Freak Out!

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Release info

Freak Out!

Released in July 1966.

Tracks

  1. Hungry Freaks, Daddy (03:29)
  2. I Ain't Got No Heart (02:35)
  3. Who Are The Brain Police? (03:33)
  4. Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder (03:41)
  5. Motherly Love (02:46)
  6. How Could I Be Such A Fool (02:13)
  7. Wowie Zowie (02:53)
  8. You Didn't Try To Call Me (03:19)
  9. Any Way The Wind Blows (02:56)
  10. I'm Not Satisfied (02:39)
  11. You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here (03:38)
  12. Trouble Every Day (05:50)
  13. Help, I'm A Rock (Suite In Three Movements) (08:40)
    1. "Okay To Tap Dance"
    2. "In Memoriam Edgar Varese"
    3. "It Can't Happen Here"
  14. The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet (12:19)

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): 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, 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: Jerry Ullberg (misspelled "Allberg"), 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

ZFT # Mix # discs Format Catalog # Release EAN.UCC-13 (barcode) Artwork Comment
1 Stereo vinyl 2 LP MGM Verve
V6-5005-2 		July 1966     US edition
2 LP MGM Verve/Polydor
2352 024 		1974?     UK edition. Polydor reissued early albums having acquired the MGM/Verve label in 1972.
Set No. 2683-004
Mono vinyl 2 LP MGM Verve
V-5005-2 		1967?      
Mono vinyl shortened 1 LP MGM Verve
VLP 9154 		1966?     UK edition. Matrix # V 5005 A1 / V 5005 B1
Unknown 2 LP Barking Pumpkin
BPR 7777-1 		April 19 1985     Included in The Old Masters, Box I set.
Remix 1 CD Rykodisc
RCD 40062 		1987     US edition
1 CD VideoArts
VACK 5021 		October 26 1994 4988112405240   Japanese edition
1 CS Rykodisc
RAC 10501 		May 2 1995 0014431050145   US edition
1 CD Rykodisc
RCD 10501 		May 2 1995 0014431050121   US edition
1 CD VideoArts
VACK 5101 		September 09 1995 4988112406957   Japanese edition
1 CD VideoArts
VACK 5236 		May 30 1996 4988112408364   Japanese edition
1 CD VideoArts
VACK 1203 		September 21 2001 4988112403116   Japanese edition, mini-album papersleeve
1 CD Rykodisc
RCD 40582/1 		March 21 2002 None   US edition, included in the Threesome No. 1 box set. Matrix # IFPI L502 IFPI 8708 DISCTRONICS RCD 10501 01
Unknown 1 CD Rykodisc
RCD 10591 		August 16 2005 0014431059124   Mini-album papersleeve
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