Track Listing

1. Hungry Freaks Daddy
2. I Ain't Got No Heart
3. Who Are The Brain Police
4. Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder
5. Motherly Love
6. How Could I Be Such A Fool
7. Wowie Zowie
8. You Didn't Try To Call Me
9. Any Way The Wind Blows
10. I'm Not Satisfied
11. You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here
12. Trouble Everyday
13. Help I'm A Rock
14. It Can't Happen Here
15. Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23602 in Music
• Released on: 1995-05-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

CD Description
In 1966, when even the Doors and the Grateful Dead were still at a garage band level, Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention took great pride in being the ambassadors of freakdom. Thehippie/flower power culture was just getting under way, butthe Mothers' debut album found them already taking great delight in turning Aquarian imagery inside out. No starry-eyedrainbow people, the Mothers were the living incarnation of underground comics such as R. Crumb's Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers: nasty, ugly, and downright dirty.
Much of the musical template on this early effort is far more conventionalthan Zappa's later work. The framework is a blend of the avant garde, pop/rock, and, improbably, doo-wop, but it's overlaid with sardonic, subversive lyrics, bizarre instrumental touches, and an unrelentingly ironic sensibility. Along the way, the Mothers insert snatches of free jazz, bizarre soundcollage, and parodic spoken-word, all with the aim of setting the nascent counterculture gloriously askew.

Customer Reviews

Unsurpassable debut
This is an album that stands for itself. I cannot imagine the face of music without it, true, but then music still is a very ugly place to go to without Frank Zappa.

The snarling distorted guitars; the parody-close-to-pastiche of Any Way the Wind Blows and You Didn't Try to Call Me; the social commentary of Trouble Every Day; the dada of Help I'm a Rock; the liner notes; the lyrics (oh! the lyrics!).

Amazing, if anything, because it prefigures everything Zappa went on to do, that is to say, stayed true to. It is one of those immense ironies of art that this is his debut record (a debut on the scale of Iris Murdoch's 'Under the Net').

Zappa's Ground-Breaking Debut
The majority of artists test the water with their first few releases, then (if they've got the talent) do something ground-breaking. For his debut, Frank didn't just break ground; he picked up a jackhammer and drilled away the foundation of popular music as we then knew it, replacing it with a hearty dose of ugliness, humour and controversy, packed into the first ever rock double-vinyl release (initially released in the UK as a single album without tracks 12-15, which were far too dangerous!). Forty years on (yes, nearly half a century!), this remains an essential rock album. The acid test: you could still put this on the CD player at the end of a party when your best friends are the only ones remaining, and elicit the response "Mate - what the hell IS this stuff?". The show kicks off with the Stones' Satisfaction-influenced "Hungry Freaks, Daddy", wherein Frank gets straight to work with some cutting lyrics about the state of the nation, continues with the savage honesty of "I Ain't Got No Heart" and the scary "Who are the Brain Police?", then a bit of his beloved doo-wop, some irony-laden wall-of-sound love ballads decorated with vibes, soaring brass and percussion arrangements, the Dylanesque "Trouble Every Day", then climaxing with a twenty minute plateful of general weirdness in the closing three tracks. Curiously, the album's lead vocals are credited to Ray Collins, but my experience tells me without doubt that on many of these songs, Frank is the dominant singer, with Collins a co-vocalist taking the occasional lead. In fact, out of all 70+ albums, Freak Out contains some of Frank's best vocal work and is probably the only place you will find him singing a genuine love song. Listen to "How Could I be such a Fool" - you may laugh but this is perfect Scott Walker/Marc Almond territory! Some people say Frank never bettered this work. That's a valid point of view I think, but the thing to bear in mind is that he explored many musical worlds, which all have their place with different people. And, most of the time, that jackhammer was never far away.

Masterpiece!
The sound quality would make Phil Spector proud. This is the one of the two albums that influenced the overrated 'Sergeant Pepper'. The second being 'Pet Sounds'. The songs are wonderful and the sound that you hear are luxurious. This is straight ahead rock and roll with balls. 'I'm Not Satisfied' is a far better song written about the homeless than 'Another Day In Paradise'.