ProStudioMasters.com

The latest audio treasure to be excavated from Frank Zappa’s vast and legendary vault, Zappa / Erie, brings together an exciting trio of shows that the Maestro performed in Erie, Pa. and the surrounding area between 1974-76. The new six-disc boxed set/digital collection contains more than seven hours of unreleased, electrifying live performances from Zappa and three different lineups of incredible musicians from this peak period. Of the 71 tracks, only 10 minutes have been released before, on Zappa’s classic 1974 live album, Roxy & Elsewhere, outside of the amateur recordings that have been passed around on the bootleg/tape trading circuit. Overseen by the Zappa Trust and produced by Ahmet Zappa and Zappa Vaultmeister Joe Travers, Zappa / Erie boasts audio which was professionally recorded on 4-track tape by Zappa’s team of engineers Bill Hennigh, Brian Krokus, Davey Moire and Claus Weideman, and was newly mixed from the original tapes by longtime Zappa Trust associate Craig Parker Adams at Winslow Ct. Studios and mastered by John Polito at Audio Mechanics, who both also aided in restoring the audio as needed, to present these historical concerts as cleaned up as sonically possible. The three complete shows included on Zappa/Erie are presented in chronological order and trace Zappa’s history with the Pennsylvanian lakeside suburb. The set kicks off with a concert at Edinboro State College, a local university outside of Erie, on May 8, 1974, and is followed by Zappa’s first proper concert in Erie at the Gannon Auditorium at the private, Catholic, Gannon University on November 12, 1974; and concludes with what would be his last Erie show, held at the Erie County Fieldhouse on November 12, 1976. In addition to the full shows, several performances from South Bend, Ind.; Toledo, Ohio; and Montreal, QC, taken from the same time period, are included as bonus tracks.