Frank Zappa - (1981) - Remington Electric Razor

Remington

Various live

Various studio

Remington Electric Razor is a collection of one-of-a-kind outtakes that originate from Zappa himself. They were either stolen from him, or were leaked through a cohort. Most of the songs are exclusive to this record and are still essential, two songs appeared years later in the Stage series. It is unknown if the songs on this album were meant for a specific project, or if Zappa mixed them for fun or for some other purpose. [One guy claimed he had a copy with "test pressing" written on the labels, but this has not been verified - Ed.] Apocrypha used most of the songs from this record.

Length: 31:50

Sound quality: Soundboard / various

Matrix: ML-001 (also L-6150)

There were at least two versions of this.

1. Freak Me Out, Frank

2. Jumbo, Go Away [05:33]

3. Moe's Vacation [04:12]

4. The Black Page #2 [03:01] [not listed]

5. Dong Work for Yuda [03:05] [a capella version]

6. Tricky Dicky [05:49] ["Dickie's Such an Asshole"]

7. Nite Owl [02:18] [Tony Allen]

8. My Name is Fritz [02:33] 

9. Interview [02:59] ["What's the Name of Your Group?"]

10. I Can't Get Me No Satisfaction [01:19]

11. Remington Electric Razor [01:01]

Track 1 is the bit that appears on Stage #1 just before "Ruthie-Ruthie" (Passaic, New Jersey - November 8, 1974).

Track 2 is a soundboard from Munich 31-Mar-1979 (early show).

Tracks 3-4 are live in Poughkeepsie, New York, 21-Sep-1978 (parts also appear on Project/Object).

Track 5 is from an unknown concert in February 1977. Almost certainly a Zappa mix leaked by a band member. From JWB:

There is a short dialogue by John Smothers right before this track, and there is another dialoge by Frank right after the track. (They are edited out on Apocrypha.) They are both talking about the song "Dong Work", and the origin is unknown. Sounds like it's stolen from a Zappa project, or from an unsurfaced television or radio broadcast.

Track 6 is the Stage #3 version - without George Duke's solo.

Track 7 is from the late show in Santa Monica on 11-Dec-1980 - a soundboard recording.

Track 8 is an excerpt from "German Lunch" on Stage #5, but as the Stage version is heavily edited, this contains some additional material. The full, unedited recording has been issued as a bootleg single.

Track 9 is an out-take from 200 Motels; its real title is "What's the Name of Your Group?".

Track 10 is from the late show in Stoneybrook on 15-Oct-1978, probably - an improvisation, from "A Pound for a Brown on the Bus", where a band member sings "I can't get me no ... satisfaction" over kind of a punk vamp.

Track 11, the title track, is the famous one - a late 1960s commercial for Remington electric razors, which was never used: a speeded-up, multi-tracked Linda Ronstadt and a Zappa saying that the lectric razor "cleans you, thrills you ... may even keep you from getting busted".

 This package came with a black & white insert "cover" and included something as disgusting as a "bloody razor blade", glued to the cover, which, by the way, was a picture of Frank with a gush in his neck. Released in 1981 (thus predating WASP with the razor blade).

There were two versions of this bootleg, and JWB tries to sort them out (aided by Zappologist legends Andrew Fignar Jr, Biffy the Elephant Shrew and Bill Lantz):

The original pressing had the following traits:

Plain white cover with holes where the labels are

One xerox insert with the LP title and song info

Thick vinyl

Plain white labels that say "Remington Electric Razor" on side one

The matrix ML-001 is etched in both sides; side one also has L-6150 [Kristian Kier reports a copy with ML-001-A and ML-001-B but no L-6150 - Ed.]

Believed to be US made

Later pressings had the following traits:

Shrink-wrapped plain white cover with NO label holes

The same insert (?), but some copies are known to have a white insert, some a yellow one

An additional insert for the back cover: a picture of Zappa standing in front of the earth moving machine (which can be seen in the Strictly Commercial package), holding an umbrella, with a big slash in his neck with red paint (blood) dabbed on the slash

A razor blade glued to the top right corner above the picture, splattered with blood (red paint)

Thin vinyl

Small blank white labels

No matrix etchings

Believed to be made outside the US (which is questionable, since both pressings are frequently seen there)

 Comment by Lukpac: http://lukpac.org/~handmade/patio/bootlegs/studio_oddities.html