1975 Frank Zappa ‘One Size Fits All’ Gets A 50th Anniversary Makeover

‘One Size Fits All’, the 1975 Frank Zappa album considered by Zappa purists to be one of his best, is getting a remastered and expanded make-over.

The new deluxe edition of the album features 58 tracks. The new collection was produced by Frank’s son Ahmet Zappa and Zappa vault keeper Joe Travers.

‘One Size Fits All’ was Zappa’s first album created entirely on a 24-track tape machine. Previously, everything had been cut 16-track or below. As Travers observed, Zappa’s use of the studio had always been groundbreaking, but now he had even more options for sonic layers, with “stunning sound quality” due in large part to the teamwork of recording engineer Kerry McNabb and, later, Michael Braunstein.

The Caribou sessions featured the Mothers-fortified sextet lineup consisting of Zappa, keyboardist/vocalist George Duke, bassist James “Birdlegs” Youman temporarily filling in for the still-injured Tom Fowler, drummer Chester Thompson, and percussionist Ruth Underwood. Recording at Caribou started on December 8 and lasted until December 22, 1974. Following a return to Los Angeles for another gig at the Long Beach Arena on New Year’s Eve, additional recording sessions were booked at The Record Plant, this time with Fowler back in action on bass, tenor saxophonist/flautist/vocalist Napoleon Murphy Brock, but with Underwood absent. The Record Plant sessions continued basic tracking for songs not finished or tackled during Caribou time. Given all the tensions surrounding both intense recording environments, this incarnation of the band ultimately fell apart, resulting in the departures of both Thompson and Underwood, though their imprints remain permanently ingrained on the music as Zappa went into dubbing overdrive in the New Year. Ultimately, four One Size Fits All tracks—“Inca Roads,” “Florentine Pogen,” “Andy,” and “Sofa”—persisted as consistent set list favorites until Zappa’s final tour in 1988. (One Size Fits All was also the final studio album credited to The Mothers of Invention.)

The cover art is yet another marvel of the A/V intersectivity synergy of the Zappa universe. As Zappa put it himself in an off-era interview with Disc, “It’s a very good cover, when you consider the front cover shows a picture of a sofa and the back cover is references to the universe in general.” For the more linguistically inclined, rearranging the initial letters of each word in One Size Fits All begats the name of both the cover’s prominent project/object and the two-part, split “Sofa” track itself. Zappa cover art vet Cal Schenkel and Vernon Simpson’s intricately designed but beautifully celestial map on the back remains a wonder to behold, as it is laden with minuscule-print gags – such as the star named after Olympic swimmer Mark Spitz in the constellation Aquarium.

In his researching the included 1974 live material, Travers discovered that recording and front of house engineer Brian Krokus seemed to be experiencing nightly issues with the gear he had at his disposal. The Swedish show, for example, did not contain a bass guitar track, while the Rotterdam show failed to capture all of Underwood’s percussion rig to tape – but thankfully, her marimba and vibraphone did increase in level as the show proceeded. He also found both shows had extremely prominent bass drum to tape, and Zappa’s overall guitar tone was very edgy. “All in all,” Travers concluded, “the 4-track masters from that run are not perfect (they rarely are). But, the performances are, of course, legendary.” Travers then pointed out some prime Zappa DNA—namely, that the roots of “Zoot Allures” are implied by Zappa’s after Thompson’s drum solo in “Dupree’s Paradise,” further noting that “it seems those chords first appear in multiple instances on this tour!”

Regardless of the psychological stains and personal scars that Zappa ultimately overcame to get it all to the finish line, One Size Fits All stands tall as another testament to the man’s will to create something that truly found the right place to park itself. The 50th anniversary Super Deluxe Edition of One Size Fits All is a masterful celebration of half a century of one of Zappa’s unjustly overlooked best, an album that continues to infiltrate the cracks and crannies of all days and nights of our collective listening pleasures.

‘One Size Fits All’ will be available on 26 September 2025.

ONE SIZE FITS ALL 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITIONS TRACKLISTS
4CD + 1BLU-RAY AUDIO SUPER DELUXE EDITION

CD 1
One Size Fits All – The Original Album – 2024 Remaster + Album Session Bonus Tracks
The Original Album
1. Inca Roads
2. Can’t Afford No Shoes
3. Sofa No. 1
4. Po-Jama People
5. Florentine Pogen
6. Evelyn, A Modified Dog
7. San Ber’dino
8. Andy
9. Sofa No. 2
Album Session Bonus Tracks
10. Inca Roads – Rough Mix
11. Ralph Stuffs His Shoes – “Token” Outtake
12. Ralph Stuffs His Shoes – Basic Tracks, Take 5
13. Ralph Stuffs His Shoes – Instrumental Mix, Master Take
14. Can’t Afford No Shoes – Rough Mix
15. Sofa No. 1 – Basic Tracks, Take 6
16. Sofa No. 1 – Master Take, Early Mix

CD 2
Album Session Bonus Tracks
Continued
1. Po-Jama People – Old Mix
2. Florentine Pogen – Rough Mix
3. Florentine Pogen – Alternate Solo
4. Evelyn, A Modified Dog – Session Outtakes
5. Bitch, Bitch, Bitch – In Rehearsal
6. Bitch, Bitch, Bitch – Basic Tracks, Take 1
7. San Ber’dino – Rough Mix I
8. San Ber’dino – Rough Mix II
9. San Ber’dino – Rough Mix III
10. Something/Anything – Rough Mix
11. Andy – Rough Mix
12. Sofa No. 2 – Rough Mix

CD 3
Live In Rotterdam, Netherlands, September 28, 1974
1. Tush Tush Tush (A Token Of My Extreme)
2. Stink-Foot
3. Inca Roads
4. Approximate
5. Cosmik Debris
6. Florentine Pogen
7. Montana
8. RDNZL

CD 4
Live In Rotterdam, Netherlands, September 28, 1974 (Continued) + Bonus Live Tracks

Live In Rotterdam, Netherlands, September 28, 1974
Continued
1. Dupree’s Paradise Intro
2. Blind Mice Blues
3. Dupree’s Paradise – Part 1
4. Dupree’s Paradise – Part 2
5. Pygmy Twylyte
6. Room Service
7. Tush Tush Tush (End Vamp)
Bonus Live Tracks
8. Ralph Stuffs His Shoes – Live In Gothenburg, Sweden, 9/25/1974
9. Po-Jama People – Live In Gothenburg, Sweden, 9/25/1974

BLU-RAY AUDIO
One Size Fits All – The Album + Bonus Audio + Bonus Video
24-bit/48kHz Dolby Atmos / 24-bit/96kHz Dolby TrueHD 5.1 / 24-bit/192kHz PCM Stereo
One Size Fits All – The Album
1. Inca Roads
2. Can’t Afford No Shoes
3. Sofa No. 1
4. Po-Jama People
5. Florentine Pogen
6. Evelyn, A Modified Dog
7. San Ber’dino
8. Andy
9. Sofa No. 2
Bonus Audio
1. Sofa No. 1 – 1975 Quad Mix
2. San Ber’dino – 1993 6-Channel Mix
Bonus Video (Pillar-box format)
3. Inca Roads: Video – “Token” Outtake, Live In Los Angeles, CA 8/27/1974
4. Florentine Pogen: Video – “Token” Outtake, Live In Los Angeles, CA 8/27/1974

2LP BLACK GLITTER VINYL EDITION
LP1
Side 1
1. Inca Roads
2. Can’t Afford No Shoes
3. Sofa No. 1
4. Po-Jama People

Side 2
1. Florentine Pogen
2. Evelyn, A Modified Dog
3. San Ber’dino
4. Andy
5. Sofa No. 2

LP2
Side 3
1. Inca Roads – Rough Mix
2. Can’t Afford No Shoes – Rough Mix
3. Sofa No. 1 – Basic Tracks, Take 6
4. Bitch, Bitch, Bitch – Basic Tracks, Take 1

Side 4
1. Po-Jama People – Old Mix
2. Evelyn, A Modified Dog – Session Outtake
3. Something/Anything – Rough Mix
4. Sofa No. 2 – Rough Mix

1LP BLUE GALAXY VINYL EDITION
Side 1
1. Inca Roads
2. Can’t Afford No Shoes
3. Sofa No. 1
4. Po-Jama People

Side 2
1. Florentine Pogen
2. Evelyn, A Modified Dog
3. San Ber’dino
4. Andy
5. Sofa No. 2

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Tagged as: 70s, Ahmet Zappa, Frank Zappa, fusion, jazz, One Size Fits All, rock, USA