Frank Zappa has been dead for more than three decades, but the deluxe reissues and boxed sets keep coming. In just the past five years, his estate has issued about a dozen of them, each containing as many as six discs and lots of previously unreleased material.
The latest box, released on Sept. 26, 2025, marks the 50th anniversary of One Size Fits All, a studio album credited to Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. It features songs introduced on a 1973-74 tour, some of which now loom large in Zappa’s discography. Though you might or might not like the quirky, sometimes puerile lyrics that pepper portions of this set, Zappa’s elaborate prog-rock compositions are impressive, as is the band’s musicianship. Guests include Johnny “Guitar” Watson, who sings on “San Ber’dino” and “Andy,” and Captain Beefheart (credited as “Bloodshot Rollin’ Red”), who plays harmonica on the former number.
Several configurations of the box are available, the most expansive of which is the 58-track Super Deluxe Edition. It includes four CDs, a Blu-ray audio disc and a 36-page booklet with new liner notes by rock critic David Fricke, Zappa “Vaultmeister” Joe Travers and two Mothers members, keyboardist/vocalist George Duke and percussionist Ruth Underwood. Three-quarters of the box’s contents have not previously been released officially.
Related: Our review of Zappa’s Apostrophe (’)
The first two CDs feature a 2012 remaster of the original album, plus 19 alternate versions, outtakes and rough mixes. The other CDs contain a complete September 1974 concert from Rotterdam, Holland, and two bonus tracks from a show presented the same month in Sweden. The Blu-ray adds newly created Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and hi-def stereo versions of the original album, plus videos for two of its numbers and two additional surround-sound tracks.
The alternates, outtakes and rough mixes will likely interest only rabid fans, but anyone with an affinity for Zappa’s work will appreciate the original album, the concert material and the surround-sound options.
The various editions are available in the U.S. here, in Canada here and in the U.K. here.
Burger wrote one of the first interview-based profiles of Bruce Springsteen to be published in a national magazine. He has interviewed many other music-world luminaries as well, including Steve Van Zandt, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Wolfman Jack, Tom Waits, Foreigner’s Mick Jones, Billy Joel, Steve Forbert, Tommy James, the Righteous Brothers, Gordon Lightfoot, Deep Purple’s Tommy Bolin, and members of Steely Dan and the Marshall Tucker Band. He has also interviewed many other public figures, such as Suze Orman, Daymond John, James Carville, Donald Trump, Sir Richard Branson, F. Lee Bailey, and Cliff Robertson.
His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, all of which are published in the U.S. and Canada by Chicago Review Press. The books have been republished in numerous other countries.
Burger has been the editor of several periodicals, including Business Jet Traveler, from which he retired in 2024. During his 20 years at that
publication, it received more than 120 major editorial awards, including multiple wins for the world’s Best Consumer Travel Magazine in the annual Folio:Eddie competition.
Burger lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His wife, Madeleine Beresford, is a puppeteer and former preschool director and teacher. The couple have two grown children.
No Comments so far
Jump into a conversationNo Comments Yet!
You can be the one to start a conversation.