New Behind-The-Scenes Zappa DVD Due Out

Pioneering musical revolutionary Frank Zappa (1940–1993) will be celebrated on May 1 when Eagle Rock Entertainment’s Classic Albums DVD series spotlights Over-Nite Sensation (1973) and Apostrophe(‘) (1974).

Going behind-the-scenes at each album’s recording session, the 98-minute documentary ($14.98) uncovers the method to the time-honored Zappa mystique.

Guitarist Dweezil Zappa, having spent the majority of his recent time mastering his father’s intricate compositions on guitar and strenuously rehearsing his band for the concert series, Zappa Plays Zappa, says, “This is where you go to find every aspect of Frank’s music squeezed into two perfectly formed records.” The family opened the doors to UMRK (Zappa’s studio) and the Vault for the archive materials which include the original analog masters. The pair of albums were among Zappa’s most commercially successful.

Additional material not seen on the broadcast version of Classic Albums is included, as are two complete performances (“Montana” from the Roxy in L.A. in 1973 and “I’m the Slime” from NBC-TV’s Saturday Night Live in 1976). Zappa Plays Zappa performs “Camarillo Brillo,” taped specifically for this project. Interviews with wife Gail, children Moon, Dweezil and Ahmet, and friends and colleagues like Billy Bob Thornton, Alice Cooper, Steve Vai and Warren Cuccurullo are juxtaposed against rare clips of Zappa onstage and off.