Frank Zappa -- "Zoot Allures" double album

An article in the Oct. 12, 1976, issue of Circus Magazine features Frank Zappa giving a track-by-track description of a test pressing for his upcoming double album. Eleven songs are described, including:

• Disco Boy
• Friendly Little Finger
• Wonderful Wino
• Night of the Iron Sausage
• Sleep Dirt
• Zoot Allures
• Ms. Pinky
• Filthy Habits
• Find Her Finer
• Black Napkins
• The Torture Never Stops

But when the Zoot Allures album was released only eight days later, it was a single album, three tracks were missing, and a new track was included. I don’t know when Zappa actually gave the interview for the story, but it’s quite clear that some drastic changes had been made between then and when the album finally came out. For one thing, due to a lawsuit with his former manager, Zappa's contract was temporarily reassigned from DiscReet Records to Warner Bros. This change may have affected the length of the LP.

Also, Zappa was a constant tinkerer, forever recording and editing, and this has led to some confusion on at least two of the tracks. First, no song has yet been released by Zappa or his heirs titled “Night of the Iron Sausage,” which was described as a live set piece "trimmed down to a basic guitar solo." Some speculate that this tune may have been retitled “Zoot Allures,” which became the title track of the album.

Second, many Zappa fans believe that the song titled “Zoot Allures” on the test pressing is actually the song “The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution,” which appeared on a later Zappa album, Sleep Dirt. This makes sense as the released song “Zoot Allures” is only a little more than four minutes, and that would give the album’s second side a total of less than six minutes, which of course is ridiculous (even by Zappa’s satirical standards). But “The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution” is more than 13 minutes long.

Finally, the fourth side of the album would have only come to 14 minutes total with the two listed songs. But if we add the one song from the released Zoot Allures album that wasn’t listed, “Wind up Workin' in a Gas Station,” the side is extended to about 16½ minutes, making it similar to the other three sides. And that gives us:

SIDE A – 17:37

1. Disco Boy

2. Friendly Little Finger

3. Wonderful Wino

4. Night of the Iron Sausage (Zoot Allures, Part I)

SIDE B – 16:40

1. Sleep Dirt

2. The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution (Zoot Allures, Part II)

SIDE C – 15:20

1. Ms. Pinky

2. Filthy Habits

3. Find Her Finer

SIDE D – 16:29

1. Wind up Workin' in a Gas Station

2. Black Napkins

3. The Torture Never Stops

I still think some of these sides are too short, especially the third side, but it's quite possible that Zappa trimmed down some of these songs in order to make a single album.

All tracks are available on either the Zoot Allures or Sleep Dirt albums. 

The original cover of Zoot Allures features Zappa and three other members of his “band,” but of them only drummer Terry Bozzio actually plays on the tracks. So in creating a new cover I tracked down a copy of the original photo, cropped out the others and rearranged the name and title (and whatever that little symbol is).