1971 was a banner year for cinema with such all-time classics as The French Connection, A Clockwork Orange, Carnal Knowledge, The Last Picture Show, and Shaft. The highest-grossing film of the year in North America was United Artists' Fiddler on the Roof. But Fiddler wasn't the studio's only musical of the year. Mere days before the Broadway adaptation hit cinemas, UA opened one of the most wild, inventive, outré, and unhinged films of the year: 200 Motels. Written, co-directed, and composed by Frank Zappa, the surreal musical chronicled life on the road with Zappa, The Mothers (including The Turtles' Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman), and a cast of characters including Ringo Starr as a dwarf who dresses like Frank Zappa, Keith Moon as a depraved nun, and Theodore Bikel (ironically, a former and future Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof) as the Master of Ceremonies. While the filmmaking was innovative - the movie was shot with $650,000.00 in just 10 days on videotape at Pinewood Studios and incorporated surreal special effects and animation - its most enduring aspect remains Zappa's ambitious, majestic, and eclectic score. The original double-album soundtrack to 200 Motels was first released by United Artists Records in 1971 but remained unreleased on CD until Rykodisc teamed with UA successor MGM in 1997 for its slightly-expanded premiere in the format.
Now, almost 25 years later but in time for the film's 50th anniversary, The Zappa Family Trust, UMe, and MGM are delivering the ultimate 200 Motels experience: a whopping 6-CD box set coming on November 19. There's nothing slight about this package. It's loaded with previously unreleased demos, outtakes, work mixes, interviews, movie dialogue, and advertisements. Working from original analog tape sources, Bernie Grundman has handled the mastering for the original soundtrack while John Polito mastered the vault material. The collection has been produced by Ahmet Zappa and "Vaultmeister" Joe Travers.
Zappa was joined for 200 Motels by Mark Volman (vocals and special material), Howard Kaylan (vocals and special material), Ian Underwood (keyboards/woodwinds), Aynsley Dunbar (drums), George Duke (keyboards/trombone), Martin Lickert (bass), Jimmy Carl Black (vocals), and Ruth Underwood (orchestra drum set). The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was on hand to bring Zappa's most expansive compositions to dramatic life. While the soundtrack album included both offbeat rock songs and rich orchestral works, it didn't strictly correspond to the film. As the composer explained in the original liner notes, "This music is not in the same order as in the movie. Some of this music is in the movie. Some of this music is not in the movie. Some of the music that's in the movie is not in the album. Some of the music that was written for the movie is not in the movie or the album. All of this music was written for the movie, over a period of 4 years. Most of it (60%) was written in motels while touring."
That original soundtrack album sequence as conceived by Zappa hasn't been altered for its remastered appearance on CDs 1 and 2 of the new set. Disc 2, however, adds demos and demo outtakes including alternate versions of "Tell Me You Love Me" and "Road Ladies" which would have been familiar from their appearance on Zappa's 1970 LP Chunga's Revenge. (That album marked his first collaboration with Kaylan and Volman, a.k.a. Flo and Eddie. Underwood, Duke, and Dunbar all played in the band, as well.)
Discs 3 and 4 offer "Dialog Protection Reels" which add up to an early audio version of the film and its wall-to-wall music, as well as a selection of Bonus Swill such as advertisements, various mixes, and voiceover snippets. The fifth and sixth CDs add previously unreleased outtakes, more alternate versions, rough mixes, and basic backing tracks, all sequenced to follow Zappa's original shooting script. (The final shooting script would be altered due to both time and financial constraints.) These discs promise to present the clearest depiction yet of Zappa's original intentions for the film which he co-directed with Tony Palmer, perhaps best-known for the 17-part rock documentary All You Need Is Love. The final disc is rounded out with more Bonus Swill (rehearsals, album and movie advertisements, etc.).
Joe Travers discovered a number of quarter-inch reel-to-reel tapes recorded at London's Trident Studios in February 1971 from which he could reconstruct previously unreleased parts of the score. "They reflect raw performances as they happened before FZ would get a hold of the multi-track masters and bring them to Whitney Studios in Glendale for over-dubs and sweetening," the Vaultmeister explains in the press release. "The Trident tapes allow us to hear music that did not make the film, or the final soundtrack album. They also helped us to reconstruct pieces of music like 'The Pleated Gazelle' or 'What's The Name of Your Group?' into their full sequences per the score. Over the years, even Frank himself forgot the sheer amount of music that actually did get recorded. All of the archiving for this 50th Anniversary set has produced incredible amounts of content that we would never had known existed otherwise."
Everything is packaged within a 64-page hardcover book in a 12" x 12" slipcase. The album's original booklet is replicated and updated with new liner notes from Pamela Des Barres (seen in the film as an interviewer), Ruth Underwood, and Joe Travers. Patrick Pending's essay from the 1997 Rykodisc reissue has been reprinted, too. It's all illustrated with film artwork, stills, and images, many of which are previously unpublished. The box comes with its share of period swag, too: a 200 Motels keychain, a "Do Not Disturb" motel door hanger, and a full-size replica of the original movie poster.
The remastered 200 Motels soundtrack will also be reissued on vinyl as a double-album set pressed on 180-gram black vinyl (standard release) and red vinyl (exclusive to Zappa.com, uDiscoverMusic.com, or TheSoundofVinyl.com). Both vinyl editions will be pressed by Optimal Media in Germany. The original soundtrack only will also be released as a 2-CD set, and all formats will include a smaller version of the movie poster. Finally, the entire Super Deluxe Edition will be available digitally for streaming and download. This will be 200 Motels' digital debut in both standard and high-resolution audio.
Want to preview the cinematic, musical madness that is 200 Motels? Take a listen to the driving, anarchic "Mystery Roach" from the Dialog Protection Reel on CD 3. It's now streaming on YouTube, Spotify, and all of the usual services. This mono recording was created before overdubbing took place at Glendale's Whitney Studios. You'll find the complete track listing and pre-order links below for 200 Motels' 50th Anniversary Edition, due November 19 from Zappa Records, MGM, and UMe.
Frank Zappa, 200 Motels: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - 50th Anniversary Edition (United Artists LP UAS-9956, 1971 - reissued Zappa Records/UMe, 2021)
6CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD (Original Soundtrack Only): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP Black Vinyl (Original Soundtrack Only): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP Red Vinyl (Original Soundtrack Only): Zappa.com / UDiscoverMusic.com / TheSoundofVinyl.com
CD 1: Original Soundtrack (Remastered)
- Semi-Fraudulent / Direct-From-Hollywood Overture
- Mystery Roach
- Dance Of The Rock & Roll Interviewers
- This Town Is A Sealed Tuna Sandwich (Prologue)
- Tuna Fish Promenade
- Dance Of The Just Plain Folks
- This Town Is A Sealed Tuna Sandwich (Reprise)
- The Sealed Tuna Bolero
- Lonesome Cowboy Burt
- Touring Can Make You Crazy
- Would You Like A Snack?
- Redneck Eats
- Centerville
- She Painted Up Her Face
- Janet's Big Dance Number
- Half A Dozen Provocative Squats
- Mysterioso
- Shove It Right In
- Lucy's Seduction Of A Bored Violinist & Postlude
- I'm Stealing The Towels
- Dental Hygiene Dilemma
- Does This Kind Of Life Look Interesting To You?
- Daddy, Daddy, Daddy
- Penis Dimension
- What Will This Evening Bring Me This Morning
CD 2: Original Soundtrack (Remastered) (continued)
- A Nun Suit Painted On Some Old Boxes
- Magic Fingers
- Motorhead's Midnight Ranch
- Dew On The Newts We Got
- The Lad Searches The Night For His Newts
- The Girl Wants To Fix Him Some Broth
- The Girl's Dream
- Little Green Scratchy Sweaters & Corduroy Ponce
- Strictly Genteel (The Finale)
200 MOTELS DEMOS, 2ND MOVEMENT - ROCK MUSIC
- Road Ladies (Alternate Mix)
- What Will This Morning Bring Me This Evening
- What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are?
- Bwana Dik
- Daddy, Daddy, Daddy
- Do You Like My New Car?
- Magic Fingers
- Phyllis & Aynsley
- What Will This Evening Bring Me This Morning (Alternate Mix)
200 MOTELS DEMO SESSION OUTTAKES
- Tell Me You Love Me (Mix Outtake)
- Road Ladies (Alternate Take)
- What Will This Morning Bring Me This Evening (Studio Outtakes)
- What Will This Morning Bring Me This Evening (Alternate Take, Incomplete)
- "Aynsley Dunbar, Ladies & Gentlemen"
- Magic Fingers (Version B, Mix Outtake)
- What Will This Evening Bring Me This Morning (Mix Outtake)
- Tell Me You Love Me (Alternate Take)
CD 3: 200 MOTELS - DIALOG PROTECTION REELS
- Scene 1-2: Semi-Fraudulent/Direct-From-Hollywood Overture
- Scene 3: "What's The Deal?"
- Mystery Roach
- Scene 32: "It's A Good Thing We Get Paid To Do This..."
- Scene 14: What's The Name Of Your Group? I
- Scene 32: "We Haven't Formed The Group Yet"
- Scene 15: What's The Name Of Your Group? II
- Scene 17: "When Do We Get Paid?"
- Scene 18: Went On The Road
- Scene 19-20: "Special Delivery"
- Scene 21: Centerville
- Scene 21: Janet & Lucy
- Scene 22: This Town Is A Sealed Tuna Sandwich
- Scene 23-24: Tuna Fish Promenade
- Scene 28: The Sealed Tuna Bolero
- Scene 29: Lonesome Cowboy Burt
- Scene 30: JCB & Rance
- Scene 21: Larry The Dwarf
- Scene 81: Magic Fingers
- Scene 47: Larry The Dwarf In The Hotel Room
- Scene 33: The Lad Searches The Night For His Newts
- Scene 40-41: The Girl Wants To Fix Him Some Broth
- Scene 42: Little Green Scratchy Sweaters & Courduroy Ponce
- Scene 45: A Nun Suit Painted On Some Old Boxes
- Scene 57: The Perverted Nun
- Scene 87: "Penis!"
- Scene 58: She Painted Up Her Face
- Scene 60: Janet's Big Dance Number
- Scene 61: Half A Dozen Provocative Squats
- Scene 62: Lucy's Seduction Of A Bored Violinist
- Scene 63: Shove It Right In
- Scene 67: "I Am Bwana Dik!"
- Scene 68-69: What Will This Morning Bring Me This Evening
- Scene 77: Daddy, Daddy, Daddy
CD 4: 200 MOTELS - DIALOG PROTECTION REELS (continued)
- Scene 90: Biff Debris & Jeff
- Scene 84-85: Penis Dimension
- Scene 32: Mystery Roach (Acoustic) / "Yeah? Well Fine!"
- Scene 71: What Will The Evening Bring Me This Morning
- Scene 92: Jeff Flips Out / I'm Stealing The Room
- Scene 100: Strictly Genteel
- Scene 100: 200 Motels Finale
BONUS SWILL, PART I
- "I Was Gonna Make A Movie One Time..."
- 200 Motels Movie Ad #1
- What's The Name Of Your Group? (FZ Edit)
- 200 Motels Movie Ad #2
- FZ on Ringo Starr
- Ringo Starr on 200 Motels
- 200 Motels Movie Ad #3
- Motorhead's Midnight Ranch (Mix Outtake)
- Looking For Newts
- "They Are Only In It For The Money"
- 200 Motels Movie Ad #4
- 200 Motels Commercial Session Outtakes
- Does This Kind Of Life Look Interesting To You? (Mix Outtake)
- "I Shall Ruin All The Tapes"
- Janet's Big Dance Number (Basic Tracks)
- Martin Lickert Voice-Over
- Touring Can Make You Crazy (Mix Outtake)
- Penis Dimension (Instrumental Alternate Take)
- Centerville (Mix Outtake)
- Mystery Roach (Alternate Master)
- Magic Fingers (Mix Outtake)
- 200 Motels Movie Ad #5
CD 5: 200 MOTELS - ALTERNATES AND OUTTAKES
- What Is 200 Motels?
- Theodore Bikel Voice-Over (Alternate Take)
- Semi-Fraudulent/Direct-From-Hollywood Overture (Mix Outtake)
- What's The Name Of Your Group? (Complete Sequence, Part I)
- What's The Name Of Your Group? (Complete Sequence, Part II)
- What's The Name Of Your Group? (Complete Sequence, Part III)
- Can I Help You With This Dummy?
- Pianos For The Pleated Gazelle
- Synth Tracks I
- Would You Like A Snack? (Alternate Take)
- Howard Kaylan/Mark Volman Voice-Over
- Centerville (Rough Mix)
- This Town Is A Sealed Tuna Sandwich (Prologue, Mix Outtake)
- Tuna Fish Promenade (Mix Outtake)
- The Sealed Tuna Bolero (Alternate Take)
- Lonesome Cowboy Burt (Mix Outtake)
- Naval Aviation In Art?
- Redneck Eats/The Restaurant Scene (Basic Tracks)
- Mystery Roach (Basic Tracks)
- I Have Seen The Pleated Gazelle
- Dew On The Newts We Got (Rough Mix)
- The Lad Searches The Night For His Newts (Rough Mix)
- Motorhead's Midnight Ranch (Rough Mix)
- The Girl Wants To Fix Him Some Broth (Rough Mix, Alternate Ending)
- The Girl's Dream (Rough Mix)
- Little Green Scratchy Sweaters And Courduroy Ponce
- Scene 43: A Cardboard Box
- Scene 44
- A Nun Suit Painted On Some Old Boxes (Rough Mix)
- She Painted Up Her Face (Compressed Mix)
- The Secret Stare
- Half A Dozen Provocative Squats (Compressed Mix)
- Lucy's Seduction Of A Bored Violinist (Basic Tracks)
- Shove It Right In (Compressed Mix)
- Postlude (Basic Tracks)
- What Will This Evening Bring Me This Morning (Mix Outtake)
CD 6: 200 MOTELS - ALTERNATES AND OUTTAKES
- Daddy, Daddy, Daddy (Alternate Take)
- Magic Fingers (Alternate Take)
- Penis Dimension (Basic Tracks)
- Scene 86
- Scene 87 (Alternate Take)
- Synth Tracks II
- I'm Stealing The Towels (Basic Tracks, Alternate Take)
- Scene 94: "He's Always Watching Me"
- Dental Hygiene Dilemma (Part I, Basic Tracks)
- Does This Kind Of Life Look Interesting To You? (Mix Outtake)
- Dental Hygiene Dilemma (Part II, Basic Tracks)
- Strictly Genteel (Basic Tracks)
- 200 Motels Finale (Alternate Take)
- 200 Motels Finale (Basic Tracks, Unedited Ending)
BONUS SWILL, PART II
- Movie Theater Skit (Commercial Session Outtake)
- 200 Motels Album Ad #1
- Script Rehearsal Trim
- Lonesome Cowboy Burt (In Rehearsal 1969)
- Lonesome Cowboy Burt (In Rehearsal 1970)
- 200 Motels Album Ad #2
- Penis Dimension Jingle Music
- TV Hype (Commercial Session Outtake)
- 200 Motels Movie Ad # 6
Larry Davis says
Looks great, cool & all, except one thing...shouldn't a BluRay of the actual MOVIE be included as well??
DanR says
Yes, I thought that too. Maybe the Zappa estate doesn't own the right?
Larry Davis says
Good point...perhaps??
TwentySmallCigars says
The Zappa family doesn't own the movie and never has.
HerbP says
The movie looks to be under the control of AT&T Warner Bros. Originally UA, then MGM/UA, then Time Warner, etc. MGM renewed the trademark and copyright in 1997 according to the Ryko CD, per a comment found online wondering about the rights.
zally says
this is the start of zappa krappa. besides sgt pepper with bee gees etc this is the bottom of the barrel movie. by now his music really started to suck. yes flo and eddie were a new start (fillmore71 /band from la) but this is just a mess. how UA ever went for this is incredible. the mothers of invention went thru many sound changes= by late 68 to sept 69 they were reallt a great unit . but self in dull gent is what zappa became.