Difference between revisions of "Freak Out!"

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* [[Trouble Every Day|Trouble Every Day]] (05:50)
 
* [[Trouble Every Day|Trouble Every Day]] (05:50)
 
* [[Help, I'm A Rock|Help, I'm A Rock (Suite In Three Movements)]] (08:40)
 
* [[Help, I'm A Rock|Help, I'm A Rock (Suite In Three Movements)]] (08:40)
 +
**"[[Okay To Tap Dance]]"
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**"[[In Memoriam Edgar Varese]]"
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**"[[It Can't Happen Here]]"
 
* [[The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet|The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet]] (12:19)
 
* [[The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet|The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet]] (12:19)
  

Revision as of 22:10, 12 August 2005

Release info

Released in July 1966.

Tracks

Writing/Production credits

All compositions composed and arranged by Frank Zappa and controlled by The Zappa Family Trust d/b/a Frank Zappa Music (BMI)

Sunset-Highland Studios of TTG - March, 1966

Produced by: Tom Wilson; Director of engineering: Val Valentin; The world's most patient engineers: Ami Hadani & Tom.

Cover design: Jack Anesh; Cover photo: Ray Leong.

Players

  • Frank Zappa: Musical director, guitar & vocals
  • Ray Collins: Lead vocalist, harmonica, tambourine, finger cymbals, bobby pin & tweezers
  • Jimmy Carl Black: Drums (also sings in some foreign language)
  • Roy Estrada: Bass & guitarron; boy soprano
  • Elliot Ingber: Alternate lead & rhythm guitar with clear white light

+ The "Mothers' Auxiliary"

Background

The group's original name had been The Soul Giants. The name Mothers was short for “motherfuckers,” which meant “excellent musicians.” The name was changed to The Mothers of Invention in order to accommodate some paranoid, prudish MGM executives.

Freak Out! was the first double rock album and the first conceptual rock LP. It (and the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds) heavily inspired The Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Carol Kaye, frequent Phil Spector and Beach Boys session bassist (and known as the most recorded bass player in history), played many of the bass parts on this album and its follow-up, Absolutely Free. She and Frank parted company peacefully when she admitted to him that some of his lyrics bothered her.

Suzy Creamcheese is played on the album by a friend of Frank’s named Jeannie Vassoir.

Most of the "accessible" songs on this album were suited to the R&B facet of the 1966 climate, since Frank intended to infiltrate the pop music scene, changing the industry’s machinery from the inside. The same tactics led to the suit-and-tie appearance he adopted while speaking out against censorship in the 1980s. The second disc represented his first step in revealing the barrier between “high” and “low” art as being utterly false.

Relevant Quotes

Freak Out! had the kind of minute detail (sleevenotes, in-jokes, parodies) that generated instant cult appeal. What about the following "Relevant Quotes"?

  • "The present-day composer refuses to die!". (Edgard Varèse, 1921)
  • "I’d like to clean you boys up a bit and mold you. I believe I could make you as big as the Turtles". (a noted L.A. disc jockey - the "noted L.A. disc jockey" was Lord Tim, as explained by FZ in "Frank & Moon", an article by Michael Goldberg in Creem, November 6, 1982)

The quote is also attributed to Reb Foster, an L.A. disk jockey and The Turtles' manager at the time.

  • "No commercial potential". (a very important man at Columbia Records) --> this was Vice President Clive Davis, who’d go on to sign Aerosmith and eventually start Arista Records
  • "I find your approach to music to be commensurate with the major motivational forces exemplified most manifestly in the 'tragicomic' aspects of the ‘theatre of the absurd’". (David Anderle)
  • "I told you so". (Billy James)

More Relevant Quotes

And there were even "More relevant quotes":

  • "Straight Ahead!" (Tom Wilson, March 1966)
  • "What the h--- you gonna do with all those drums at 1:00 in the morning?" (Herbie Cohen, March 1966)
  • "Tell us where those drums are... we want to repossess them... we’ll call MGM Records! We’re a multi-million dollar company and we can play havoc with you." (Laurentide Finance Co., March 1966)
  • "If your children ever find out how lame you really are, they’ll murder you in your sleep". (our closing message to tourists at the Hollywood Wiskey A-Go-Go, December 1965)

The "Freak List"

In the liner notes of *Freak Out! it says: "These People Have Contributed Materially in Many Ways to Make Our Music What it is. Please Do Not Hold it Against them." ... followed by a long list of people.

In an interview with Frank Kofsky (in Jazz & Pop, 1967) FZ stated: "That whole Freak Out! album is to be as accessible as possible to the people who wanted to take the time to make it accessible. That list of names in there, if anybody were to research it, it would probably help them a great deal." Knowing who these people are/were is one thing; knowing what they meant to FZ is something completely different...

All these people can be divided into several categories (and many had there name mis-spelled...):

This leaves another bunch of unknown, thus "un-identified" people (although there are some clues to some of them, perhaps): Jerry Allberg, Bobby Atler, The Bokelmans, Leonard Gorczyca, Carol, Cordy, Daddy-o Curtis Crump, Randy De Wees, George Di Carl, Donna #1, Donna #2, Shirley Eiler, Evy, Floyd, Carl Greenhouse, Jeff Harris, The Hypnotist, Lyn Johnson, Joyce, Joe Polly, Lance Reardon, Lillian Rudolph, Ruthie, Sandy Schwanekamp, Steffie, Jack Tillar, Lee Zugon.

In an alphabetical way:

A: Dave Aerni, Jerry Allberg, Leonard Allen, Phyllis Altenhaus, Bülent Arel, Bobby Atler B: Joan Baez, Diane Baker, William Ballard ("Mr. Ballard"), Dick Barber, John Beck, Molly Bee, Lorraine Belcher, Melvin Mouron Belli, Richard Berry, The Bokelmans, Pierre Boulez, Sylvia Brigham, Sidney W. Brossman ("Dr. Brossman"), Charles Brown, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Lenny Bruce, Paul Buff ("Paul C. Buff"), Teddy Bunn C: Captain Beefheart (Don van Vliet, Don Vliet), Carol, Don Cerveris, Mark Cheka, Herb Cohen, Albert Collins, Cordy, Robert Craft, David Crosby, Daddy-o Curtis Crump D: Salvador Dali, Rosemarie De Camp, Joe De Santis, Randy De Wees, Frank DeKova, George Di Carl, Skip Diamond, Willie Dixon, Fred C. Dobbs, Eric Dolphy, Don & Dewey, Donna No 1 ("Donna #1"), Donna No 2 ("Donna #2"), Bob Dylan E: Jim Economides, Shirley Eiler, Brian Epstein, Bill Evans, Evy F: Jules Feiffer, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Floyd, Cecil Forsyth, Johnny Franklin, Ernie Freeman, Phyllis Altenhaus ("Fyllis") G: Snuff Garrett, Gene & Eunice, Bruce Gordon, Leonard Gorczyca, Vernon Greene, Carl Greenhouse, Jim Guercio, Guitar Slim, Buddy Guy H: Alois Hába, Hunter Hancock, Slim Harpo, Jeff Harris, Chuck Higgins, Joe Houston, John Tasker Howard, Howlin' Wolf, Dick Hugg, Animal Huxley, The Hypnotist I: Lew Irwin, Charles Ives J: Bobby Jameson, Jeepers, Lyn Johnson, Joyce, James Joyce, Don Julian K: Mauricio Kagel, Jesse Kaye, Bob Keane ("Bob Keene"), Terry Kirkman, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Karl Kohn, Eberhard Kronhausen L: Art Laboe, Chatur Lal, Lauren, Lightnin' Slim, Little Walter, Loeb & Leopold, Preston Love, Lucille M: Elwood Jr. Madeo, Steve Mann, Mario, Little Arthur Matthews, Barry McGuire, Big Jay McNeely ("Cecil James McNeely"), Charles Middleton, Charles Mingus, Vic Mortenson, Nodu C. Mullick, Jerry Murnane N: Bob Narciso, Luigi Nono O: Leo Ornstein, Johnny Otis P: Pepper, Joe Perrino, Vincent Persichetti, Pete ---> Lorraine Belcher, Joe Polly, Elvis Presley Q: - R: J. Arthur Rank, Maurice Ravel, Lance Reardon, B. Mitchell Reed, Robert Lee Reiner, Silvestre Revueltas, Nadine Reyes, Herman Rudin, Lillian Rudolph, Ruthie S: Sabicas, Sabu, Sacco & Vanzetti, Arnold Schönberg, Sandy Schwanekamp, Roger Huntington Sessions, Ravi Shankar, Robert Sheckley, Kaye Sherman, Jim Sherwood --> (Euclid James) Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood, Frankie Lee Simms, Cordwainer Smith, Phil Spector, Steffie, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Bram Stoker, Igor Stravinsky, Bill Stulla, Theodore Sturgeon, Alice Stuart ("Alice Stewart"), Tim Sullivan T: Yves Tanguy, Phil Tanzini, Cecil Taylor, Willie Mae Thornton, Jack Tillar, Tiny Tim, Ernest Tosi, Sonny Tufts U: Uncle Ed V: Elmer Valentine, Edgard Varèse, Nick Venet, Henry Vestine, Don Vliet ---> (Don van Vliet, Captain Beefheart) W Muddy Waters, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, John Wayne, Anton Friedrich Ernst von Webern, Sonny Boy Williamson, Tom Wilson, Terry Wimberley, Wolfman Jack, Donald Woods X: - Y: - Z: Pamela Zarubica, Hal Zeiger, Avedis Zildjian, Lee Zugon

See also: a Wiki style list.

And then some

The Freak Out! Hot Spots...

Conceptual Continuity

Here may be some CC clues, with some explanation.

This could be a section on each album-page.

Versions

The CD version is a slight remix with relatively minor alterations throughout, but with quite a different sound nonetheless. The 1995 Ryko seems to match earlier CDs, but has better cover/booklet artwork and tracking.

We Need: A description of the Old Masters LP.

ESSENTIAL VERSIONS FOR COMPLETISTS: Mono and stereo vinyl (the mono is rare, but people have started making CD-Rs of it) plus any CD version (the 1995 CD is digitally identical to the old Ryko CD). Crazy ultra-completists may want to add a single-LP version (completist's guide).

Issues

  • Original vinyl (blue Verve V-65005-2 and/or V-65005-2X, July 1966 - Canadian version reported)
  • Mono vinyl (blue Verve V-5005, July 1967 - Canadian version reported with hand-written matrix numbers)
  • British single LP (blue Verve SVLP 9154 in stereo, VLP 9154 in mono, March 1967)
  • German single LP (blue Verve 710003 - two slightly different labels and matrix numbers reported)
  • Mexican single LP (sighted in Utrecht, April 1988)
  • French vinyl (different back cover: black & white group photo)
  • Japanese vinyl (Verve SMV-9045/46, unique cover)
  • New Zealand vinyl (Blue Verve V 5005 in Mono, V6 5005 in Stereo, 1967)
  • Record Club of America Cassette (RCOA 33909-C / Verve 6-5005-2-C)
  • 8-track (Verve 85005)
  • White MGM label vinyl re-issue
  • British double vinyl re-issue (Verve/Polydor Select 2683 004 (and/or 2352024), stero only, gatefold cover, December 1971)
  • "Facsimile bootleg" vinyl
  • British 1985 vinyl re-issue (Zappa 1, 1985)
  • The Old Masters vinyl (Barking Pumpkin BPR 7777-1, April 1985)
  • 1988 cassette re-issue (Barking Pumpkin BPR-?)
  • 1991 (?) cassette re-issue (Zappa Records TZAPPA1, 1991?)
  • Original CD (Ryko RCD40062 in the US (imported into Australia by Festival Records and re-stickered Ryko D40723), Zappa Records CDZAP1 in the UK, October 1987; VACK 5021 in Japan; JPCD 9810432 in Russia (picture CD))
  • IRS 970.701 CD?
  • 1995 CD (Ryko RCD 10501, May 2 1995; VACK 5101 in Japan, renumbered 5236 in 1998; also in a BMG Record Club version (1086370))
  • 1995 cassette (Ryko RAC 10501, May 2 1995; also in a BMG Record Club version (1086370))
  • Japanese paper-sleeve CD (Ryko/VACK 1203, September 21 2001 - fold-out cover, sticker & freak map included)

Original Vinyl

Single Vinyl Versions

Record Club of America Cassette

White MGM Label Vinyl Re-issue

British Double Vinyl Re-Issue

The Old Masters Vinyl

"Facsimile Bootleg" Vinyl

British 1985 Vinyl Re-Issue

Original CD

1995 CD

1995 CD versus the Old CD

1995 Cassette

HUNGRY FREAKS Bootleg Single-LP Picture Disc

Misprinted THE RASPBERRIES' GREATEST HITS CD

Capitol / Barking Pumpkin 1990 (?) Test Pressing

Unanswered Questions

  • Where are these "clicks" on the original CD?
  • Any more cassette details?
  • Any 8-track details?
  • Anything particular about the Old Masters version?
  • Any regional differences?
  • What was the 1990 test pressing?

Additional Informants

Neil in the UK, Remco Takken, Brian J. Bernstein, Patrick Moore, Blackbirdr/PG, Robert Cloos, Mikael Agardsson, Victor Dubiler, Gonçalo, Arno 2000, Harry de Swart, Spencer of G&S Music

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