Frank Zappa "Thing Fish" EMI ?24 0294 3 3xLP Box Set + book/inners/insert 1984

	£		28
	$		37

Frank Zappa ? "Thing-Fish"  EMI ?EX 24 0294 3  UK 1st pressing 3 × Vinyl, LP, Box Set issued with a 20-page 12"x12" 'linen effect' matt paper lyric book, outlining scenes/acts, including 10 black & white photos. (Cover; 4-page 'linen' card + 16-page 'white linen' 2-stapled insert). The 3 LPs are housed in black & white half-tone print paper liner wallets, imprinted on back with 'Barking Pumpkin Records' logo & on fronts with large Zappa 'join-the-dots' logo & 'Warning/Guarantee' stamp. This issue also includes a 2-sided 11"x11" single sheet promo for "Old Masters Box One" issue. Full-color front, black & white half-tone on reverse.
All three LPs appear to have been lightly played and are in great condition. They played through beautifully on my elderly stereo - no hop, stick or jump. They are all housed in their original inner sleeves, which show minimal signs of wear aside from some creasing at the corners, and which are intact with no rips or writing. The LPs are in turn housed in a box, which does show the usual signs of wear - corners have come away and there is some marking to the front. That said, it is in remarkable good condition. It is all there with no major rips and no writing. The spine is intact and legible. The LP is complete with its 20-page 12"x12" 'linen effect' matt paper lyric book, which shows minimal signs of wear and which is in great condition. Also included is the 2-sided 11"x11" single sheet promo for "Old Masters Box One" issue, which, again, shows minimal signs of wear and which is in great shape. Matrix / Runout (Record 1 Side 1 Wax): 2402941-A1+C Matrix / Runout (Record 1 Side 2 Wax): 2402941-B1+C Matrix / Runout (Record 2 Side 3 Wax): 2402951-A1+C Matrix / Runout (Record 2 Side 4 Wax): 2402951-B1+C Matrix / Runout (Record 3 Side 5 Wax): 2402961-A1+C Matrix / Runout (Record 3 Side 6 Wax): 2402961-B1+C
"Thing-Fish" is an album by Frank Zappa, originally released as a triple album box set on Barking Pumpkin Records in 1984. It was billed as a cast recording for a proposed musical of the same name, which was ultimately not produced by Zappa, but later performed in 2003, ten years after his death.
The album's story-line is inspired by Broadway theatre, AIDS, eugenics, conspiracy theories, feminism, homosexuality and African American culture. It involves an evil, racist prince/theater critic who creates a disease intended to eradicate African Americans and homosexuals. The disease is tested on prisoners who are turned into "Mammy Nuns" led by the story's narrator, Thing-Fish. The story within a story is a satire of a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant couple, Harry and Rhonda (actually played by Italian-Americans), who attend a play performed by the "Mammy Nuns", and find themselves confronted with their pasts: Harry presented as a homosexual boy, Rhonda presented as a sex doll brought to life.
The story was constructed during the recording sessions, which included producing new overdubs for recordings which previously appeared on Zappa's albums "Zoot Allures", "Tinseltown Rebellion", "You Are What You Is" and "Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch". The release of the album was delayed when Barking Pumpkin Records' previous distributor, MCA, refused to distribute the album. It was instead released by Capitol Records in the United States, accompanied by a "Warning/Guarantee" written by Zappa himself. "Thing-Fish" was initially received poorly by critics, who criticized the use of previously recorded material, but has since been reappraised for its highly satirical content.
Before leaving for London to record with the London Symphony Orchestra, Frank Zappa was home during Christmas season in 1982, and kept busy by writing, producing treatments for three films and a Broadway musical called "Thing-Fish". Between 1981 and 1982, Broadway theatre had shifted from conservative musicals to experimental plays that were viewed as either being pretentious or vulgar. "Thing-Fish" satirized statements made by theatre critics at the time, as well as arguing against the "dumbing down" of American culture. Previously, Zappa unsuccessfully attempted to stage two musicals on Broadway, "Hunchentoot", which formed the basis for the compact disc reissue of "Sleep Dirt", and a musical adaptation of William S. Burroughs' 'The Naked Lunch'. "Thing-Fish" also drew conceptual themes from AIDS, feminism, gay chic, conspiracy theories and issues of class, greed and race.
The script was developed by recording songs beforehand; much of the songs in the play were previously recorded for other albums, including "Zoot Allures", "Tinseltown Rebellion", "You Are What You Is" and "Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch".  New vocals were combined with previously released tracks and new Synclavier music. In addition to the new songs, the previously recorded songs include new overdubs moving this story-line forward. As the recording process continued, Zappa brought in revised scripts and improved the work by editing or changing aspects with which he was dissatisfied.
Zappa attempted to produce "Thing-Fish" as a Broadway production. In promotion of the planned musical, a photo sequence based upon the "Briefcase Boogie" scene was shot for the pornographic magazine Hustler, accompanied by plot excerpts from the scene. The sequence was 28 pages long. While the album was released, Zappa was unable to raise the $5 million budget in order to produce the play, and shelved the project. Subsequently, "Thing-Fish" dialogue appeared on the album "Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention", during the piece "Porn Wars". The album was adapted for a limited stage production that took place in England in 2003. Many elaborate details were changed due to the small scale of the production.
The "Thing-Fish" album was identified as an "original cast recording". Barking Pumpkin Records prepared to release the album with distribution by MCA Records. MCA produced a test pressing of the triple LP set, but withdrew their distribution after a woman in their quality control department became offended and upset by the album's content.
A deal was quickly made with EMI Records, which would allow "Them Or Us "and "Thing-Fish" to be distributed by Capitol Records in the United States. Zappa wrote a "warning" which appeared on the inner sleeves of these albums, as well as "Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention", which stated that the albums contained content "which a truly free society would neither fear nor suppress", and a "guarantee" which stated that the lyrics would not "cause eternal torment in the place where the guy with the horns and pointed stick conducts his business."
"Thing-Fish" was poorly received by critics upon initial release; a common thread of criticism was that many of the songs on this album derived from previously released recordings, and some detractors considered it to be nothing more than a compilation album. Barry Miles found it to be one of his "least substantive" works.
More recently the album has been reappraised, described by Kevin Courrier in Dangerous kitchen: the subversive world of Zappa as "a compendium of Zappa's most explicit attacks on political and sexual hypocrisy in American culture collected together in one huge volley." In Frank Zappa and musical theatre: ugly ugly o'phan Annie and really deep, intense, thought-provoking Broadway symbolism, "Thing-Fish" is described as "an extraordinary example of bricolage". As reviewed by François Couture for the website Allmusic, Couture described "Thing-Fish" as Zappa's "most controversial, misunderstood, overlooked album", stating that it was not a masterpiece, but "more than rehashed material".