Absolutely Free (1967) is the second album by The Mothers of Invention, led by Frank Zappa. Absolutely Free is once again a display of complex musical composition and with political and social satire. The band had been augmented since Freak Out! by the additions of saxophone player Bunk Gardner, keyboardist Don Preston, guitarist Jim Fielder and drummer Billy Mundi. However, Fielder quit the group before the album was released. His name was removed from the album credits.
For this album, the emphasis is on interconnected movements, as each side on the original vinyl LP composes a mini-suite. It also features one of the most famous songs of Zappa's early career, "Brown Shoes Don't Make It," a track which has been described as a "condensed two-hour musical".[1]
The CD reissue adds a single The Mothers released at the time between where side one would have ended and side two would have begun featuring the songs "Why Dontcha Do Me Right?" and "Big Leg Emma," both described as: "an attempt to make dumb music to appeal to dumb teenagers."
In the book Necessity Is..., former Mothers of Invention band member Ray Collins claimed that Absolutely Free is probably his favorite of the classic Mothers albums.[2]
The UK -67 release (Verve VLP/SVLP 9174) came in a laminated flip-back cover, with a Mike Raven poem at the reverse that was not apparent on any other issue.
The title of "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" was inspired by an event covered by Time Magazine reporter Hugh Sidey in 1966. The reporter correctly guessed that something was up when the fastidiously dressed President Lyndon B. Johnson made the fashion faux pas of wearing brown shoes with a gray suit. LBJ flew to Vietnam for a surprise public relations visit later that day. This story appeared in the news again upon Sidey's death in 2005.
In the songs "America Drinks and Goes Home" and "America Drinks" Zappa combines a silly tune with nightclub sound effects to parody his experiences playing with drunken bar bands during the early 1960s. Other songs recorded soon after that used the same kinds of ideas include "On With The Show" by The Rolling Stones (released in 1967), "My Friend" by Jimi Hendrix (recorded in 1968, released in 1971) and "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" by The Beatles (recorded in 1967 and 1969, released in 1970.)
"Plastic People" begins with a mock introduction of the President of the United States, who (along with his wife) can only recite the opening notes to "Louie, Louie". "Louie, Louie" is often interpolated in Zappa's compositions (other examples appear in the Uncle Meat and Yellow Shark albums, among others), and when Zappa first began performing "Plastic People" ca. 1965, the words were set to the tune of "Louie, Louie."
In 2007, the Lagunitas Brewing Company put out an India Pale Ale named Kill Ugly Radio, featuring the inside art from the album on the label. This one in a series of beers planned to be released on the 40th anniversary of each of Zappa's studio albums.
Other compositions
It is not unusual to find melodies or scores from other composers within the music of Frank Zappa. This album however, is full of musical references to other compositions and artists. Among these compositions is the work of Igor Stravinsky.
For example, "Amnesia Vivace" quotes the nocturne from Stravinsky's "The Firebird" while Zappa's "la la la"s underneath are a fair rendition of the opening bassoon melody to "The Rite of Spring". The song begins with a little harpsichord solo, which is also a direct reference to the second part of "The Rite of Spring", Ritual Action of the Ancestors. The opening sequence of "Petrouchka" is quoted in the middle section of "Status Back Baby". "Soft-Sell Conclusion" ends with the intro of Stravinsky's march from "A Soldier's Tale".
The "Invocation & Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin", in the beginning of the saxophone solo (first cadence) quotes the trio directly from Gustav Holst's "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" movement from the "The Planets" suite.
"Soft-Sell Conclusion", after Zappa's intro, also contains a plausible burlesque of Bob Dylan replete with harmonica noodlings[citation needed]. This would be repeated in the song "Flakes" on Sheik Yerbouti.)
The melody to "The Duke of Prunes" is the love theme from Zappa's own film score to Run Home Slow.
Track listing
All tracks written by Frank Zappa.
Side one
Suite No. 1: "Absolutely Free" (1st in a Series of Underground Oratorios)
- "Plastic People" – 3:42
- "The Duke of Prunes" – 2:13
- "Amnesia Vivace" – 1:01
- "The Duke Regains His Chops" – 1:52
- "Call Any Vegetable" – 2:15
- "Invocation & Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin" – 7:00
- "Soft-Sell Conclusion" – 1:40
1967 Mothers of Invention single, bonus tracks for the 1995 Rykodisc CD reissue:
- "Big Leg Emma" – 2:31
- "Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?" – 2:37
Side two
Suite No. 2: "The M.O.I. American Pageant" (2nd in a Series of Underground Oratorios)
- "America Drinks" – 1:52
- "Status Back Baby" – 2:54
- "Uncle Bernie's Farm" – 2:10
- "Son of Suzy Creamcheese" – 1:34
- "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" – 7:30
- "America Drinks and Goes Home" – 2:46
Personnel
Production
- Producers: Frank Zappa, Tom Wilson
- Director of engineering: Val Valentin
- Engineer: Ami Hadani
- Remixing: David Greene
- Arranger: Frank Zappa
- Cover design: Ferenc Dobronyi, Cal Schenkel
- Layout design: Frank Zappa
- Cover photo: Alice Ochs
- Cover art: Frank Zappa
- Photography: Jerry Deiter
- Artwork: Alice Ochs
- Collage: Frank Zappa
- Liner Notes: Frank Zappa
Charts
References
External links
