Remington Electric Razor....1981 Bootleg LP

Various live and studio tracks.

Length: 31:50
Sound quality: Soundboard / various
Matrix: ML-001 (also L-6150)

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.

    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 Zappa saying that the
    electric razor "cleans you, thrills you ... may even keep you from getting busted".

PERSONNEL :
                 [ 2+3+9+10 ] : FZ, Denny Walley, Tommy Mars, Arthur Barrow,
                 Vinnie Colaiuta, Peter Wolf, Ed Mann, Ike Willis
                 [ 4 ] : FZ, Terry Bozzio, Ray White, Eddie Jobson, Patrick O'Hearn

                 [ 5 ] : FZ, George Duke, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Ruth
                 Underwood, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Ralph Humphrey, Chester
                 Thompson
                 [ 6 ] : FZ, Ike Willis, Ray White, Vinnie Colaiuta, Arthur Barrow,
                 Steve Vai, Bob Harris, Tommy Mars
                 [ 7 ] : FZ, Don Preston, Jimmy Carl Black, FRITZ, Mothers Of
                 Invention
                 [ 8 ] : FZ, London Philharmonic
                 [ 11 ] : Mothers with Linda Ronstadt

                 RECORDING DATE and PLACE :
                 [ 1 ] : Passaic on Nov. 8. 1974, during the 1st show at the Capitol Theater
                 [ 2+9+10 ] : Fall of 1978
                 [ 3 ] : Poughkeepsie on Sep. 21. 1978
                 [ 4 ] : late 1976 or early 1977
                 [ 5 ] : Roxy in Los Angeles in Dec. 1973
                 [ 6 ] : Fall 1980
                 [ 7 ] : ca. 1969
                 [ 8 ] : Feb. 1971
                 [ 11 ] : ca. 1968

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 gash 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)

REMINGTON ELECTRIC RAZOR Discussion

From JWB:

    Has anyone familiar with the Remington Electric Razor boot ever thought about what a
    mysterious record this is? It came on thick vinyl with a blank label and nothing etched into the
    run-out groove. Glued to the cover was a bloody razor blade and a picture of Zappa with a
    deep slash in his neck. Does anyone know the origins of this bootleg? It LOOKS evil and
    anti-Zappa, but the contents are the total opposite. It's probably one of the most important
    Zappa bootlegs ever released, or at least it was in its day.

    "Nite Owl" is from 12/11/80 #2, which has never surfaced on soundboard. An alternate edit of
    "Dickie's" from the Roxy appeared there 8 years before on Stage #3. "German Lunch" appears
    10 years before Stage #5. Where the hell did they get "Interview" from? And the Remington
    commercial? Could it have been a "one-of-the-guys-in-the-band" production? Any knowledge
    or thoughts?

From Jon Naurin:

    "Dong Work for Yuda" is an outtake, which has been limitedly circulated. It has leaked out
    through the same source as most of the other 77/78 outtakes, rehearsals and soundboards: a
    band member. ... yes, whoever made this bootleg sure must have had good contacts. Wonder
    if it was the same guy who made the Mystery Box?

JWB concludes:

    After further inspection and thought, I am now 99% certain that Remington Electric Razor is
    a one-of-the-guys-in-the-band production. All of the stuff on that album sounds well-mixed to
    me, not like a direct soundboard, and Zappa is the only possible source of material such as
    "What's the Name of Your Group?" and "German Lunch". "Freak Me Out, Frank" and
    "Dickie's Such an Asshole", for example, sound exactly like the mixes that would appear 8
    years later in the Stage series. Not only that, but the post-solo rant in "Dickie's" is edited
    exactly the same way on Remingont Electric Razor as on Stage #3, while the Stage Sampler
    boasts a different edit. (Which proves that the Stage #3 version is edited, and therefore the
    Remingont Electric Razor version comes from the same mix.) It has already been pointed out
    by Jon that "Dong Work" yields from a band member tape. Therefore, I conclude that the
    bootleggers who made Remington Electric Razor were given the tapes directly by one of the
    guys in the band, or by a close friend of Zappa. (Which might also explain why the package is
    so plain and there is no label name or matrix number despite the amazing contents. The source
    of the tapes probably didn't want to be discovered by Zappa.)