In celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Freak Out!, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention have released a newly expanded edition via Zappa Records/UMe in a variety of formats, including a six-disc (5CD/1Blu-ray Audio) Super Deluxe Edition that features 105 tracks, many of which have never been released.
Produced by Zappa Vaultmeister Joe Travers, this expanded collection titled ‘Freak Out!: 60th Anniversary Edition‘ contains Travers’ 24-bit/192kHz digital transfers and John Polito’s 2026 mastering of the core album’s 15 tracks, along with the rediscovered 1966 pre-master mix, the retrieved and restored 1966 mono mix, Fillmore Auditorium tapes mainly culled from a trio of live 1966 dates, original Mothers 1966 rehearsals, original Mothers demos, mono vocal reference mixes, and a three-track Freak Out! late-night jam session outtake collage.
The Blu-ray contains the core album newly remixed in 24-bit/48kHz Dolby Atmos and 24-bit/48kHz Dolby TrueHD5.1 surround sound by Karma Auger and Erich Gobel at Studio1LA.
The Super Deluxe Edition box comes with a litho print and a 26-page booklet with unseen photos from the archives of Ray Leong plus little-seen session photos by David Anderle, as well as liner notes and new historical essays by Leong, music journalist Jason Pettigrew, and The Vaultmeister, Joe Travers. The booklet also includes a replication of the original, double-sided fold-out Freak Out! Hot Spots Map created and designed by Zappa.
In addition to the Super Deluxe Edition box set, there are two vinyl releases: a 180-gram 5LP box set featuring the pre-master mix on 2LPs, the mono master on 2LPs, and 1LP of additional highlights (demos, live tracks, and collage cuts) and a 180-gram 2LP pressing of the original album on multi-color vinyl. Both versions include the Freak Out Hot Spots Map. The multi-color 2LP edition is available exclusively at Zappa.com while all other editions can be found at Zappa.com, uDiscover Music, and Sound of Vinyl. As Frank Zappa wrote in the album’s original liner notes, “Freaking Out is a process whereby an individual casts off outmoded and restricting standards of thinking… in order to express creatively his relationship to his immediate environment and the social structure as a whole.”
