1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 66. The Mothers of Invention – Freak Out! (1966)

 

Along comes Frank Zappa (and The Mothers) to do what he does, and compared to some later Zappa albums I’ve heard, pretty much all of his typical elements are already in place. There’s some classic rock and roll tracks, but done in a tongue-in-cheek goofy style, often with silly or exaggerated voices - Wowie Zowie seems like a pastiche of the Four Seasons’ Sherry, while Go Cry On Someone Else’s Shoulder is a do-wop song made silly. 

There’s also savage satire in Hungry Freaks, Daddy about the American school system, and the driving bluesy Trouble Every Day about race riots. The final tracks on the album, Help, I’m a Rock and The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet, are wandering jazz odysseys, if AM-radio tuning, wave generators, swanee whistle, and jungle noises were the instruments in a jazz band.  

I wondered where the kind of absurdist humour of Zappa fell in relation to the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and the Bonzo’s first album was also released in 1966, so the two are relatively contemporary. The Bonzo’s, however, tend towards lighter nonsense and covers of old 1920s songs, while Zappa always carries a sense of  ... I want to say disappointment rather than anger, but certainly he more directly skewers pomposity. The silliness and weird invention can sometimes get in the way of the music, which when it’s good, is very polished. Here, Zappa’s musicians are not quite the level that they are on later albums (e.g. Joe’s Garage), but getting there. 

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