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What with the ridiculously overpriced LINY Deluxe set following on the heels of the Roxy set, Meat Lite, etc, and now OF 40th, is anyone else finding themselves buying CDs they rarely listen to for completist sake?

I assume that there’s nowhere near the amount of finished / decent / interesting stuff in the vaults as we’ve been led to believe.

And I know I don’t HAVE to buy them, but I kind of do!

I felt INY40 was a pricey overindulgence in packaging over content, especially compared to the value of The Roxy Performances box for about half the price & more (full) discs, which I listen to more. OF40 on order, yeah, but the pain is worth it, and we have the forthcoming Hot Rats 50th to bow down/bend over to before the decade is out.

It's not just music either. Every thing is in competition for your money.

Music-wise, I just got to the point of saturation when just didn't crave 25 variations of the same basic song. I think the ZFT by numbering the re-re-remastered and newly released material did a smart thing (from a marketing standpoint) because it makes the collector perhaps feel that by skipping certain albums they may not care for that they are really missing out. Sort of like having a collection of encyclopedia with 5 volumes missing. For some fans, it would bother them not to have every single thing released no matter how infrequently it was used. People oftentimes like complete sets of things.

I look at it this way, FZ released a certain amount of albums in his lifetime and didn't release the majority of things in the vault. What he released is top tier for me. I don't know how many things in the vault are complete versions or just works in progress. Someone else producing what they think he may have released can become a troublesome situation.

I'm thinking of just sticking a label inside my cds so I can put the date when I last listened to it. "Gee, I bought this five years ago and listened to it once, perhaps it's time to pass it along to someone else."

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I remember calling 818-PUMPKIN once. The guy answered with "Pumpkin. Are you calling because you want to return Joe's Domage?"

After I stopped laughing, my answer was "No, but it did occur to me."

Good times...

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I'm petulant, and I'm having a frenzy...

Ha!

At least JD is short enough to listen to occasionally! I get more excited about an hour of outtakes than 5 cds of outtakes, especially if the 5 cds are costing me £100!

Well yes, for instance when this new Primus album was hyped for months. I owned every single Primus album and had bought both Antipop and Animals Should Not Try To Act Like People on the day they were first released. Soooo... new album, by Primus, finally... turned out to be a Best Of about a week before release.

I still bought it - on the day it came out no less. Even if the only new material on it was an extended cut of Shake Hands With Beef, which is long enough already. Since the album is packaged to look like a pack of cheese I never took it out of its wrapper.

I couldn't for the life of me recall what the album's called right now.

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Join the PackardGoose forum! Send me a PM!

My last colonoscopy?

I will not buy just any Zappa release that comes along.

Eventually

I was on my way to buying all of the official Zappa catalog when the fire wiped it all out last November. I had about 105 of what was then about 110 titles. Some titles I knew I probably wouldn’t listen to very much but I was so deep into the catalog already I figured I might as well go all the way. Since the fire I’ve been selective in replacing some of my favorites (with the help of some forum members that gifted me some titles) but I’ll never get near completist level collecting again. With favorite non-Zappa artists I’ve been getting some compilations or live albums instead of individual studio albums.

I got bored with most of the posthumous live releases early on, in some cases after only one run through. I even didn't make it all the way through the Roxy Box at all. Just yesterday I did another try on the Zappa In New York box, Disc 5, and fell asleep midway. Usually, if I'm trying to get some sleep, a good method is to listen to one of those many Black Napkins versions apart from that ZA original.

On the other hand I can listen to releases like The Crux Of The Biscuit, Meat Light, Lumpy Money or One Shot Deal a million times without any sign of boredom or sleepyness.

You mean the one where Frank cut a fart and mixed it to stereo?

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I'm petulant, and I'm having a frenzy...

There are several ZFT releases that I listen to as often as the core FZ albums. I haven't invested any time into producing play lists of more favoured tracks from those ZFT albums, although I intend to at some point, but if I had, there would be several with many tracks in them. My top 4 would be EIHN, Road Tapes #2 (Finland 1973), Roxy By Proxy and Zappa In New York 40th Anniversary. I'm not including posthumous releases of albums completed by FZ himself - which is a separate discussion and all of which I like a lot.

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The way I see it Barry, this should be a very dynamite show.

And BTW, I don't need childish packaging extravaganzas like the Halloween 77 box* or the Zappa In New York box.

*I only have the 3 CD version, because I have no interest in listening to 6 more or less redundant concerts.

Yeah, that's it. It's titled The New Brown Clouds.

This over-packaging is why I did not buy the ZINY thing with the manhole cover the super big ROXY (I got ROXY by Proxy and the movie) and I only bought the three-dis Halloween). I ordered OF because I always wanted to hear the Royce Hall show. I love ‘73 stuff so I will think about the 4-disc set that Andrew tweeted about today. I listened to all the big ZINU and Big ROXY on Amazon Music. I don’t have that much time till I croak to listen to all that excess. There is some stuff in the vault I still care to hear, but after Alex’s movie is released, I may slow down even further...

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If we're dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An' maybe even a little bit ugly on the side)

They Can't All Be Zingers.....

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Hey Punk, where you goin' with all those pads of pardons?

I love the New York 40th Anniversary and the packaging, its a show piece...right by the Turkish Lamp...

I agree. I love lavish packaging if it doesn’t make a purchase prohibitive. It’s an extension of the vinyl era where you want something cool to hold in your hand or just look at when you’re listening. These days there are usually options to buy a single cd or to download the new releases if you don’t care about that stuff and don’t want to spring for the entire enchilada.

I love that shit, and find it easy to put "on display", in the collection.
The "Zappa in New York" box currently resides between the Halloween '77 box, and the pumpkin.

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You're probably wondering why I'm here
(not that it makes a heck of a lot of a difference to ya)

^^^Nice! . But how did that stray KC poster come to find a home with your Zappa stuff?

Kind of.

I became a fan in 1998. So I own the near entire Ryko '95 & ZFT releases on CD (and have collected almost all of the 800 or so audience/sbd recordings from Zappateers) and even tracked down some of the original vinyl releases. However, I didn't feel the need to buy the 2012 remasters, though I listen to them frequently as if they were the Ryko '95 titles.

I must admit that I think most of the ZFT releases aren't that spectacular and range from average to just above average. Though, I think most of the releases since Gail died are superior.

But since I'm a hard-core fanatic, I'll buy at least one version of each new release (though, I don't necessarily count compilations, best ofs, etc.)

I have so many albums now (and I still like to discover new music), that immersing myself in my collection isn't as fulfilling anymore because I don't have as much time as I used to have, not that there isn't general enjoyment...

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"...I'm absolutely a Libertarian on MANY issues..." ~ Frank Zappa, Rochester, NY, March 11, 1988

Wow! What did you do all the time before 1998 then?

This is the living room. The majority of my albums are in the spare bedroom. The KC poster has been there since before the collection expanded into the rest of the apartment.
(yes, apartment. Ask my neighbours about my 7.1 Surround system, sometime. )

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You're probably wondering why I'm here
(not that it makes a heck of a lot of a difference to ya)

The 7-disc Roxy set is actually a very compact box, just over 5" square and 1.25" deep. It's the opposite of space-wasters like Halloween and the new ZINY.

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New album THE HIPCRIME VOCAB available now!
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I never feel obligated. That said, I've learned to make up my mind right away so I can pre-order at a (hopefully) lower price. Much like others have mentioned, I'm good with the three disc version of Halloween. As much as I'd like every box to be like Roxy, I understand that they want to get creative with some of them.