Freak Out!

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Freak Out!
FreakOut!.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJune 27, 1966 (1966-06-27)
RecordedMarch 9–12, 1966
Studio TTG, Hollywood
Genre
Length60:55
Label Verve
Producer Tom Wilson
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention chronology
Freak Out!
(1966)
Absolutely Free
(1967)
Singles from Freak Out!
  1. "How Could I Be Such a Fool? /
    Help, I'm a Rock
    (Third Movement:
    It Can't Happen Here)"

    Released: 1966
  2. "Trouble Comin' Every Day /
    Who Are the Brain Police?"

    Released: 1966
  3. "Motherly Love / I Ain't Got No Heart"
    Released: 1968 (Japan only)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [31]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [32]
The Great Rock Bible 8.5/10 [33]
MusicHound Rock 4.5/5 [34]
OndaRock 9/10 [35]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [36]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [37]
Tom Hull B [38]

Freak Out! reached No. 130 on the Billboard chart, [39] and was not a critical success when it was first released in the United States. [9] Many listeners were convinced that the album was drug-inspired, [6] and interpreted the album's title as slang for a bad LSD trip. The album made the Mothers of Invention immediate underground darlings with a strong counter-cultural following. [40] In The Real Frank Zappa Book, Zappa quotes a negative review of the album by Pete Johnson of the Los Angeles Times , who wrote:

I guess you might call it surrealistic paintings set to music. Not content to record just two sides of musical gibberish, the MOI devote four full sides to their type of "artistry". If anyone owns this album, perhaps he can tell me what in hell is going on ... The Mothers of Invention, a talented but warped quintet, have fathered an album poetically entitled Freak Out, which could be the greatest stimulus to the aspirin industry since the income tax. [41]

The album developed a major cult following in the United States by the time MGM/Verve had been merged into a division of PolyGram in 1972. At that time many MGM/Verve releases including Freak Out! were prematurely deleted in an attempt to keep the struggling company financially solvent. Zappa had already moved on to his own companies Bizarre Records and Straight Records, which were distributed by Warner Bros. Records. Freak Out! was initially more successful in Europe and quickly influenced many English rock musicians. [19] According to David Fricke, the album was a major influence on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band . [42] Paul McCartney regarded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as the Beatles' Freak Out! [43] Zappa criticized the Beatles, as he felt they were "only in it for the money". [44]

Freak Out! was honored with the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999, [45] ranked at number 243 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003, [46] and 246 in a 2012 revised list. [47] It was also featured in the 2006 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [48] The album was named as one of Classic Rock magazine's "50 Albums That Built Prog Rock". [49] It was voted number 315 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). [50]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Frank Zappa except "Go Cry on Somebody Else's Shoulder", by Zappa and Ray Collins

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Hungry Freaks, Daddy"3:32
2."I Ain't Got No Heart"2:34
3."Who Are the Brain Police?"3:25
4."Go Cry on Somebody Else's Shoulder [5] "3:43
5."Motherly Love"2:50
6."How Could I Be Such a Fool"2:16
Total length:18:20
Side two
No.TitleLength
7."Wowie Zowie"2:55
8."You Didn't Try to Call Me"3:21
9."Any Way the Wind Blows"2:55
10."I'm Not Satisfied"2:41
11."You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here"3:41
Total length:15:33
Side three
No.TitleLength
12."Trouble Every Day"5:53
13."Help, I'm a Rock (Suite in Three Movements)
  • I. Okay to Tap Dance
  • II. In Memoriam, Edgard Varèse
  • III. It Can't Happen Here"
8:37
Total length:14:30
Side four
No.TitleLength
14."The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet (Unfinished Ballet in Two Tableaux)
  • I. Ritual Dance of the Child-Killer
  • II. Nullis Pretii (No Commercial Potential)"
12:22
Total length:12:22 60:55

On the 1995 and 2012 CD releases, "Help, I'm a Rock" is credited as two tracks: "Help, I'm a Rock" (4:43) and "It Can't Happen Here" (3:57). On the Side 3 label of original vinyl copies, "Trouble Every Day" is listed as "Trouble Comin' Every Day".

Personnel

The Mothers of Invention

The Mothers' Auxiliary

Production credits

Charts

Album
YearChartPosition
1967 Billboard 200 [39] 130

References

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  2. "Freak Out! (1966)". Archived from the original on 2015-10-09. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
  3. "Elliot Ingber info". United Mutations. Retrieved 2007-02-22.
  4. "FZ Musicians & Collaborators H–L: Elliot Ingber (Winged Eel Fingerling)". Information Is Not Knowledge. Retrieved 2007-02-22.
  5. 1 2 Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 14 – Big Rock Candy Mountain: Phil Spector & Frank Zappa review the '50s" (audio). Pop Chronicles . University of North Texas Libraries.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Zappa, Frank; Occhiogrosso, Peter (1989). The Real Frank Zappa Book . New York: Poseidon Press. pp.  65–80. ISBN   0-671-70572-5.
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  8. James, Billy (2002). Necessity Is ...: The Early Years of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. SAF Publishing. p. 23. ISBN   978-0-946719-51-8 . Retrieved 2010-05-28.
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  10. Eisen, Jonathan (1969). The Age of Rock: Sounds of the American Cultural Revolution . Random House Inc. ISBN   0-394-70535-1.
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  12. 1 2 The Lost Episodes. Liner notes. RCD 40573.
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  14. Dallas, Karl (June 1975). "What Did You Do In The Revolution, Dada?". Let It Rock . Avo Raup. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
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  16. 1 2 1634–1699: '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000003C-QINU`"' McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000003D-QINU`"' McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000003E-QINU`"'Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–" . Retrieved February 29, 2024.
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