''Joe's Menage'' is a live album by

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

, posthumously released on October 1, 2008. It contains previously unreleased material from 1975. It is the fourth album in the "Joe's Corsage" series, which is devoted to various rarities compiled by Joe Travers for the ''Zappa Family Trust''. This album contains material from a concert in

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

on November 1, 1975 (the middle part). It presents for the first time extensive recordings featuring vocalist and alto saxophonist

Norma Jean Bell Peacefrog Records is a British independent record label based in London, England. The label produces releases in many different styles of electronic music, as well as branching out into folk and indie artists such as José González, Nouvell ...

, who was only in Zappa's touring band for a brief period in late 1975.

Overview

The album first germinated in 1978 when Zappa gave fan Ole Lysgaard several cassette tapes, including one of this 1975 concert. In 2004, Lysgaard sent the tapes to Gail Zappa who decided to release this particular dub made by Zappa. It was not possible to retrieve Zappa's original tapes, but the tape reel from which Zappa had produced the cassette dub was located in the vault. It was restored by Joe Travers and mastered by John Polito.

Track listing

All compositions and arrangements by Frank Zappa

Musicians

– guitar and vocals * Norma Jean Bell – alto saxophone and vocals *

Napoleon Murphy Brock Napoleon Murphy Brock (born April 23, 1943) is an American singer, saxophonist and flute player who is best known for his work with Frank Zappa in the 1970s, including the albums '' Apostrophe (')'', '' Roxy & Elsewhere'', '' One Size Fits All ...

– tenor saxophone and vocals * Andre Lewis – keyboards and vocals *

Roy Estrada Roy Estrada (also known as "Roy Ralph Moleman Guacamole Guadalupe Hidalgo Estrada" and "Orejón"; born April 17, 1943) is an American former musician. He is best known for being the original bassist of both the Mothers of Invention and Little Fea ...

– bass and vocals *

Terry Bozzio Terry John Bozzio (born December 27, 1950) is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons, U.K., and Frank Zappa. He has been featured on nine solo or collaborative albums, 26 albums with Zappa and seven albums with Missi ...

– drums and vocals

Album credits

* Original recording and cassette produced by Frank Zappa * CD Compilation reconstruction and vaultmeisterment: Joe Travers * Recordist: Davey Moire * Mastering and audio restoration: John Polito * Art direction: Gail Zappa * Title layout: Keith Lawler * Production manager: Melanie Starks

References

{{Authority control Live albums published posthumously Frank Zappa live albums 2008 live albums