The Sound From Utopia
Last updated: 19/10/2006 - 14:32
A ground-breaking collection of Frank Zappa’s 70s multi-channel mixes hits the stores on the new DTS DVD-A format.
QuAUDIOPHILIAc by Frank Zappa
After 30 years, technology may have finally caught up with former Mothers of Invention main man Frank Zappa...
Zappa, the man behind Freak Out!, Ruben & The Jets, 200 Motels, some amazing experimental filmmaking - and one of the all-time, undisputed independents of American music - has turned out to also have been something of a multi-channel pioneer.
The release of this new collection: Quaudiophiliac - from DTS Entertainment, is part of the first wave of DVD-A releases from the label, which also includes the albums: Legion of Boom by The Crystal Method and The Complex by Blue Man Group.
This QuAUDIOPHILIAc DVD-Audio disc is an audiophile documentary featuring various multi-channel surround sound recordings and mixes produced by the composer between 1970 and 1978. Zappa Family 'vaultmeister', Joe Travers at UMRK, culled these vintage mixes from the vault, and Dweezil Zappa then constructed the sequence and produced QuAUDIOPHILIAc for release.
No Slouch
"Frank Zappa surrounded himself in music whenever and wherever possible. He was always pushing the envelope of what was possible, given his available tools and inventive concepts gleaned from years of experimenting with all manner of the recording experience - from the type of microphone and its placement to the waveform of the mix itself. For him, anything was possible subject only to the budget and this idea extended well beyond the studio. The only place where this restriction could not deter him was in his imagination,” says Gail Zappa. “Having said that, Dweezil is no slouch in the studio either”.
“I am continuously intrigued by Frank’s music and the way he composed and recorded it. Having the opportunity to hear some of my favourite songs that were formerly in stereo but now in Surround sound is really exciting,” says Dweezil. As he explains in the liner notes, QuAUDIOPHILIAc is “an interludicrous journey that we could all experience together”.
For Zappa rarity fans QuAUDIOPHILIAc debuts a batch of previously unreleased performances - both live and from the studio - of compositions such as Rollo and Venusian Time Bandits, and features experimental recordings from Zappa’s basement from as far back as 1970. “From his early quadrophonic releases in the early 1970s, through to the multi-channel theatrical mix of his 1979 film Baby Snakes, Frank Zappa was a pioneer and passionate advocate for surround sound," says Jeff Skillen, Vice President of DTS Entertainment.
Ground Breaking
Jeff Skillen continues: “We are proud and excited to continue our relationship with the Zappa family, and to bring these incredible, ground-breaking recordings to the world. We hope that the release of QuAUDIOPHILIAc will help raise awareness of the greatness, staying power and relevance of Frank Zappa's music, as well as give the public a thrilling new surround music experience."
The QuAUDIOPHILIAc surround sound DVD-Audio disc includes:
Barking Pumpkin
This new DVD-A also includes tracks from seminal Zappa albums Sheik Yerbouti, Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar and Orchestral Favourites, superbly mixed in surround sound. QuAUDIOPHILIAc is licensed in co-operation with the Zappa Family Trust and FZ’s Barking Pumpkin label. In all this new format gives great reign to some of Zappa’s creativity – some achievement, years after the composer’s death. As a collection culled from a almost a decade of diverse work QuAUDIOPHILIAc also makes a neat counterpoint to 1996’s Strictly Commercial compilation – and as useful an introduction to his experimentalism as that collection was to his best-known tracks.
DTS Entertainment also previously released the first Zappa DVD-Audio disc, Halloween, back in 2003. DTS (Digital Theatre Systems) Entertainment licenses, produces, and markets an expansive series of DVD-Audio and 5.1 Music Discs to millions of DTS Digital Surround enthusiasts.
DTS decoders are in virtually every major brand of 5.1-channel surround processors, and there are 280 million DTS-licensed consumer electronics products available worldwide. A pioneer in multi-channel audio, DTS technology is in home theatre, car audio, PC and game console products, as well as 5.1 Music Discs, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio and DVD-ROM software. Founded in 1993, DTS is headquartered in Agoura Hills, California and has offices in the UK, Japan and China. For more information on this (relatively) new technology/format, follow this link to our Home Electrics page.
QuAUDIOPHILIAc - together with two other new releases in this DVD-A format: Legion of Boom by The Crystal Method and The Complex by Blue Man Group are available now, from DTS Inc.
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