Frank Zappa

3CD/Digital: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
5LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP/Digital Highlights: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

UMe and Zappa Records have curated a soundtrack release for director Alex Winter's documentary film about the iconoclastic artist. The 68-track collection is available to stream and download now, while a 3-CD edition is coming on February 19, 2021 and a 5-LP set is due on May 7.  The latter will be released on 180-gram black vinyl to general retail and on 180-gram smoke vinyl exclusively from Zappa.com, uDiscoverMusic.com, and The Sound of Vinyl.

The deluxe physical and digital editions of Zappa are promised to include nearly every song heard in the film including 12 previously unreleased tracks.  These include performances from the Whisky A Go-Go in 1968, the Fillmore West in 1970, and Saturday Night Live in 1978.  Additionally, the album features another 25 recordings spanning the entirety of his career as well as highlights from Zappa's Straight and Bizarre Records catalogues from Alice Cooper and The GTOs, classical tracks from his compositional heroes Edgard Varese and Igor Stravinsky, Zappa and The Mothers of Invention's jam session with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and 26 score cues penned by John Frizzell for the documentary.

A 2-LP or digital highlights version will present a streamlined listen, with eight of the 12 unreleased tracks, the Saturday Night Live performance of "Dancin' Fool," and 13 more selections from the Zappa discography.  The release of the Zappa soundtrack follows the recent (and devilishly good) Halloween '81 box set drawn from his stand at New York's Palladium.