Absolutely Free

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Absolutely Free
Studio album by The Mothers of Invention
Released	May 26, 1967
Recorded	November 15–18, 1966 at Sunset-Highland Studios of TTG
Genre	Progressive rock, comedy rock, experimental rock
Length	38:29 43:37 (reissue)
Label	Verve
Producer	Frank Zappa, Tom Wilson
Frank Zappa chronology
Freak Out! (1966) Absolutely Free (1967) Lumpy Gravy (1967)
The Mothers of Invention chronology
Freak Out! (1966) Absolutely Free (1967) We're Only in It for the Money (1968)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	B−[2]
Piero Scaruffi[3]	(8/10)

Absolutely Free is the second album by The Mothers of Invention, led by Frank Zappa. Absolutely Free is, again, a display of complex musical composition with political and social satire. The band had been augmented since Freak Out! by the addition of saxophone player Bunk Gardner, keyboardist Don Preston, guitarist Jim Fielder and drummer Billy Mundi. Fielder quit the group before the album was released and his name was removed from the album credits.

This album's emphasis is on interconnected movements, as each side of the original vinyl LP comprises 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".^[4]

The CD reissue adds a single that The Mothers released at the time between where side one would have ended and side two would have begun. It features the songs "Why Dontcha Do Me Right?" (titled "Why Don't You Do Me Right" on the 45) and "Big Leg Emma", both described as "an attempt to make dumb music to appeal to dumb teenagers". These were a rare Verve single.

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.^[5]

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 reporter Hugh Sidey in 1966. The reporter correctly guessed that something was up when the fastidiously dressed President Lyndon B. Johnson committed the fashion faux pas of wearing brown shoes with a gray suit. LBJ flew to Vietnam for an unannounced public relations visit later that day.

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" around 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, one in a series of beers planned to be released on the 40th anniversary of each of Zappa's studio albums.

References

It is not unusual to find melodies or scores from other composers within the music of Frank Zappa. Absolutely Free is full of musical references to other compositions and artists, including 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 the fourth movement of Gustav Holst's The Planets, Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity.

"Soft-Sell Conclusion", after Zappa's intro, also contains a plausible burlesque of Bob Dylan, complete 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 songs written and composed by Frank Zappa. 

Personnel

• Frank Zappa – guitar, conductor, vocals
• Jimmy Carl Black – drums, vocals
• Ray Collins – vocals, tambourine
• Don Ellis – trumpet on "Brown Shoes Don't Make It"
• Roy Estrada – bass, vocals
• Bunk Gardner – woodwinds
• Billy Mundi – drums, percussion
• Don Preston – keyboards
• John Rotella – percussion
• Jim Fielder – guitar, piano
• Pamela Zarubica – vocals

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

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External links

• Lyrics and information
• Release details
• "The Meaning of Cordovans" reporter Hugh Sidey recalls the event when he saw Lyndon B. Johnson wearing the wrong shoes