Frank Zappa History - The Mystery Box - Chapter XXVIII

somvalvulado.blogspot.com/2019/06/frank-zappa-history-mystery-box-chapter.html

Mystery Box is a 1986 bootleg consisting of ten (ten!) albums. The material spans 1968-81,
mostly live but some alternate studio takes and rehearsals. And look at that artwork! Slide
this one into your stacks next to the Old Masters official release and it looks perfectly at
home. These guys really put some time into this one.

Zappa hated bootleggers. An unofficial release meant no money in his pocket, and Zappa
was a shrewd businessman. In ’91 he tried to beat the weasels at their own game by
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bootlegging himself with the Beat the Boots box set, which consisted of official releases of
bootlegs that were already in circulation. Pretty clever idea, but Mystery Box is better than
Beat the Boots.

Other artists aren’t so uptight about bootlegs. Peter Buck collected R.E.M. bootlegs, for
example. The big daddies were the Grateful Dead, who let audience members bring
professional recording equipment to their shows. Literally thousands of Dead bootlegs are
floating around, which means roughly 7 Dead songs.

I love bootlegs. Many are complete junk, but a good recording of a show or some
unreleased studio time fills in gaps for me as a fan. They flesh out the story, show the
ragged edges that led to the polished perfection of the official releases. Listening to a
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bootleg is like reading a rough draft in a way. (https://wimwords.com/2015/11/15/from-the-
stacks-frank-zappa-mystery-box/)

Frank Zappa - Mystery Box

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Pigs 'N Repugnant (Disc 1)

Recording Date & Location:

Tracks 01-02 - Appleton, Wisconson 05/23/69
Tracks 03-06 - California State College, Fullerton, 11/08/68

Son Of Pigs 'N Repugnant (Disc 2)

Recording Date & Location:

01 - California State College, Fullerton, 11/08/68
02-03 - Appleton, Wisconson 05/23/69

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04 - Copenhagen 10/03/68 (according to Patrick Neve on the Patio)

Beyond The Fringe Of Audience Comprehension (Disc 3)

Recording Date & Location:

01-08 unknown (my guess - possibley Aug 1970 Whitney Studios)
09-12 Jan 18/Feb5, 1971 Pinewood Studios, UK
13-15 December 1974 Caribou Studios

Zut Alors (Disc 4)

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Recording Date & Location:
01 03/11/73, Texas Hall Auditorium, Arlington, TX
03 & 05 02/03/76 Kosei Nenkin Kaikan, Osaka, Japan
04 Unknown 1974 guitar solo from More Trouble Everyday
06 10/01/75, War Memorial Gym, Vancouver, BC, Canada
07 10/28/76 The Mike Douglas Show, NBC TV

The Rondo Hatton Band (Disc 5)

Recording Date & Location:

01 - 03/20/73 Bolic Sound, Inglewood
02-06 - 11/08/74 Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey
07- 06/24/73 Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, Australia

A Token Of His Extreme (Disc 6)

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Recording Date & Location:
August 5/6, 1974 KCET-TV Culver City

Chalk Pie (Disc 7)

Dates & Locations:

SNL Appearances
01, 02 & 04 - 12/11/76 NBC Studios NYC
03, 05 & 06 - 10/21/78 NBC Studios NYC
07 - 12/07/81 Salt Lake City

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08 - 12/11/81 Santa Monica & 12/07/81 Salt Lake City
09 - 12/12/81E guitar solo from "The Black Page #2", San Diego
10 - 11/17/81 Ritz, NYC

Crush All Boxes (Disc 8)

Recording Date & Location:

01 - Outtake
02-05 - Studio rehearsals
06 - Outtake
07 - June, 1981 Studio FZ on piano/vocal
08 - Unknown outtake
09-12 - Side 1 of "Crush All Boxes"

Return Of The Son Of Serious Music (Disc 9)

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Recording Date & Location:
01-05 - 05/19/63 Mount St. Mary's College, LA
10 - 05/20/84 FM Broadcast
11 - 06/16/84 "A Zappa Affair"

Randomonium (Disc 10)

Recording Date & Location:

01 - 1969
02 - February 1968 (Apostolic Studio NYC)/10/25/68 (London, Royal Festival Hall)

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03 - Dec. 1967-February 1968, Apostolic Studios NYC
04 - 09/10/68, Sunset Sound, Hollywood,
05-06 - Live 1971

LINK 1
LINK 2
LINK 3

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All Zappa Discography

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