Frank Zappa studio album, Burnt Weeny Sandwich. art by US designer Cal Schenkel who did just about all Zappa's sleeve. This is an original US vinyl pressing, featuring the famous montage cover, released after The Mothers of Invention had split, in 1970.
Cal Schenkel was the artist responsible. His early career was intertwined with that of Zappa, and he used rooms for a studio at Zappas rented log cabin in Los Angeles which he sub-let to Schenkel. They were thus able to work closely with each another on each project, Schenkel doing close to twenty sleeves if we include his work on CD sets in later years. As Kjell Knudde wrote on Comiclopedia, he was the first artist to become so closely associated with one particular rock act and gave Zappa a visual identity long before other bands realised the importance of this. It has also been argued that the covers helped give Zappa a visual profile beyond his early commercial status. As well as the sleeve, Schenkel did adverts for the albums, I well remember the strange full page offerings from issues of The Fantastic Four (not difficult, I read all my original issues last year during a period of recuperation!). Burnt Weeny Sandwich (the title comes from one of Zappa's favourite snacks - "It's one of the great things in life. You take a Hebrew National, put it on a fork, burn it on the stove, wrap two pieces of bread around it, squirt some mustard on it, eat it and you're back to work") - was actually a compilation of remaining studio material released in early 1970 after The Mothers of Invention has been disbanded. Fittingly Schenkels cover was also a recycled affair, having been put together in 1967 for a (posthumous - he died in 1964) record by jazz musician Eric Dolphy while Zappa and Schenkel were still based in New York. It is typically unique Schenkel piece, a collage of found objects, treated and then photographed. An assemblage in art dealer speak, about 18" by 14", on particle board. He was asked about the origins of the cover several times over the years, the gist of which seems to be that producer Alan Douglas had some vintage recordings by Muddy Waters, Richie Havens and others and planned to issue them on a new label called Moop.
Size: 3659px × 3708px
Photo credit: © Simon Robinson / Easy On The Eye / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1970, album, burnt, cal, caraeff, design, ed, frank, photographs, sandwich, schenkel, sleeve, vinyl, weeny, zappa
