Zappa Plays Zappa revisits storied records of the legend’s never-ending catalog.

As one of the most prolific composers, homebodies and workaholics known to the human race, let alone the rock world, it’s only natural that Frank Zappa’s gigantic catalog continues expanding, at an exponential rate, posthumously. According to Discogs.com, Zappa released 62 official albums in his lifetime and another 35 following his death in 1993.

But his greatest trick was convincing the world his expansive collection of layered non sequiturs, mathematical zaniness, artistic vulgarity and social buffoonery was just rock songs. That’s hundreds and hundreds – possibly more than 1,000 – of songs, misunderstood by some, loathed by others and avoided by many.

In Zappa’s world, “song” was a word as boundless as the ocean, for works that sometimes called for a full orchestra, reverberated xylophones, cartoon sound effects, lyrical absurdity (“Watch out where the huskies go, don’t you eat that yellow snow”), anatomical asides (“My balls feel like a pair of maracas”) and hippie narratives (“I will ask the Chamber of Commerce how to get to Haight Street/ And smoke an awful lot of dope”).

And that’s only a small sampling. Zappa’s body of work is so substantial, and runs so deep, his son Dweezil has managed to make a successful career riding the family legacy, delving into his father’s endless repertoire as Zappa Plays Zappa. His group even managed to snag a Grammy in 2009 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for “Peaches en Regalia” (which originally appeared on Zappa’s 1969 masterpiece Hot Rats).

HIS GREATEST TRICK WAS CONVINCING THE WORLD HIS COLLECTION WAS JUST SONGS.

Could you really blame Dweezil – a guitar dynamo himself – for jumping into the quirky, dildo-shaped treasure trove that is his father’s casket of work? With so many albums and songs to choose from, each saturated with unique anecdotes, Zappa Plays Zappa won’t run out of new material for a decade or two. This year, to celebrate its 40-year anniversary, Dweezil’s been showcasing Zappa and The Mothers’ 1974 Roxy & Elsewhere, which they’ll perform tonight at the Sunset Center in its entirety.

“[Roxy & Elsewhere] has a lot of variation from song to song but there’s some really good comedic moments that happen throughout the whole thing and it keeps developing its own folklore,” Dweezil recently told Glide Magazine.

Roxy & Elsewhere’s 10 tracks are no different – but also nothing like – any of Zappa’s other wondrous circus contraptions. Each tune embodies its own ever-changing reality, even though they represent real moments of time captured during a live performance. When experiencing Zappa’s music no one seems to ever know for sure whether his reality is based in truth, and nobody really cares because the music’s so damn good. The songs of Roxy & Elsewhere are listed below in the order they’ll be performed by ZPZ tonight in Carmel, with some tasty Zappa-isms.

“Penguin in Bondage”: The Roxy version, which was originally taped for television, includes a 2-minute intro from Zappa discussing “devices” used in activities “you do when you take your clothes off.”

“Pygmy Twylyte”: After 1974, this song was never performed live again and no one knows why.

“Dummy Up”: Zappa always dug a little theater and this number included a skit that he changed up on a nightly basis. The Roxy & Elsewhere performance features bassist Jeff Simmons convincing singer Napoleon Murphy Brock to smoke a high school diploma.

“Village of the Sun”: His hometown homage offers memories of a fella he used to watch dance every night in front of the jukebox of a local dive near Palmdale, Calif.: “Where the stumblers gonna go/ To watch the lights turn blue?”

“Echidna’s Arf (Of You)”/“Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing?”: This song sequence is considered by Zappa zealots as the most demanding rock tune ever composed – frequent time signature changes, complex melody lines and fast tempos by the entire group. The subsequent “Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing?,” meanwhile, overflows with perpetually shifting tempos and nonsensical themes.

“Cheepnis”: Zappa didn’t hide his adoration for oldschool B-horror movies. In this particular love letter, there’s a monologue about Roger Corman’s It Conquered the World. Zappa also mentions the “Frunobulax,” a very large poodle dog. On a sidenote, “poodles” pop up in songs spanning his entire career. He once said it was a way to establish “conceptual continuity” in his work.

“Son of Orange County”: The second of two FZ songs – the other is “Dickie’s Such an Asshole” – references Richard Nixon and Watergate.

“More Trouble Every Day”: According to legend, Frank penned the racial commentary – originally “The Watts Riot Song” – at an Echo Park, Los Angeles apartment owned by a meth cook he called “Wild Bill the Mannequin-Fucker.”

“Be Bop Tango (of the Old Jazzmen’s Church)”: Here’s another one of Zappa’s painfully difficult-to-play tunes. Fortunately, it’s one hell of a fun time if experienced live. But it strangely doesn’t appear on any studio albums. On Elsewhere, the unruly jazz journey descends upon a mostly-improvised, 16-minute journey.

ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA performs at 8pm, Thursday, Feb. 6, at Sunset Center, San Carlos at Ninth, Carmel. $39; $49; $59. 620-2048. DWEEZILLA: LEARN AND DESTROY ($75) master guitar class happens 3pm at Studio 105 at the Sunset Center.