THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION: FREAK OUT!

An overlooked legend, Freak Out! is the first prog rock album to successfully be eclectic, odd, and innovative. Frank Zappa at age 25 writing such independent and eclectic music with a sense of humor are aboout 3 things you'd never see anywhere else during this time. Simply put, you can see these conventional song structures and styles flow through Zappa's brain and come out beautifully odd. Chunks of Doo Wop and R&B are presented as Zappa really sees them. Zappa's knack for orchestral and classical instrumentation combined with the twangy ferocity of R&B guitar is quite amazing. Xylophones and horns blast melodies and countermelodies over mocked Doo Wop and Pop structures. In addition, chord progressions here are very odd, and there are a lot of dissonant and experimental tones to the album, as Zappa is a fan of famed avant-garde composer Edgar Varese. A huge fan of music as visual art, you can literally close your eyes and see these freaks play Zappa's complex, dissonant, and even infectious songs the way Frank sees fit. The discipline of the musicians here is well presented as well, maybe not as much as the next Zappa album, but their eclectic and even signature tones are all displayed here for your listening pleasure. The album holds a loose concept as well, the beginning scatterings of the album are nearly all conventional pieces spiced up with Zappa, humorous and mocking lyrics about love. Other songs are pure instrumentation and studio effect experimentation combined with drudging structure, and even towards the very end of the album, none at all. Speaking of the last half of the album, this is perhaps the most revolutionary piece of music for prog of this time. Dense and textured studio-manipulated freakouts fill this part of the album, edging on free jazz and modern composition, with vocal harmony and big improvisation. Sure to wreck your head with joy, Freak Out! is an absolutely amazing album for it's time, humorous, serious, innovative, influential, and did I mention innovative? Essential, you need to hear where a lot of the music you're probably listening to now dates back to. 9.2/10