The Project
zallures, Zappateers, November 1, 2012
This was obviously a project that Frank was going to release as it is the same tapes that are shown in the Peefeeyatko documentary. The exact same photos of the tapes boxes are printed in the insert for the CD. It says the original digital master by Frank on Feb 3 1991.
Vaultmeister, Zappateers, November 4, 2012
Not everything are ryko sources, but the bulk of it is. Since the program was made in 1989, it's interesting to note that had this CD come out then, some of the material would have found it's way on CD for the first time as not all of the titles were available on CD yet. & admist all of the current remasters there are some mixes on UA that are still not on CD. I think it's a very interesting statement by the maestro and Porn Wars Deluxe for me is worth the price of admission (so to speak). I find Understanding America a good starting point to recommend to anyone discovering FZ, made by the man himself. Since there is currently not a "compilation" in print other than "Have I Offended Someone?" (and soon "Mothermania)....I think UA serves a purpose.
[...] Concerning Bob Ludwig, I thought he did a good job considering what he had to work with. Also, the 1630 masters were in wretched shape by the time we transferred them in 2008. That Ampex tape stock is so problematic, they had to be baked in order to retrieve the data. FYI, we also had to do that for almost all of the 1630 Digital House Masters that the catalog lived on. It took almost a year to treat & save all of those tapes. UGH.
Tan Mitsugu, alt.fan.frank-zappa, November 17, 2012
As The Idiot reported in his News page, the master tape of Understanding America is visible in Peefeeyatko (approximately at 37:50):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8-N08xDz6E&t=37m37s
