Freak Out!

I’ve known a couple of later Zappa albums, but not heard this before. The album was hard to listen to, not musically difficult but kinda annoying - I've come back a couple of times trying to get clear on my dissatisfactions. The music is reasonably interesting: some of the guitar is quite crunchy for the time, some proto-punk stylings, some ‘happening’ elements I don't mind too much, the musicians are broadly playing well. My first surprise/misgiving was on the singing, double-tracking of lead vocals seemingly without trying for exact match, seemingly flaunting the discordances, so it's not just comically exaggerated pronunciations, it's deliberately raucous or abrasive? Then there's the moral tone, not just rejecting normative framings but sneering at the normies. USA of 1966, rampant consumerism and inequality with fairyfloss promises, was doubtless weird, annoying, frustrating - but I don't get from Zappa any recognition of what was real or worthwhile about lives of people around him, just sneering. Treatment of romance doesn't just over-react, I think the attacks on 'love' here are often attacks on women and their stylings. Railing at women wanting to look nice - then singing about wanting groupies (for sex) - then say a few embraces don't mean anything - seems like Zappa's idea of a perfect relationship is "don't bug me". (Possible exception for You Didn't Try To Call Me - which maybe lampoons male dependency on women as well as supposed car fetish.) Anyway the vibe, particularly gendered aspects, rather kills my enjoyment of the music. Unlike some other reviewers here, I don’t mind the ‘experimental’ stuff at end of side 2 (it at least keeps rhythms going, so it's not the most opaque of musique concrète), but it’s hard going to get to that part of the double album. I won’t listen to much of this again (possible exception for Trouble Every Day), it’s Pretty Poor, 3/10.

Chad Freaks Out: Pt 1 The coincidence of listening to this album alongside Andrew Hickey’s recently dropped podcast (A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs) episode on Zappa (titled Peaches, but is a comprehensive, Dan Carlin esque study on his catalog) sent me off on a ~3 week, personal obsession with the Freak scene of the late 60s-70s. This blindsided me and took me out of my routines for a while 😂 So let me start with this: I liked Hot Rats. I think I “got” it right away, but it didn’t blast me out of my world to dig further. It just sort of died there. I left Zappa and whoever the heck barked on Willie The Pimp (Beefheart) fade into the abyss of the other 500 albums I’ve chugged through. Then Freak Out dropped here & Hickey’s podcast on Zappa came out and I started to hear the precursors to Hot Rats. This is pretty much all of the Mothers Of Invention works (so from 66-69?). Freak Out being the earliest official release (and the one I liked the least). And Freak Out was fine. Hungry Freaks, Daddy is what sounds the best, but songs like It Can’t Happen Here & You Didn’t Try to Call Me are the sort of wild tracks that you never expect and totally rock your socks off in the moment or simply have the magic to weird you the fuck out in a good way… A feeling where you can’t stop listening and want to know more. While Im at it, Absolutely Free and Uncle Meat are much better albums. Brown Shoes Don’t Make It is a wildly fucked up song that is so catchy and rich with bizarre themes you could write books about it. IMO, it takes the listener violation that Randy Newman uses in Rednecks and puts it in an art-rock freak context. There’s also a bunch of less artsy fartsy songs like Dog Breathe, In The Year Of The Plague that I enjoyed. Lastly, the King Kong tracks are also superb jazz pieces. Hickeys podcast on Peaches is incredible. I’ve listened to the 3 hour episode twice already and I consider it the perfect starter pack to understanding this scene. The stories are super entertaining and you get to learn so much about the enigma of Zappa (and Beefheart) & what they were really going for (at all costs). This stuff sounds like fiction (my favorite story is about bailing out Don "Sugarcane" Harris to play on Gumbo Variations). Zappa seems so brilliant and also really manipulative and cruel. Im not out here to demonize him; some of his abuses seemed understandable. I won’t blow it for anyone else or my future self digging back in. You also get to taste the extras on the Hot Rats box set which are amazing tracks to listen to in their own right. And fittingly, it offers a small starting point to understand Captain Beefheart…. Lastly, just a nerdy tangent here. The best musical lesson I learned from all of this was Zappa writes his music melody first (Hickey confirms that). And since the melody drives everything, he’s often forced to use sus chords to leave some sort of ambiguity between major and minor sounds to enable that freedom. From my experience, Ive only heard this used in Coltrane style stuff (e.g. My Favorite Things) and never rock music.

classic avant guar and genre defying ...but hey..not that good

Sounds awesome, particularly for ‘66. Pretty fun trying to figure out exactly what Zappa is on about. At times the satire feels a little lazy maybe. The class clown shouting from the back of the room without standing for anything himself. “Trouble Everyday” finally feels like Zappa saying something and leaves me wishing we had more of that version, a little less silly. After that tune the tracks get more interesting sonically, though maybe a little too self indulgent. Placing this record historically is putting my mind in a pretzel. I feel like he’s doing parody of records that haven’t come out yet. Way ahead of his time, always an interesting perspective and mostly sounds great.

I can’t place why I don’t like Zappa so I texted Sean and he said ‘he’s kind of a smug bitch’ and I think that’s exactly it. Oddly, Ween is one of my favorite bands and they basically do the same mocking pastiche thing Zappa does. They don’t seem smug about it tho, there seems to be more affection for the source material. I think that makes all the difference. I will acknowledge this does sound really good for 1966.

So the goofiness and weird to be weird vibe is a little annoying. Some of the music does really push the envelope and it grabs your attention. But some songs grate like nails on a chalkboard. And then it has its moments of “hey Thai actually sounds good.” But not enough of those moments to salvage the album for me. I’m giving it points of originality and some of the innovative musicianship. But for me personally it was more of a 2.

60s psych rock. First concept album, Frank Zappa. Weird but very varied.

Never a fan and after a re-listen, I still feel this way. Not much to listen to and I will continue to pass on this band.

Horrible album. Couldn't even finish; halfway through "You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here" I gave up on it. Would give a 0 if I could.

Writing this with my first and only prior experience with Zappa being Hot Rats, which I listened to previously for this list. This one definitely does not resemble the jazz inspiration that clearly infiltrates that record, though it also has it's share of jangly guitar solos as well, albeit not as long. This one moreso acts as a parody of the more echoey, lo-fi records of the fab four and the stones. On the lyrical front it's obvious that Zappa and the gang are goofing around a bit on this one, but even then, the composition ends up being more intricate and significant sounding than those acts mentioned above. This record also holds the distinction of perhaps being the weirdest in it's genre for a solid year until the release of Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

An uncompromising piece of avant-garde experimental art rock. The album plays out as a surreal push-and-pull: catchy, proto-punk foundations swallowed up by bizarre sound collages, and vice versa. The lyrics read like a stream-of-consciousness beat poem packed with biting social commentary, all underscored by jagged guitar riffs and the whimsical, abrasive texture of kazoos. It is intentionally inaccessible and bound to alienate casual listeners, but for fans of boundary-pushing art rock, it is a rewarding, high-scoring masterpiece.

Sometimes I think experimental is taken too far for my taste. The beginning was good, but as the album goes, it gets weirder and more eclectic than I can take. 2/5 Hungry Freaks, Daddy: 3,5 I Ain’t Got No Heart: 3,5 Who Are the Brain Police?: 2 Go Cry on Somebody Else’s Shoulder: 3 Motherly Love: 2 How Could I Be Such a Fool: 2,5 Wowie Zowie: 2 You Didn’t Try to Call Me: 2 Any Way the Wind Blows: 2,5 I’m Not Satisfied: 2 You’re Probably Wondering Why I’m Here: 2 Trouble Every Day: 2 Help, I'm a Rock: 1 It Can’t Happen Here: 2 The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet: 1

Torn on this. It doesn't have too much of the really out there Zappa stuff that I don't like, but I didn't find too much of the "normal" 60s rock all that compelling.

This starts out fine, albeit with grating vocals, and then ends with two of the most irritating tracks I have ever heard in my life. Rating: 1.5

Got kinda annoying by the end, but it's fine

husband NOT a Frank Zappa fan so he boycotted this playing on our stereo.. I remember when I was a kid and Valley Girl came out /Moon Unit - and I learned who her dad was. So influential and so out there LOL he seemed so much fun and interesting always pushing the envelope 3.5 for old Frankie here - every corner of life needs some weird in it

This is like Everything Bagel seasoning. It has. Zesty pops of salt, garlic and other goodness that creates a party of taste.

More kazoo no one ever said. I don't think any ever asked for Frank Zappa or Mother's of Invention but they appeared nonetheless. And stayed. I have been pitched Frank Zappa by a variety of music lovers - classic rock lovers, technically skilled musicians, Ween fans and dudes with older brothers and sophomoric senses of humor. They appreciates different eras and - after listening - I derided all of them equally. I just never got it. But I have now, with context and a larger understanding - started to understand why they may have not just something to say but also something worth listening to. Don't get me wrong - there are moments of downright stupidity on this album. But there is a certain glory in that. They commit to the bit. And after a few listens there are songs I can even say I look forward to. Trouble Every Day is the highpoint but there are great moments along the way. And there will be kazoo.

Yes

3/10 - bad and same old Frank Zappa hippy shite

At first I was hesitant this would be good but it definitely has some things going for it, maybe gets better as it progresses. Can’t say it’s bad, in some parts it’s just sounds but it has great musicality in others. Might be a bit monotonous, but the closing track is such an interesting flip.

Great zappa album

Yes it’s avant garde, experimental, poking fun at the establishment, etc etc … but still didn’t enjoy listening to it. 2

I never can figure out if I like Frank Zappa or not

Ahead of its time! A strong 4.

Kultiges Debüt, wild, schräg, voller Ideen – aber eher historisch spannend als wirklich packend

The Velvet Underground heard Freak Out! by The Mothers of Invention and asked themselves "what if this wasn't annoying?"

"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" 😂

Não é o meu favorito do Zappa, mas é com certeza um dos grandes álbuns da discografia imensa do artista. Zappa era foda demais, qualquer coisa que ele fazia era icônico.

"I'm not black, but there's a whole lots a times I wish I could say I'm not white" "cream cheese cream cheese cream cheese cream cheese cream cheese" Groovy, weird, and pretty catchy at times. If a coworker was playing this at work I would probably think "what the hell are we listening to" but I'd still be tapping my toes. By the time things got really weird towards the end I was already pretty much warmed up and on board for it. Probably wise not to lead with It Can't Happen Here. They have a good way of blending the bizarre with the basic. First we get normal stuff sprinkled with silly lyrics and voices, then experimental avant-garde songs interspersed with normal stuff. 7/10

Zappa has been around as long as I’ve been into music and I’ve tried countless times to get into his. Trouble is I like my music to be melodic, emotional and resolving. Zappa’s music is none of those things. It is so random and bounce around childlike tunes to the point it becomes beyond annoying. 1/5 5/10/26

2

Semmosta hassunhauskaa hassuttelurokkia. Minua ei vaan huvittanu tämä yhtään.

Frank Zappa tuppaa tekemään melko hämärää musiikkia. Varmaan suhteessa julkasuvuoteen melko erikoinen albumi, hyvässä ja pahassa. En päässyt konseptiin oikein täysiä sisälle, joitain hauskoja ja siistejä biisejä oli, mutta isolta osin oli hölmöilyä - eli Zappaa. Mielenkiintonen kertakuuntelu, mutta tuskin tulee palailtua.

Weird ass noises all the time

Delightfully nutty and entertaining, better than average when the music's played straight and a fun ride when the music takes curves towards the bizarre. Or when whatever's playing might not classify as music at all

I remember being excited to hear a Zappa album for the first time, many years ago. I had one friend in particular who thought Zappa was a genius, but that guy had tastes outside my own at the time, including free jazz and stuff like that. I don't remember which album it was, but I immediately didn't like it. Fast forward 25 years and Hot Rats came up for me on the generator, and I gave it a 3. I didn’t love it, but I did consider that I might have been wrong all those years ago. So now we get to test this theory again. Well, this album was going along okay but they really lost me with the last two tracks. If I want something wild from this era, I’ll stick with the Velvet Underground and the 13th Floor Elevators.

Oh dear. Nope

Started off ok; then songs got very weird, and a little bit creepy

I really didn't get this one. I can appreciate it for being a pioneer of early psychedelic rock, but 50 years later it is hard to listen to.

I am going to give this a solid 3.5 out of respect. I can see how this was super influential and it is funny how it mocks so many styles. However the weird noises, moaning, and sound-scape things do get kinda old. There are some quality songs here tho. Actual rating...3.5 Liked Songs: "Hungry Freaks, Daddy" , "Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder" , "Motherly Love" , "You Didn't Try To Call Me" , "I'm Not Satisfied" , "Trouble Every Day"

I understand why this is on the list. What they're doing here was way ahead of its time, and you can hear how much this album would go on to influence later music. That doesn't necessarily make it something I enjoy listening to, though. I can appreciate what they were doing and the place this album holds in music history, but it's hardly something I would seek out for my own listening enjoyment.

I couldn’t finish The Mothers of Invention. It’s just not my type of music. I am glad I read the Wiki page and find out before hand that it was a satirical album about the American citizen of the 60s. That at least made it tolerable for the first half but I just couldn’t keep going. 1 Star 2/10

Anybody remember that episode of the show Spaced where they watch the art show with Vulva and Hoover? Thats this album.

The mind of Frank Zappa is something I truly can't comprehend. How does one even come up with music this ridiculous and absurd in the first place, let alone making it actually pretty decent. So much of this is just weird and stupid in such an explicitly unapologetic way, and yet I still think you can listen to and enjoy this as a somewhat serious album. The songwriting and the musicanship are definitely there, and you just get bombarded with comedic skits and interludes that probably make up more of the album that the actual music.

I want to like this. I really do. It's obviously breaking new ground, and you can hear all the things it influenced, but it's just not that great as an album. Very long, and mostly trolling.

Freak Out! GTFO!

I was going to rate this a 2 because there are some tracks I can get through and think, they actually composed this, and it is an album that’s very modern for its age with the psychedelic mockery. But then the last track happened and I had to skip through sections because it’s 12 mins of bizarreness were I think the artist it’s trying to challenge me to turn the album off. The last track gives me ‘You won’t believe people will actually listen to this 12min noise sample I’ve mashed together while on acid’. I want my time back.

I found this interesting, if not actually very pleasant to listen to.

This was interesting. I liked a lot of the sounds but it was a bit strange for me. 3.5 but on the three side.

You'll get a 2 and be grateful

Freak Out! by The Mothers of Invention was a really great listen. Frank Zappa’s sharp social critique, combined with that weird mix of pop parody, blues, and total experimental chaos, gives the whole album a super revolutionary feel.

The album that really unlocked Zappa for me — sometimes he nails a balance of musicianship, avant grade, humor and social commentary that you can’t get elsewhere. Go Cry On Somebody Else’s Shoulder really crystallizes his whole thing really me. Return of The Son of Monster Magnet however shows that sometimes he pushes too far in one direction. Listening to this in the age of Donald Trump is a vibe. It Can’t Happen Here baby.

No me ha gustado prácticamente nada.

Not sure if the term “hippie freak out” existed before this album but regardless this is its epitome. If this is tripping music though, steer clear. This album would be the soundtrack to the worst hallucinogenic experience I could imagine. The songs are weird and dark and thematically alienated and at one point the music literally seems to melt and in a deep strange voice he says “who controls the mind police?!” I don’t think I would ever recover if I heard that while tripping balls. No thanks.

I guess I appreciate that Zappa went balls out to make his records weird, but I just don’t enjoy listening to them.

TBH it took a bit for me to get it. I know it’s important and foundational to ppl, but some of it seemed more “antagonistic” than “challenging”. I’m on board now.

Baustelle, Gerstetten, Deutschland. Ist mir zu weird.

Made me stressed

Enjoyment 4 but it’s a classic

It's erratic, it's funny in places, it's a gigantic mess. I really liked Trouble Every Day, the 12-minuts one about cream cheese I had a less favourable opinion of.

Frank Zappa. Not much more to say. Maybe Valley Girl on Psychedelics

I dug the opening riff. Then they started sing-talking. Then was like a kazoo or some duck whistle or some shit. Then they kept singing. And it just kept fucking going. The riffs can't save this.

Esse disco surpreende com canções bem variadas e irônicas. Só que são bem tocadas. Vale a pena a experiência. CVJ Kira.

2.07

Too much Frank Zappa. That being said, this has some good moments.

Feeling generous

One of the first concept albums and what a doozy. Apparently set the establishment on it's ear with his parody on American culture particularly popularity themes with a mix of rock blues and avant garde.

Cynical psych rock, which spirals out of control with remarkable focus. Favourite tracks: The Return Of The Son of Monster Magnet, Help I'm A Rock, I Ain't Got No Heart

Frank Zappa needs to go away

These guys were memelords before it was cool

This album was definitely ahead of its time. There's a lot to pick out of this album but I mostly found it a strangely good mix of 1960scpop music styles and psychedelic undertones.

Correcto

By trolls, for trolls It wore a bit thin as it went on. 2

Frank Zappa may be among the top 10 most annoying people ever to walk the face of the earth.

I was previously familiar with Frank Zappa and the Mothers, and probably heard this album before. It is strange, as is typical of Zappa/Mothers material. This album touches on several genres but is rock at its core. As with other Zappa material, this is an acquired taste. I could imagine that this would turn many people off. It is a difficult listen for me. I would really have to be in the mood to listen to this again.

Gotta hand it to the makers of this album. They really nailed the title because all I could do was Freak Out when I had to listen to "It Can't Happen Here" and "Return of the Son of Mother Magnet". It's too bad because the beginning wasn't too bad.

started off weird. the middle was pretty good. and then the end was SO weird and experimental. cool to hear those early, early rock thoughts.

Enigszins teleurstellend

eh, no

twas good

4/10… experimental rock / *1966

I was weirded out until I recognized Frank Zappa. Then at least I knew what it was. Some of his stuff I really liked, but I couldn't listen to this with anything more positive than fascination.

weird

This may have been way ahead of its time but it sure isn't fun to listen to.

Zappa kicks ass. A very cool philosophy professor told me when I was younger that Zappa was a fraud and Captain Beefheart was the real deal so I never listened to this. I'm glad I did

This was a weird one. Rock of the 60/70s

There's a lot to like on this album. Incisive lyrics, some good harmonies and catchy melodies. I'm not going to pop this on for a listen though because as soon as I'm enjoying something there is a kazoo or 12:20 minutes of free association. It's not unlike being on a date where the connection is there, the potential is obvious and the chemistry is humming... then every six minutes, on the dot, let's talk Bitcoin. So I want to like this record but I'm pushing away from the table.

Too zany and eccentric to be considered a true novelty record at the time, Zappa and his goons sounds like they are trolling their audience whilst also being exceptionally talented at writing and performing their songs. This starts out as a quirky psychedelic record made extra weird due to the smattering of kazoos popping up throughout before the style shifts completely to a throwback doo-wap sound on "Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder". Things only get weirder as we get to the second part of the album and songs become much longer. Blues rock cut "Trouble Every Day" is the most serious track here and is one of the strongest. I was concerned that spending an hour with Frank Zappa would be overwhelming, but I enjoyed this and was surprised by how listenable the whole experience was.

Help, I'm The Rock.

Not quite as good as the other Zappa albums on this list but did enjoy it quite a bit. Loved The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet.

Die letste 15min maximalst verwirrt. Iwie ja scho lustig. Muss aber nöd si

My first Zappa. Of course, I respond to the humor, the sly wink, the parody of it all, before the scene even reached its zenith. He was making fun of the hipsters and the squares and thus occupied a spot on the periphery as a jester. Still, his peripheral spot also enabled him to push the boundaries. There is solid musicianship here and interesting sounds. I won’t spin this as part of my rotation some sixty years later, but I appreciate His Zapitude. The closing track, though - many minutes of nonsense and chaos - became unbearable to me.

Innovativ? Ja! Anhörbar? Nicht wirklich!

What a weird album! Overall really enjoyed it. It felt creative, whacky, and over the top which is exactly what I like from psychedelic rock. Really not my favorite genre but this one pulled it off. Super happy this popped up and will add it to my rotation.

Not exactly what I was expecting. It was about half expected and half of the expected was unexpected, as is the nature of Frank. But the kiinda 50s poodle skirt type songs were quite unexpected. That man was, to quote Churchill, "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."

A wild album, especially for 1966. My dad was into this group but he didn't listen to Zappa much when I was growing up, so I don't have a nostalgic connection to it and I am personally not a huge fan, but this album was fun and interesting. Favorite track(s): "How Could I Be Such A Fool," "You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here"

Mmm, finally something juicy. I love it, so many different sounds, weird twists and turns, groovy. Genuinely freaky, which is a compliment in my book.

What the fuck is this?? I appreciate that it was 100% pioneering for its day, which is pretty cool, but I can't get on board with the satirical nature of it. I like some of the soundscapes, which are pretty cool.. but it's very abrasive. Maybe I need to give it some more listens for it to click

Gave this a whole 20 seconds.