FREAK OUT! - ABSOLUTELY FREE: INTO THE ROCK INDUSTRY

In 1965 Zappa took the lead of a band called "The Soul Agents", which ultimately led to the first album "Freak out!" by this group, now renamed as "The Mothers of Invention" recorded in 1966, preceded by demos recorded the year before. "Freak out!" can be divided in two sections. The first part, sides 1 and 2 of the original double album, contains uncomplicated pop songs, at least for Zappa standards (as a debut album it had to reach for a public after all). The second part, sides 3 and 4, is the experimental section, with improvised vocal parts. With this part Zappa adressed himself to the Los Angeles freak scene, the group of young people in the city, that stood for an unconventional way of life. Compared to the Cucamonga singles the songs have gained in strength, but they remain relatively easy compared to the Zappa compositions to come. In 1974, when celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Mothers of Invention, Zappa put the songs of the album on the menu for a gig at Chicago's Auditorium Theater and commented in an interview how easy these songs were compared to what the band had been doing recently. Nevertheless the album was conceived of as being contraversial, maybe also because of the explicit cynicism of the lyrics. The packaging, a double album with two experimental sides, was definitely unusual in 1966. Zappa negotiated the album to be sold for the price of a single record, when he in return would decline the royalties over the second disc.

I ain't got no heart (midi file)
Trouble every day (midi file)

I ain't got no heart (transcription).
Trouble every day (transcription).

This first note example is part of "I ain't got no heart", the second song on "Freak out". The harmony for the first theme is I, II, III and II in G Dorian. For the second theme it goes as IV from G Dorian (with an extra A as a passing through note), moving through V of G to IV of B Dorian. As pop music chords it can be identified far more easily, namely as a C, D, E progression. Than it goes back again to G Dorian. The sung melody isn't difficult, but the instrumental passages as in bar 4 and 8 add flavour to the song. The lyrics include "I sit and laugh at fools in love, there ain't no such thing as love, no angels singing high above today". "Trouble every day" was written in 1965 as a reaction upon the Watts riots in L.A. Here it's played over a bass and guitar vamp. Zappa would return to this song in 1974 in a different version on "Roxy and elsewhere".

"Trouble every day" is followed by the experimental part of "Freak out!". The entirely vocal song "It can't happen here" has a written lead sheet, along which the other singers improvise. "Help, I'm a rock" and "The return of the son of the monster magnet" are build around various riffs and drum patterns. The first one opens with its main "Help, I'm a rock" motif, whereupon in bar 17 it is followed by improvised lyrics with fantasy texts. For "The return of the son of the monster magnet" Zappa invited some 50 people from the L.A. freak scene to come to sing and play along with the Mothers for an evening session in the studio. He edited some 12 minutes from the event, whereas the ZFT released some more sections on "MOFO" 40 years later.

Help, I'm a rock, opening (midi file).

Help, I'm a rock, opening (transcription).
The return of the son of the monster magnet, opening bars (transcription).

Other pieces from "Freak out!" in this study:
- Any way the wind blows, 1963 version (Cucamonga section).
- You didn't try to call me (Ruben and the Jets section).

More than on his debut album Zappa could show his compositoral skills on the second album "Absolutely Free". Here we get to what Zappa would do quite often in his music, namely changing themes, meters and tempi within a song. Next are some examples. The first is "Plastic people", that exists in two versions. On stage he usually used Richard Berry's "Louie Louie" for the music with his own lyrics sung over it (see "Plastic people" and "Ruthy Ruthy" on YCDTOSA Vol. I, as well as on "The mystery disc"). "Louie Louie" is something everybody can follow, also when you don't know the original, because anyone reckognises the I-IV-V progression. He included it in his concert playlist for ten years. For the "Absolutely free" album version of 1967 however, he wrote his own music. The "Louie Louie" progression only gets quoted once right at the beginning. In the two sections below we have a meter and a tempo change as well as four themes (my midi editor can't do tempo changes, so I have to cut the example in two sections).

Plastic people, section #1 (midi file).
Plastic people, section #2 (midi file).

Plastic people (transcription).

"Son of Suzy Creamcheese" has the regular two themes structure, but is also using varying meters. "Brown shoes don't make it" has become a classical Zappa song, because it's such an elaborate example of Zappa's habit to bring different styles together in one song. The song has a multitude of themes, that are played after each other in a medley-like way, where the changes from one theme to another are abrupt, but without loosing an overall structural idea. Most sections use various scales, but without a clear use of key-notes. "Brown shoes don't make it" has appeared on CD in two versions: the original studio recording and a life version, that has appeared on "Tinsel Town Rebellion". The latter was released in 1981, but this version for stage performance must have been in use much longer, because it's the version that Ian Underwood has transcribed in "The Frank Zappa Songbook vol. I" of 1973. The differences between the two versions are mostly in the instrumental passages.

General structure with starting time indication:

a) 0:00. Opening with a rock 'n roll riff in F sharp Dorian with the chord progression I 7th - IV 5th.

Brown shoes don't make it, opening (midi file).

Brown shoes don't make it, riff (notes).

b) 0:20. The riff changes overnight into a section with straight rhythms in 4/4 movement. It starts with a sequence that is chromatically repeated instead of within a key. Thus the key changes with every bar using a different scale (the 5 bars "tv dinner by the pool" till "he's a bummer"). The scales, when taken as major, are in following order C, D flat, C, B flat and A. With "smile at every ugly..." we get to one of the tempo changes in the song.

Brown shoes don't make it, opening melody (notes).

c) 0:52. Back to the rock 'n roll riff.

d) 1:22. Section with straight rhythms in 3/4 movement. The scales keep changing and in three bars the melody gets atonal ("On a rug ... and drool").

e) 2:07. This section is followed by a larger atonal intermezzo. The references to modern music on "Absolutely Free" have often been mentioned, most notably a quotation of one of the opening motives from Strawinsky's "Petrushka", that can be heard in the middle of "Status Back Baby". This part is a reference to serialism with the twelve note string of the "Waltz for guitar" from the Zappa's teens section being reused. It's not a strict 12-note piece however, because the string is used with a lot of liberty and additional notes. Below is an example of the reuse of this string. In the Songbook it's notated a minor second higher than in the "Waltz for guitar" and the first "Absolutely free" recording.

Brown shoes don't make it, opening of the atonal intermezzo (midi file).

Brown shoes don't make it, fragment (notes).

(In the first edition of this study, the "Waltz for guitar" example wasn't included nor had I noticed the simularity. I gave some examples of the returning C, F sharp, C sharp plus D, and A flat movement, which turns out to be 9-12 and 1 of the string).

f) 3:03. After the intermezzo starts a block with themes in various swinging rhythms.

g) 6:06. Back to the straight rhythm in 4/4 movement. The bars "tv dinner by the pool, I'm so glad I finished school" are repeated, indicating the coming closure of the song.

h) 6:45. Instrumental coda.

Zappa often liked to bring changes in an sudden way, not only during a song but also from one song to another, where instead of the usual fading out or playing of a closing chord at the end of a song, he just cut it off and let the next song begin without any pause between the songs. For the song's instrumentation Zappa uses different groups of amplified and acoustical instruments. He called this combination of instuments his electronically amplified orchestra. He continued to do so in his career, the band including at least six members and sometimes more than ten. These bands are using various combinations of amplified and acoustical instruments, differing from time to time. Next to a drummer the band almost always included a percussionist. The latter not only for additional rhythm, but with an explicit role for playing melodies.

Other pieces from "Absolutely free" in this study:
- Duke of prunes (Orchestral favorites section).
- Call any vegetable (Just another band from L.A. section).
- Status back baby (previous section)