In the early 1970s music performance shows like “The Midnight Special” “Soul Train,” “In Concert,” and concurrently “The Old Grey Whistle Test” in the UK, were all the rage in America, beaming rock, pop and R&B artists directly into people’s homes across the country, offering an unprecedented at-home concert experience. Inspired by these shows, or perhaps because of potentially not receiving offers to perform on them, or even more likely, wanting to control all aspects of the production, Frank Zappa took matters into his own hands, as he often did.
On the first day of summer, June 21, 1974, Zappa and his band, the Mothers of Invention, invited a small audience to the their humble rehearsal hall on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, Calif., for what would be an intoxicating, sweat-drenched two-hour-plus performance. A small film crew equipped with multiple cameras captured every riveting musical moment while the audio was recorded by a mobile recording truck. Unfortunately, when Zappa watched the footage he was devastated to learn, that similar to his Roxy project before it, the audio and video weren’t synchronized. Two months later, Zappa would team up with the Los Angeles-based PBS station KCET and get the sought-after TV special he wanted, later released commercially as The Dub Room Special. As a result, the June concert that he planned to shop to major TV networks was shelved, never to be revisited by Zappa in his lifetime. It languished in The Vault for more than five decades.
Now, more than 50 years after that magical, sweltering summer night in 1974, thanks to advancements in post-production editing tools, fans can experience the concert as if they were there in the front row. Dubbed Cheaper Than Cheep, this never-before-heard-or-seen two-hour concert program reveals the most intimate performance ever captured from the 1974 Mothers lineup, direct from the lovingly resurrected and restored original audio and videotape masters housed in The Vault.
Directed by Ahmet Zappa and produced by Frank Zappa, Vaultmeister Joe Travers and Ahmet Zappa, Cheaper Than Cheep will be released May 8 exclusively on Musicstation.be in a variety of formats, including a special, limited edition multi-format Super Deluxe box set featuring the concert film on Blu-ray with Dolby Atmos, 5.1 surround and stereo mixes, a companion stereo soundtrack presented on both 2CD and 180-gram 3LP picture disc vinyl, plus an extensive 14-page booklet with rare, unseen images and informative liner notes from Travers alongside a detailed and heartfelt remembrance from musician Ruth Komanoff Underwood who performed percussion that evening. The set will be housed in a telescoping slipcase and include four bonus lithographs. The Blu-ray includes four extras – two performances, a blooper reel, and a deep excerpt from the out-of-print Claymation film, “The Amazing Mr. Bickford.” Additional options include a Blu-ray video + 2CD set and a standalone soundtrack on 180-gram 3LP black vinyl.
Every aspect of the DIY taping, from the psychedelic light show and stage setup, to the camera crew and audio recording, was self-funded by Zappa, who jokes at the beginning of the concert that it’s “cheaper than cheap.” The use of the intentionally misspelled “Cheep” in the title is both a nod to his song “Cheepnis,” about his love for cheaply made monster movies of the ‘50s and ‘60s and their inherent charm, as well as a tongue-in-cheek mistake to underscore the shoestring budget it was made on. Inside the hall, the stage was implemented with the band’s current touring equipment, including a basic backdrop and lighting. The concert was captured on multi-camera direct to 2” Quad Videotape, the industry standard at the time, with the audio recorded by the Wally Heider Remote Truck outfitted with two 16-track tape machines, with
Cheaper Than Cheep was assembled by adhering to Zappa’s lead, incorporating all of the planned segments, while sequencing the live material based on performance order and typical 1974 live set lists. A team, led by Ahmet Zappa in the directorial role and Joe Travers as a producer, was assembled to bring the project to life. John Albarian, who worked on “Roxy: The Movie,” edited the performance footage and perfectly and painstakingly matched picture to audio for the first time. Jeremy Rhodes handled additional editing and sweetening while acclaimed audio engineer team Erich Gobel and Karma Auger mixed the concert in immersive Dolby Atmos as well as 5.1 and stereo.
As Zappa Vaultmeister, Travers often came across the audio and video masters, with “June 21st, 1974,” prominently written on the spines, in The Vault, but it was years before he ever discovered the treasure that awaited. As he writes in the liners, “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.”
Zappa’s lineups were ever evolving as members came and went based on The Maestros needs and ever-changing musical direction, and this incarnation of The Mothers of Invention was no exception