Wowie Zowie: Frank Zappa's "Cheaper Than Cheep" Premieres Lost Concert Film, Soundtrack

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All has been quiet on the Frank Zappa front since the release last fall of the 50th anniversary super deluxe edition of his album Apostrophe ('). That lull ended today, though, with the announcement of a multi-format release filled with audio and video goodies. Cheaper Than Cheep arrives May 9 as an online exclusive release available at Zappa.com, uDiscoverMusic.com, and Sound of Vinyl, presenting audio and video from a long-lost television special that's been housed in the Zappa archives for over five decades. [UPDATE: Amazon links are now available for a release date of June 27.]

Cheaper Than Cheep was recorded on June 21, 1974 at a rehearsal studio on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, where Zappa was joined by a Mothers of Invention line-up including Chester Thompson (drums), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), Jeff Simmons (guitar, vocals), Napoleon Murphy Brock (tenor sax, flute, vocals), Ruth Underwood (percussion), and Tom Fowler (bass). Zappa enlisted a film crew with multiple cameras to capture the intimate performance, while Wally Heider's mobile truck outside handled the audio with Zappa associate Kerry McNabb engineering. The title is derived from Zappa's crack at the beginning of the show that it was "cheaper than cheap" - a nod to the fact that he self-funded the concert on a tight budget. Ever the taskmaster, Zappa had rehearsed and sound-checked with the band earlier in the day, and despite exhaustion as well as the L.A. heat in a small, crowded space, the Mothers came through with a blazing performance that dug all the way back to Freak Out! and up to more recent compositions, some of which hadn't yet been heard.

In this era where live music on television was in demand - think The Midnight Special and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert in the U.S. or The Old Grey Whistle Test in the U.K. - Zappa planned on shopping the finished special to television networks. Sadly, he discovered that the audio and video weren't properly synchronized, a similar problem to that which befell his intended 1973 Roxy concert film, recorded just months earlier. Due to the limitations of technology at the time, Zappa abandoned the film. In August, he and the band performed for the cameras at Los Angeles' Public Television station KCET for the special A Token of His Extreme (with portions released later on video as The Dub Room Special).

Now, over fifty years later, Vaultmeister Joe Travers and director Ahmet Zappa have rescued the long-lost footage and restored Cheaper Than Cheep to its originally intended state, with over two hours of music from Zappa and The Mothers of Invention as well as segments with artist Cal Schenkel and animator Bruce Bickford. John Albarian, who previously worked on Roxy: The Movie, has newly edited the performance footage in synch with the audio. Jeremy Rhodes was enlisted for additional editing and sweetening, and the team of Erich Gobel and Karma Auger mixed the concert for Dolby Atmos as well as 5.1 and stereo.

The film and accompanying soundtrack will be available in a variety of formats, including:

Limited Super Deluxe Edition with the film on all-region Blu-ray (including Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and PCM Stereo mixes); the soundtrack on 2 CDs; the soundtrack on 3 picture disc LPs; and four bonus lithographs;
Super Deluxe Edition (Standard) with the film on all-region Blu-ray (including Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and PCM Stereo mixes); the soundtrack on 2 CDs; and the soundtrack on black vinyl LPs;
2CD/1BD edition with the film on all-region Blu-ray (including Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and PCM Stereo mixes) and the soundtrack on 2 CDs; and
3LP edition with the soundtrack on three 180-gram black vinyl LPs.

The Blu-ray also offers special features including two extra performances, a blooper/outtake reel, and an excerpt from the rare stop-motion animation film The Amazing Mr. Bickford, a 1987 direct-to-video movie featuring Zappa's orchestral music set to animation by Bruce Bickford. (The complete film has not yet been reissued on DVD or Blu-ray.) Liner notes for the sets include Travers' essay plus a reminiscence from Ruth Komanoff Underwood.

Joe Travers is quoted in the liner notes recalling his discovery of the tapes marked, simply, with the concert date: "I had no idea what they were or what they were for. They remained a mystery for years. The digital transfers of the elements happened over a long period of time, mostly due to budget and priority. Some were done for identification purposes while Gail Zappa was alive during the 2000s. Imagine how exciting it was for us to finally discover what this stuff actually looked like for the first time. It was a gold mine waiting to be unearthed. Most of the masters were transferred during the 'Save The Vault' Kickstarter campaign by Alex Winter circa 2017 or so."

You'll find the full track listing and pre-order links for Cheaper Than Cheep below! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Cheaper Than Cheep (Zappa/UMe, 2025)

2CD/1BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Zappa Store / uDiscoverMusic
2CD/1BD/3LP Limited Super Deluxe Edition: Zappa Store / The Sound of Vinyl / uDiscoverMusic
2CD/1BD/3LP Super Deluxe Edition: Zappa Store / The Sound of Vinyl / uDiscoverMusic
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Zappa Store / The Sound of Vinyl / uDiscoverMusic