

The film I recall from the 80's was called "Does Humor Belong in Music?." And on the radio interview, Zappa speaks of a 2-hour cut of a movie featuring Halloween footage. I would LOVE to have that with this same DTS treatment.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I think there is still a pretty good chance that the Roxy show will come out on DVD in the not-too-distant future. I think it is on the backburner but not thrown by the wayside.

And on the radio interview, Zappa speaks of a 2-hour cut of a movie featuring Halloween footage.

You haven't seen Baby Snakes? You are in for a treat. Hopefully they release the longer version (around 3 hours). I kick myself to this day for not deciding to 'lose' a VHS rental copy from Blockbuster.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

Oh, thats Baby Snakes? No, I've never seen it but look forward to it!

EDIT: Oh wait a minute, thats the one with the claymation segments. Yes, I've seen it but many many years ago. And probably on VHS. A DVD would be great.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

Wow. If anyone is interested (and who wouldn't be?) there is some extensive teases/information on the zappa.com FAQ concerning DVD releases. Baby Snakes in 2003 apparently.

http://zappa.com/whatsnew/content/faq/index.php

 

[Rich Malloy]

Would you guys recommend the DTS track for those without DVD-A capabilities?

 

[Patrick Larkin]

The DTS track is excellent. I never got such full bass on any Zappa CD. And its immersive with the surrounds. Although, it was kind of wierd hearing a xylophone behind me.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

The DTS and PCM tracks are excellent...nobody should bypass this disc simply because their player doesn't do DVD-A MLP tracks.

 

[Dave Morton]

I picked up this piece last night. I don't have a dvd-a player but the dts blew me away. Much more "full" sounding than the previous Australia cd. I'll attribute it to the higher bit resolution. But WOW. What a great performance. I listened to half of it last night along with the videos and the radio interview. Videos seemed OK. The audio wasn't up to par with the rest of the disk but not bad. They must have just added those in to fill up space on the disk, but I'm glad they did.

This is a must have for any FZ fan!