Freak Out! [REVIEW]

Music in the 1960s can be split pretty cleanly down the middle, between more ordinary music in the early 60s and more confusing and strange music in the late 60s. It's clear that the juxtaposition between these two halves is large, as artists began to make music to experiment with what they could do, rather than only to make money.

What's odd about this change is that it's hard to pinpoint exactly where it came from. Music historians have toiled for years trying to pinpoint patient zero of the Psychedelic Rock movement, with little success. It almost seems as though it simply came into being, with no one album or group to really set it off (although the release of Sgt. Pepper helped to really get the ball rolling). All that is really known is that 1966 is the year that it began to get recognizably odd. Bands like Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and especially The 13th Floor Elevators (who were one of the first bands to explicitly use "psychedelic" in the title of one of their albums) created a hard and yet whimsical blend of rock that was quite unlike what had come before it. And many of the already established bands followed suit, spending more time trying out different studio tricks to add into their music. Several of the most acclaimed albums of all time, such as Revolver and Pet Sounds, debuted that year after all. And of course, 1966 was the year that Frank Zappa was first shown to the musical world.

The seeds for Zappa's grand entrance to the musical antechamber had been sown several years previously. Fancying himself as a composer, he had already been working on a copious amount of studio work, both rock and more classical based, including a few movie soundtracks. After losing his first studio following a Police Raid, Zappa joined forces with the band The Soul Giants, led by Ray Collins, a friend of Zappa's, to replace their original guitarist. He very quickly took command, renaming them The Mothers, and teaching the band the numerous and radical songs that he had been storing for several years. This had both a negative and a positive consequence. Positive because it helped the band stand out and made the quickly blooming underground music scene turn their heads. Negative because their sound was considered too radical for most record companies and club owners, so it was hard for them to find steady work.

Luck would befall them when famed record producer Tom Wilson crossed their path. Having established himself by producing some of Bob Dylan's most acclaimed music, including "Like A Rolling Stone", Wilson had been dragged from his vacation by his new employer Verve Records to do some A&R work. At a small club in L.A. called The Whiskey A Go Go, he found The Mothers playing a song about the recent Watts Riots. Thinking they were a topical White Blues group, he offered them a record contract and gave them some studio time in March 1966. And that was when the can of worms was opened. It was very quickly discovered that The Mothers were no mere White Blues group, and were something much stranger indeed. Floored by the dark and murky sound of the song "Who Are The Brain Police", Tom Wilson quickly figured out that he had something very interesting on his hands, and he used his considerable influence with the label to essentially let the band do what they wanted (although Verve put their foot down on occasion). And from these recording sessions came The Mothers' (now named The Mothers Of Invention by demand of MGM) debut album, Freak Out.

Even when taking into account the rise of Psychedelia that was 1966, Freak Out sticks out like a sore thumb. It was the first debut album in rock music history to be a double LP (a testament to Wilson's lean on the label, as without it, this would never have been allowed), and one of the first albums that could be interpreted as having a coherent narrative. Its sound dabbled in Doo-Wop, Psych Rock, Avant-Garde, and Musique Concrete concepts, some of which many fellow innovative bands and musicians of the time wouldn't go near even at their most wild. Despite the more modern sound that the band showed several times on the record, the Doo-Wop influence was ironically the most strange by that point, since the genre was considered passe and yesteryear. And yet The Mothers' up to date playing and experimentation still made these influences sound fresh and new.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this record, and one which has aged perhaps the best in places, is the lyrics. Although some of the songs were Zappa airing out some of some older songs, like "Anyway The Wind Blows" and "How Could I Be Such A Fool", both of which were fairly conventional love ballads, even these are filled with spite and sarcasm, with "I'm Not Satisfied" having the narrator contemplating suicide after falling down on his luck. And that's not even getting into the political tracks.

"Who Are The Brain Police", which surprised everyone at the studio when it was recorded due to how out of left field it is, is a dark and rumbling number about Thought Police, a concept originally from George Orwell's book 1984. Its sound is indicative of how, according to Zappa, a voice in his head told him to write it, and it includes a sudden explosion of  screaming, crashing of drums, and a mantra of several people feeling like they're about to die. People have called this song one of the most disturbing of the 1960s, and it's easy to see why. "Hungry Freaks, Daddy" opens the album, and is considered on of Zappa's greatest album openers. It's strong opening chord and rough guitar tone (at least in a time before Hendrix) give it a biting touch. The lyrics deal with the American Education System, essentially going over how, from Zappa's perspective, it's designed to mold children into obedient citizens that act just like the system wants you to. Such blunt commentary was almost unheard of in recorded music by then, due to how hard record companies would suppress such opinions to make sure records sold well.

And then there's "Trouble Every Day". Ask any Zappa fan and the majority of them will name this song as the album's absolute best. This was the topical White Blues number that got the band their record deal, and they're clearly pulling no punches with it. Simply put, it's Frank Zappa's perspective of the Watts Riots from 1965, which were very racially driven. Thusly, he discusses how pointless and hypocritical the whole business is, with both sides blaming the other, and how much of a leech the media is by leaping to publicize tragedies, whilst the average American just sits and watches the chaos from their TV Screen. All while a chugging Harmonica fills the air with an almost revolutionary vibe. What makes the song stand out so much is how relevant it still is. All the issues it laid out are still largely at play, and it almost feels like it could've been written today. People like to talk about bands and artists sounding forward thinking or ahead of their time, but "Trouble Every Day" isn't ahead of its time. It's outside of time. It's continues to be relevant since it came out and it will likely remain so for a very long time.

And of course, we can't have a review of Freak Out! without touching on the Sound Collage bonanza that fills the second half of the record. Evidently this was Zappa proving that he could do more than play his guitar, as well as to prove to the more sophisticated music crowd that he was on their level. The biggest example of this sound if "The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet", the longest song on the album, and for many people, the least listenable. It lacks a definitive rhythm, and mostly consists of shrieks, whoops, moans and yelling, all the while a drum kit plods along and oscillators bleep and bloop all over the place. What Zappa did to create this tracks was to bring a bunch of acquaintances from the Sunset Strip, and $500 worth of percussion equipment, into the studio. He then had them make a variety of different sounds, some vocalizations, some random smashings on the equipment, which were then edited together to produce the final piece. As Zappa put it, it's the sound of a bunch of outsiders freaking out (basically getting together and having some general fun, and not tripping on drugs, which Zappa was staunchly against), which is where the album title comes from. An interesting thing to note is that the version of the composition on the album is in fact just the rhythm track for a far more complex piece. As MGM had already blown $20,000 on the album, a massive amount in those days, they pulled the plug before it could be completed, as well as removing any lyrics from the record that could be interpreted as drug related. Even though the track is unfinished, one must remember that it sounded like nothing anyone in the rock scene had heard at the time, and it helped to mark the point where musicians would start experimenting just to see what sounds they were capable of creating.

Although the album flopped when it came out, mostly due to a nearly nonexistent ad campaign since MGM had blown the majority of the budget on the recording of the album, it immediately made The Mothers Of Invention darlings in the Underground scene. Many big name musicians had a copy of it and were floored by its innovative sound. One of these being The Beatles, who used the album as a major inspiration whilst making Sgt. Pepper. The sheer cultural impact that album has had on the world has indirectly made Freak Out one of Frank Zappa's most influential, and it opened the floodgates for the rest of his amazing career, spanning dozens of albums, hundreds of live shows, and an wild outlook on life that he made sure everyone knew about. Zappa was definitely one unique guy.

You can buy the album at Zappa's website: https://www.zappa.com/music/freak-out