Mystery Disc is a compilation album by Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...

. It was released on CD in 1998, compiling tracks that were originally released on two separate vinyl records and included in the mail order Old Masters box sets, which were released in three volumes between 1985 and 1987. (These box sets, issued on Barking Pumpkin, contained repressings of Zappa's albums from Freak Out!

Freak Out!

Freak Out! is the debut album by American band The Mothers of Invention, released June 27, 1966 on Verve Records. Often cited as one of rock music's first concept albums, the album is a satirical expression of frontman Frank Zappa's perception of American pop culture...

(1966) to Zoot Allures

Zoot Allures

Zoot Allures is a 1976 rock album by Frank Zappa. This was Zappa's only release on the Warner Bros. Records label. Due to a lawsuit with his former manager Herb Cohen Frank Zappa's recording contract was temporarily re-assigned from DiscReet Records to Warner Bros.The title is a pun on the French...

(1976), along with a 'Mystery Disc' in boxes one and two.) The CD omits two tracks from the box sets, "Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?" and "Big Leg Emma", both of which were included on the CD version of Absolutely Free

Absolutely Free

Absolutely Free is the second album by The Mothers of Invention, led by Frank Zappa. Absolutely Free is, again, a display of complex musical composition with political and social satire. The band had been augmented since Freak Out! by the addition of saxophone player Bunk Gardner, keyboardist Don...

(1967).

The recordings featured on Mystery Disc cover the early stages of Zappa's career, and were made between 1962 and 1969 (with the exception of "The Story of Willie the Pimp", a 1972 'field recording

Field recording

Field recording is the term used for an audio recording produced outside of a recording studio. The recording is typically recorded in the same channel format as the desired result, for instance, stereo recording equipment will yield a stereo product...

'). The material overlaps in places with that of You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5

You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5

You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5 is a double compact disc collection of live recordings by Frank Zappa. Disc one comprises performances by the Mothers of Invention spanning the period from 1966 to 1969. "My Guitar" had been previously released as a single in 1969...

(1992), Ahead of Their Time

Ahead of Their Time

Ahead of Their Time is a live album by The Mothers of Invention. It was recorded at the Royal Festival Hall, London, England on October 25, 1968 , and released in 1993 on CD by Barking Pumpkin...

(1993) and The Lost Episodes

The Lost Episodes

The Lost Episodes is a 1996 posthumous album by Frank Zappa which compiles previously unreleased material. Much of the material covered dates from early in his career, and as early as 1958, into the mid-1970s...

(1996). A number of the earlier tracks—"I Was a Teen-Age Malt Shop", "The Birth of Captain Beefheart" and "Metal Man Has Won His Wings", all likely recorded in 1964—feature Captain Beefheart

Captain Beefheart

Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...

 on vocals. These are three light-hearted collaborations; "Metal Man Has Won His Wings" has Beefheart reading the lyrics directly from an advert for a comic bookhttp://members.aol.com/biffyshrew/metal.html.

Track listing

All tracks by Frank Zappa, except where noted.

1. "Theme from Run Home Slow" – 1:23
2. "Original Duke of Prunes" – 1:17
3. "Opening Night at "Studio Z" (Collage)" – 1:34
4. "The Village Inn" – 1:17
5. "Steal Away" (Jimmy Hughes) – 3:43
6. "I Was a Teen-Age Malt Shop" – 1:10
7. "The Birth of Captain Beefheart" – 0:18
8. "Metal Man Has Won His Wings" – 3:06
9. "Power Trio from The Saints 'n Sinners" – 0:34
10. "Bossa Nova Pervertamento" – 2:15
11. "Excerpt from The Uncle Frankie Show" – 0:40
12. "Charva" – 2:01
13. "Speed-Freak Boogie" – 4:14
14. "Original Mothers at The Broadside (Pomona)" – 0:55
15. "Party Scene from Mondo Hollywood
    Mondo Hollywood
    Mondo Hollywood is a documentary "mondo movie" by Robert Carl Cohen, released in 1967. Filmed over the preceding two years, it was described by Variety as a "flippy, trippy psychedelic guide to Hollywood".-Description:...
    
    " – 1:54
16. "Original Mothers Rehearsal" – 0:22
17. "How Could I Be Such a Fool?" – 1:49
18. "Band introductions at The Fillmore West" – 1:10
19. "Plastic People" (Richard Berry
    Richard Berry
    Richard Berry was an African American singer, songwriter and musician, who performed with many Los Angeles doo-wop and close harmony groups in the 1950s, including The Flairs and The Robins....
    
    , Zappa) – 1:58
20. "Original Mothers at Fillmore East" – 0:50
21. "Harry, You're a Beast" – 0:30
22. "Don Interrupts" – 4:39
23. "Piece One" – 2:26
24. "Jim/Roy" – 4:04
25. "Piece Two" – 6:59
26. "Agency Man" – 3:25
27. "Agency Man (Studio Version)" – 3:27
28. "Lecture from Festival Hall Show" – 0:21
29. "Wedding Dress Song/The Handsome Cabin Boy" (Trad., arr. Zappa) – 2:36
30. "Skweezit Skweezit Skweezit" – 2:57
31. "The Story of Willie the Pimp" – 1:33
32. "Black Beauty" – 5:23
33. "Chucha" – 2:47
34. "Mothers at KPFK" – 3:26
35. "Harmonica Fun" – 0:41

The tracks were separated across the original 'mystery discs' thus:

• Mystery Disc #1: tracks 1–20, plus "Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?" and "Big Leg Emma"
• Mystery Disc #2: tracks 21–35

External links

• Lyrics and information
• Release details:
  • as Mystery Disc
  • as part of The Old Masters box sets