Welcome all to the Frank Zappa discography discussion! Poodles are welcome and don't forget your Zircon Encrusted Tweezers.
I expect most people participating will be familiar with most of Zappa's work, but hopefully some newbies decide to join in too. For that reason, I'll be listing the genres explored on each album so potential lurkers might find something they're interested in.
With that bit of house keeping out of the way, here is our first album:
Freak Out! (1966)
Doo Wop, Rhythm and Blues, Experimental Rock
Frank Zappa - Guitar/Vocals
Jimmy Carl Black - Drums
Ray Collins - Vocals
Roy Estrada - Bass
Elliot Ingber - Alternate guitar
On a personal level, Freaking Out is a process whereby an individual casts off outmoded and restricting standards of thinking, dress, and social etiquette in order to express CREATIVELY his relationship to his immediate environment and the social structure as a whole. Less perceptive individuals have referred to us who have chosen this way of thinking and FEELING as “Freaks,” hence the term: Freaking Out.
On a collective level, when any number of “Freaks” gather and express themselves creatively through music or dance, for example, it is generally referred to as a FREAK OUT. The participants, already emancipated from our national social slavery, dressed in their most inspired apparel, realize as a group whatever potential they possess for free expression.
We would like to encourage everyone who HEARS this music to join us…become a member of The United Mutations…FREAK OUT!
- Freak Out liner notes
The first official Frank Zappa album was released under the band name The Mothers of Invention. The original group was meant to be called The Mothers, short for Motherfuckers, but the label wouldn't allow this and they became The Mothers of Invention.
Frank Zappa was born in Baltimore, Maryland and moved at the age of 14 to Lancaster, California. There he began discovering rhythm and blues music as well as 20th Century Classical. His musical idol was the avant-garde composer Edgard Varese. Every single Frank Zappa album contains the following Varese quote: "The present day composer refuses to die!" Zappa was also influenced by Stravinsky, Webern, Johnny Guitar Watson, and Lightnin' Slim. This eclectic taste would help sculpt the Zappa sound and is apparent on the very first album.
While Freak Out is the first album, Zappa was a busy musician for quite some time before that. He began his career playing bicycle on the Steve Allen show and went on to write and produce songs for local acts with future Mother Ray Collins. In 1964 he took over a studio he dubbed Studio Z, where he recorded, jammed with other bands, and made movies with his high school friend Don Van Vliet (who would go on to become the legendary Captain Beefheart). Some of this pre-Freak Out work is available through various compilations and bootlegs.
Unfortunately, he was eventually the target of a setup staged by the local police. He was offered $100 to record a sexually suggestive tape by an undercover cop and was thrown in jail for "conspiracy to commit pornography". Much of his recordings were confiscated and destroyed by the police because of this and his studio was torn down shortly after.
Later on he was invited to join his old friend Ray Collins' band and after a change of personnel and Zappa taking over as leader, The Mothers were born.
Freak Out! is a strange blend of Doo Wop, rhythm and blues, and Varese inspired experimental music. A highly satirical album, it pokes fun at the tropes of the Doo Wop genre and the social norms of the time. It is also one of the first Rock double albums.
The bulk of the first three sides is made up of catchy rock tunes with a heavy dose of doo wop, such as Hungry Freaks, Daddy, Any Way the Wind Blows, and Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder. There's also the blues rap Trouble Every Day and the bizarre Who Are the Brain Police? It's an album with a lot of variety that keeps the listener guessing. Most of the songs are pretty basic for Zappa standards, not much in the way of complex harmony and odd time signatures. We also don't get a lot of Zappa's guitar playing, although there's a ripping solo on Hungry Freaks, Daddy. The one thing on this album that would go on to be a mainstay in Zappa's music is the biting satire and social commentaries.
And then comes side 4. Here the weirdness takes over, no more satirical love songs or harmless blues to be found. Help I'm a Rock kicks things off with the repeating beat and background chattering going into an explosion of noise before finally launching into the first verse, which is more of a chant than a melody. From there it just gets increasingly weird, with the demented doo wop of It Can't Happen Here mixed with tape loops and sound effects.
The centerpiece here is The Return Of the Son of Monster Magnet, which is easily the longest song on the album clocking in at 12 minutes. It is a bizarre collage of tape loops, musique concrete, screams, and various noises. It is also actually unfinished. In fact the full title is The Return Of the Son of Monster Magnet (Unfinished Ballet in Two Tableaux). Zappa claimed that the version on the album is merely a rhythm track and due to lack of time and budget, it was never completed. Can you imagine what he was planning on adding if this was just a "rhythm track"? Unfortunately, it was never revisited and we will never know.
To record this song, Zappa persuaded the label (Verve) to rent out thousands of dollars worth of orchestral equipment and invited the "freaks" of LA to the studio to record.
I really enjoy Freak Out! It has a lot of fun catchy songs that take enough twists and turns to stay interesting. Even though it mainly sticks to one style, it never feels monotonous or as if it's the same song over and over again. I particularly like Hungry Freaks, Any Way the Wind Blows, Help I'm a Rock, Who Are the Brain Police, Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder, and You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here. While The Mothers would go on to do a lot more interesting stuff, this is still a special album.
Side 4 can be a bit overbearing and as a result I have to be in the right mood to enjoy it. Luckily I'm in the right mood for it as I write this and I'm really digging it. It's interesting hearing Zappa experiment. With the power of computers now it's very easy to replicate the sounds he's making here, but back in the 60's that took a certain level of experimentation and trial/error. So I have to give him credit for that. Later on he'd refine the noise experiments by integrating it better with other types of music, in fact it only took him a couple years for him to really figure that out. It's an interesting slab of audio.
I expect most people participating will be familiar with most of Zappa's work, but hopefully some newbies decide to join in too. For that reason, I'll be listing the genres explored on each album so potential lurkers might find something they're interested in.
With that bit of house keeping out of the way, here is our first album:
Freak Out! (1966)
Doo Wop, Rhythm and Blues, Experimental Rock
Frank Zappa - Guitar/Vocals
Jimmy Carl Black - Drums
Ray Collins - Vocals
Roy Estrada - Bass
Elliot Ingber - Alternate guitar
On a personal level, Freaking Out is a process whereby an individual casts off outmoded and restricting standards of thinking, dress, and social etiquette in order to express CREATIVELY his relationship to his immediate environment and the social structure as a whole. Less perceptive individuals have referred to us who have chosen this way of thinking and FEELING as “Freaks,” hence the term: Freaking Out.
On a collective level, when any number of “Freaks” gather and express themselves creatively through music or dance, for example, it is generally referred to as a FREAK OUT. The participants, already emancipated from our national social slavery, dressed in their most inspired apparel, realize as a group whatever potential they possess for free expression.
We would like to encourage everyone who HEARS this music to join us…become a member of The United Mutations…FREAK OUT!
- Freak Out liner notes
The first official Frank Zappa album was released under the band name The Mothers of Invention. The original group was meant to be called The Mothers, short for Motherfuckers, but the label wouldn't allow this and they became The Mothers of Invention.
Frank Zappa was born in Baltimore, Maryland and moved at the age of 14 to Lancaster, California. There he began discovering rhythm and blues music as well as 20th Century Classical. His musical idol was the avant-garde composer Edgard Varese. Every single Frank Zappa album contains the following Varese quote: "The present day composer refuses to die!" Zappa was also influenced by Stravinsky, Webern, Johnny Guitar Watson, and Lightnin' Slim. This eclectic taste would help sculpt the Zappa sound and is apparent on the very first album.
While Freak Out is the first album, Zappa was a busy musician for quite some time before that. He began his career playing bicycle on the Steve Allen show and went on to write and produce songs for local acts with future Mother Ray Collins. In 1964 he took over a studio he dubbed Studio Z, where he recorded, jammed with other bands, and made movies with his high school friend Don Van Vliet (who would go on to become the legendary Captain Beefheart). Some of this pre-Freak Out work is available through various compilations and bootlegs.
Unfortunately, he was eventually the target of a setup staged by the local police. He was offered $100 to record a sexually suggestive tape by an undercover cop and was thrown in jail for "conspiracy to commit pornography". Much of his recordings were confiscated and destroyed by the police because of this and his studio was torn down shortly after.
Later on he was invited to join his old friend Ray Collins' band and after a change of personnel and Zappa taking over as leader, The Mothers were born.
Freak Out! is a strange blend of Doo Wop, rhythm and blues, and Varese inspired experimental music. A highly satirical album, it pokes fun at the tropes of the Doo Wop genre and the social norms of the time. It is also one of the first Rock double albums.
The bulk of the first three sides is made up of catchy rock tunes with a heavy dose of doo wop, such as Hungry Freaks, Daddy, Any Way the Wind Blows, and Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder. There's also the blues rap Trouble Every Day and the bizarre Who Are the Brain Police? It's an album with a lot of variety that keeps the listener guessing. Most of the songs are pretty basic for Zappa standards, not much in the way of complex harmony and odd time signatures. We also don't get a lot of Zappa's guitar playing, although there's a ripping solo on Hungry Freaks, Daddy. The one thing on this album that would go on to be a mainstay in Zappa's music is the biting satire and social commentaries.
And then comes side 4. Here the weirdness takes over, no more satirical love songs or harmless blues to be found. Help I'm a Rock kicks things off with the repeating beat and background chattering going into an explosion of noise before finally launching into the first verse, which is more of a chant than a melody. From there it just gets increasingly weird, with the demented doo wop of It Can't Happen Here mixed with tape loops and sound effects.
The centerpiece here is The Return Of the Son of Monster Magnet, which is easily the longest song on the album clocking in at 12 minutes. It is a bizarre collage of tape loops, musique concrete, screams, and various noises. It is also actually unfinished. In fact the full title is The Return Of the Son of Monster Magnet (Unfinished Ballet in Two Tableaux). Zappa claimed that the version on the album is merely a rhythm track and due to lack of time and budget, it was never completed. Can you imagine what he was planning on adding if this was just a "rhythm track"? Unfortunately, it was never revisited and we will never know.
To record this song, Zappa persuaded the label (Verve) to rent out thousands of dollars worth of orchestral equipment and invited the "freaks" of LA to the studio to record.
I really enjoy Freak Out! It has a lot of fun catchy songs that take enough twists and turns to stay interesting. Even though it mainly sticks to one style, it never feels monotonous or as if it's the same song over and over again. I particularly like Hungry Freaks, Any Way the Wind Blows, Help I'm a Rock, Who Are the Brain Police, Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder, and You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here. While The Mothers would go on to do a lot more interesting stuff, this is still a special album.
Side 4 can be a bit overbearing and as a result I have to be in the right mood to enjoy it. Luckily I'm in the right mood for it as I write this and I'm really digging it. It's interesting hearing Zappa experiment. With the power of computers now it's very easy to replicate the sounds he's making here, but back in the 60's that took a certain level of experimentation and trial/error. So I have to give him credit for that. Later on he'd refine the noise experiments by integrating it better with other types of music, in fact it only took him a couple years for him to really figure that out. It's an interesting slab of audio.