Zappa bootlegs, later released officially.

I haven't heard any of them yet (although I have Unmitigated Audacity on order), so would appreciate recommendations.

cant help there mate

I have heard some of them cuz at one point - maybe about 10 years ago - they were easily available for £5 ... I used to play them in the shop ... but I can't remember much about them. I liked the way Zappa used the original bootleg sleeves... in fact i remember the sleeves better than the music.

Thank you for your honesty. :)

I've never heard any of them but am, from what I've read, pretty sure none of them surpass the official live releases.

I've heard An As Am and I think Freaks. They weren't that good.
Frank said, when they were officially released, something like, "If you're going to buy crap, it might as well be cheap crap."
I think the artist for one of the sleeves tried to sue him over copyright. I don't know how that came out.

I've got Freaks. It's pretty poor. File next to Liverpool 78.

Since Zappa didn't exactly recommend these himself, I haven't bothered getting them.

I think I have that one - pretty poor sound quality and not cheap at all on cd as far as I remember. Surely this stuff must be available to download free somewhere.

Here One of them, anyway. Pretty good, as well: Piquantique [Solliden, Skansen, Stockholm, Sweden, August 21, 1973]

(Scroll down to the bottom of the page, or maybe the top of page 2.)