FRANK ZAPPA — Absolutely Free (The Mothers Of Invention) (review)

FRANK ZAPPA — Absolutely Free (The Mothers Of Invention) album cover Album · 1967 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Warthur
Consisting of two side-long suites (with contemporary single Big Leg Emma/Why Don'cha Do Me Right? acting as a sort of interlude on most CD versions), Absolutely Free takes the two halves of Freak Out! - skewed pop/rock numbers and avant-garde experimental tracks - and mashes them together until the two ingredients are inextricably bound. Take the first suite, Absolutely Free, which after it sputters into life with the still angry, still politicised Plastic People takes the listener on a journey through a world of vegetable-themed romance which slips Stravinsky lines and free jazz noodlings in as it ricochets from frenetic experimental chaos to Supremes-inspired Wall of Sound pop heaven.

The second suite, the MOI American Pageant, follows up the epic Brown Shoes Don't Make It - arguably one of the first rock operas, along with the Who's A Quick One (While He's Away) - with America Drinks and Goes Home, whose "last orders at the bar" feel would be mimic by the Rolling Stones in the closing track of Between the Buttons.

The sheer, crazed energy evidenced on the album is incredible; it's been a favourite of mine for years and years, and I still haven't unpacked all its secrets, and yet at the same time I also think it's one of the most accessible albums of Zappa's early career - don't get me wrong, it's not simplistic like Freak Out! or Cruising With Ruben and the Jets, but it is less daunting than the likes of, say, Lumpy Gravy or Weasels Ripped My Flesh. New listeners to Zappa could do worse than starting with this one, or the equally classic We're Only In It For The Money - you've got all Zappa's perchant for bizarre experimentation in a nice, digestible package. Eat your vegetables, they're good for you.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Cabaret Eclectic Fusion
MARIUS NESET
Buy this album from MMA partners
Living Ghosts Post-Fusion Contemporary
MICHAEL WOLLNY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Live at Donte's, Vol. 1 Vocal Jazz
MIKE CAMPBELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
Sunday Afternoon Fusion
FURIO DI CASTRI
Buy this album from MMA partners
São Paulo Creative 4 : Supernova Avant-Garde Jazz
IVO PERELMAN
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Sunday afternoon
FURIO DI CASTRI
snobb· 6 hours ago
Harmônicos
FABIANO DO NASCIMENTO
js· 21 hours ago
Con Alma
GENE BERTONCINI
js· 1 day ago
Our Walk (Live)
BEN MARKLEY
js· 1 day ago
Solar (feat. Vicente Archer & Otis Brown III)
JERRY LÉONIDE
js· 1 day ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed