Absolutely Free

Infobox Album | Name = Absolutely Free
Type = Album
Artist = The Mothers of Invention


Released = May 26, 1967
Recorded = Sunset-Highland Studios of TTG
November 15-18, 1966
Genre = Progressive rock, comedy rock, experimental rock, proto-punk
Length = 38:29
43:37 (reissue)
Label = Verve
Producer = Frank Zappa,
Tom Wilson
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:rnouak6k5m3z~T1 link]
*Robert Christgau (B-) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist2.php?id=4155 link]
Chronology = Frank Zappa
Last album = "Freak Out!"
(1966)
This album = "Absolutely Free"
(1967)
Next album = "We're Only in It for the Money"
(1968)

"Absolutely Free" (1967) is the second album by The Mothers of Invention, led by Frank Zappa. "Absolutely Free" is once again a display of complex musical composition and with political and social satire. The band had been augmented since "Freak Out!" by the additions of saxophone player Bunk Gardner, keyboardist Don Preston, guitarist Jim Fielder and drummer Billy Mundi. However, Fielder quit the group before the album was released. His name was removed from the album credits.

For this album, the emphasis is on interconnected movements, as each side on the original vinyl LP composes 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 being "an entire musical compressed down to 8 minutes." [ [http://wm05.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:gjfyxqurldde allmusic ] ]

The CD reissue adds a single The Mothers released at the time between where side one would have ended and side two would have begun featuring the songs "Why Dontcha Do Me Right?" and "Big Leg Emma," both described as an attempt to make dumb music to appeal to dumb teenagers.

In his book "Necessity Is...", former Mothers of Invention band member Ray Collins claimed that "Absolutely Free" is probably his favorite of the classic Mothers albums.

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 Magazine reporter Hugh Sidey in 1966. The reporter correctly guessed that something was up when the fastidiously dressed President Lyndon B. Johnson made the fashion faux pas of wearing brown shoes with a gray suit. LBJ flew to Vietnam for a surprise public relations visit later that day. This story appeared in the news again upon Sidey's death in 2005.

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.)

Track listing

All songs by Frank Zappa.

ide one

Suite No. 1: "Absolutely Free" (1st in a Series of Underground Oratorios)

1. "Plastic People" – 3:42
2. "The Duke of Prunes" – 2:13
3. "Amnesia Vivace" – 1:01
4. "The Duke Regains His Chops" – 1:52
5. "Call Any Vegetable" – 2:15
6. "Invocation & Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin" – 7:00
7. "Soft-Sell Conclusion" – 1:40

1967 Mothers of Invention single, bonus tracks for the 1995 Rykodisc CD reissue:

8. "Big Leg Emma" – 2:31
9. "Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?" – 2:37

ide two

Suite No. 2: "The M.O.I. American Pageant" (2nd in a Series of Underground Oratorios)

10. "America Drinks" – 1:52
11. "Status Back Baby" – 2:54
12. "Uncle Bernie's Farm" – 2:10
13. "Son of Suzy Creamcheese" – 1:34
14. "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" – 7:30
15. "America Drinks and Goes Home" – 2:46

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
*Herb Cohen
*Lisa Cohen
*Kurt Retar

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

Album - Billboard (North America)

References

External links

* [http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/Absolutely_Free.html Lyrics and information]
* [http://www.lukpac.org/~handmade/patio/vinylvscds/absolutely_free.html Release details]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924245-1,00.html "The Meaning of Cordovans" reporter Hugh Sidey recalls the event when he saw Lyndon B. Johnson wearing the wrong shoes]