[[Help, I'm a Rock]]
(Third Movement:
It Can't Happen Here)\n | single1date = 1966\n | single2 = [[Trouble Every Day (song)|Trouble Comin' Every Day]] /
[[Who Are the Brain Police?]]\n | single2date = 1966\n | single3 = Motherly Love / I Ain't Got No Heart\n | single3date = 1968 (Japan only)\n}}{{Extra album cover\n | header = Back cover\n | type = studio\n | cover = Freak Out! back cover.jpg\n | border =\n | alt =\n | caption = Featuring a \"letter\" from Suzy Creamcheese\n}}"}},"i":0}}]}" id="mwBg">1966 studio albumby the Mothers of Invention
Freak Out! | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 27, 1966 | |||
Recorded | March 9–12, 1966 | |||
Studio | TTG, Hollywood | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 60:55 | |||
Label | Verve | |||
Producer | Tom Wilson | |||
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention chronology | ||||
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Singles from Freak Out! | ||||
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Back cover | ||||
![]() Featuring a "letter" from Suzy Creamcheese |
Freak Out! is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Mothers of Invention,released on June 27,1966,by Verve Records. Often cited as one of rock music's first concept albums,it is a satirical expression of guitarist/bandleader Frank Zappa's perception of American pop culture and the nascent freak scene of Los Angeles. It was the second rock music double album ever released,following Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde just one week earlier, [2] as well as the first double debut album by a rock artist. In the UK,the album was originally released as an edited single disc.
The album was produced by Tom Wilson,who signed the Mothers,formerly a bar band called the Soul Giants. Zappa said many years later that Wilson signed the band to a record deal under the impression that they were a white blues band. The album features Zappa on vocals and guitar,along with lead vocalist/tambourine player Ray Collins,bass player/vocalist Roy Estrada,drummer/vocalist Jimmy Carl Black and guitar player Elliot Ingber, [3] [4] along with appearances from several session musicians.
The band's original repertoire consisted of rhythm and blues covers,but after Zappa joined the band his original compositions came to the fore and their name was changed to the Mothers. The musical content of Freak Out! ranges from rhythm and blues,doo-wop, [5] and standard blues-influenced rock to orchestral arrangements and avant-garde sound collages. Although the album was initially poorly received in the United States,it was a success in Europe. It gained a cult following in America,where it continued to sell in substantial quantities until it was discontinued in the early 1970s. The album went back in print in 1985,as part of Zappa's Old Masters Box One box set,with the first CD release of the album following in 1987.
In 1999,the album was honored with the Grammy Hall of Fame Award,and in 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it among the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2006, The MOFO Project/Object ,an audio documentary on the making of the album,was released in honor of its 40th anniversary.
In the early 1960s,Zappa met Ray Collins. Collins supported himself by working as a carpenter,and on weekends sang with a group called the Soul Giants. In April 1965,Collins got into a fight with their guitar player,who quit,leaving the band in need of a substitute,and Zappa filled in. [6] [7] The Soul Giants' repertoire originally consisted of R&B covers. After Zappa joined the band he encouraged them to play his own original material and try to get a record contract. [8] While most of the band members liked the idea,then-leader and saxophone player Davy Coronado felt that performing original material would cost them bookings,and quit the band. [6] [9] Zappa took over leadership of the band,who officially changed their name to the Mothers on May 10,1965. [6]
The group moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 1965 after Zappa got them a management contract with Herb Cohen. They gained steady work at clubs along the Sunset Strip. MGM staff producer Tom Wilson offered the band a record deal with the Verve Records division in early 1966. He had heard of their growing reputation but had seen them perform only one song,"Trouble Every Day",which concerned the Watts riots. [7] According to Zappa,this led Wilson to believe that they were a "white blues band". [6] [9]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Great Rock Bible | 8.5/10 [33] |
MusicHound Rock | 4.5/5 [34] |
OndaRock | 9/10 [35] |
Q | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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]
All tracks are written by Frank Zappa except "Go Cry on Somebody Else's Shoulder", by Zappa and Ray Collins
No. | Title | Length |
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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 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
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 |
No. | Title | Length |
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12. | "Trouble Every Day" | 5:53 |
13. | "Help, I'm a Rock (Suite in Three Movements)
| 8:37 |
Total length: | 14:30 |
No. | Title | Length |
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14. | "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet (Unfinished Ballet in Two Tableaux)
| 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".
The Mothers of Invention
The Mothers' Auxiliary
Production credits
Year | Chart | Position |
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1967 | Billboard 200 [39] | 130 |