You'll know Bernie Sanders for his role as "Gwampa Wobbly" in NBC sitcom Those Commie Motherfuckers! but did you know he's possibly the greatest living authority on Frank Zappa's The Mothers Of Invention [popular beat combo - Ed.]?
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| Bernie "sits in" with Turtles of Invention! |
Here's th' Bern waxing loquacious anent The MoFo's seminal first long-playing elpee album:
"Hi, pop teens! Not many folks know that Freak Out! was actually the second iteration of the famed album! The original mix became available a while ago, rather misleadingly entitled The Alternate Freak Out! - if anything, the album as issued is the alternate version. And even worse, it had a cover that made you throw hot chunks! So my good friend Farq has crafted an Art Design that fits the music like a pair of hand-knitted mittens! The deliverable is my own rip @320. Remember to register to vote!"
Thanks, Bern! And if you see AOC, could you ax her to swing by th' IoF© for an intryview? And, uh, a neck rub? Big fan!
In the interests of transparency, I should point out that there seems to be an agreement that this is essentially the same mix as the first album, with a couple, maybe three, snippets that got snipped out for the official release, and the tracks in a different order - but (and it's a big one) this simply sounds better. Clearer. It really is like hearing it for the first time. So how this can be accomplished without it being a different mix is a mystery to me. I got it from thepoodlebites @upvhq blog, where you can grab it at flac quality, if that butters your popcorn, with the original crap bootleg sleeve.
The Biggest WTF? Album Of All Time
Freak Out! was recorded in April, 1966, at exactly the same time as Revolver, and a few weeks after Blonde On Blonde and Pet Sounds. Let that sink in. What was in the actual air back then? Each of these albums, in its own characteristic way, represents some kind of pinnacle of zeitgeist art. Yet Freak Out! is rarely grouped with its peers because ... well ...
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| Jeannie Vassoir, the Voice of Cheese |
Pet Sounds, Revolver, Blonde On Blonde have consistency and a readily-understood integrity. Nobody scratches their heads when listening to them, each has a recognisably distinct character. Freak Out! is all over the place, like a coked-up squirrel with ADD in Nutz-'R-Us©. Zappa thought of it as a satirical concept album, which it may be, but even those pop fans who knew what satire was (there must have been a couple) didn't give much of a fuck about it. Satire in any form is not that potent a weapon, or that big a laugh, and when it's unfocussed ("everybody sucks, including you") it's reduced almost to meaninglessness. And if the satirical edge is blunted by an affection for its target (as doo-wop is here), everybody gets confused.
Zappa thought it was going to be a big hit, and so did Verve, encouraged by the swivel-eyed enthusiasm of producer Tom Wilson, who was on acid in the studio. They were strange times. That Zappa got to make another album is a miracle, after the big-budget Freak Out! crawled briefly to the coveted 130 spot on the Billboard chart, and was one of the first albums to be thrown in the dumpster when Verve hit the skids.
Like most Zappa albums, Freak Out! is just as relevant, enjoyable, and confusing as it was back then. Nothing was changed by his satire, but then that's satire's failing, or yours, not his. Seen in a certain light, it becomes a perfect condensation, synthesis, and palimpsest (if you will) of his life in music. Everything he did later is here in embryonic form, a tiny zircon-encrusted Fabergè chocolate egg, perfect in every sticky protruberance, a Sistine Chapel ceiling on velvet, a 3D Mona Lisa with her tits out. File under: geniusness.
This post funded by Larry's Used Lube™ - "The lube Larry used!"
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