●frank Zappa (& The Mothers OF Invention) Hammersmith Odeon

Frank Zappa's liner notes for Freak Out! name-checked an enormous breadth of musical and intellectual influences, and he seemingly attempts to cover them all on the second Mothers of Invention album, Absolutely Free. Leaping from style to style without warning, the album has a freewheeling, almost schizophrenic quality, encompassing everything from complex mutations of "Louie, Louie" to jazz improvisations and quotes from Stravinsky's Petrushka. It's made possible not only by expanded instrumentation, but also Zappa's experiments with tape manipulation and abrupt editing, culminating in an orchestrated mini-rock opera ("Brown Shoes Don't Make It") whose musical style shifts every few lines, often in accordance with the lyrical content…

Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Freak Out! (1966) {1995 Ryko Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 385 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 138 Mb
Full Artwork @ 400 dpi (jpg) -> 27 Mb
© 1995 Rykodisc / The Zappa Family Trust | RCD 10501
Rock / Experimental Rock

In 1966, when … Full Descriptioneven the Doors and the Grateful Dead were still at a garage band level, Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention took great pride in being the ambassadors of freakdom. The hippie/flower power culture was just getting under way, but the Mothers' debut album found them already taking great delight in turning Aquarian imagery inside out. No starry-eyed rainbow people, the Mothers were the living incarnation of underground comics such as R. Crumb's Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers: nasty, ugly, and downright dirty.

Much of the musical template on this early effort is far more conventional than Zappa's later work. The framework is a blend of the avant garde, pop/rock, and, improbably, doo-wop, but it's overlaid with sardonic, subversive lyrics, bizarre instrumental touches, and an unrelentingly ironic sensibility. Along the way, the Mothers insert snatches of free jazz, bizarre sound collage, and parodic spoken-word, all with the aim of setting the nascent counterculture gloriously askew.

Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Ahead Of Their Time (1993) {2012 Zappa Records Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 445 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 161 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 474 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2012 Zappa Records / Universal | 0238872
Rock / Experimental Rock / Art Rock / Comedy Rock

Official Release #61. The date is October 28, 1968. The Mothers of Invention are playing the Royal Festival Hall in London. Frank Zappa has booked 14 musicians from the BBC Symphony Orchestra to accompany them during the first part of the show. He had been writing chamber music pieces in the hotel rooms he visited and wanted to try them out. He strung them together by devising a psychodrama he called "Progress?" This was meant (and indeed turned out) to be a one-time performance, so he made sure to record it. He released the whole thing as Ahead of Their Time 25 years later. The first half of the disc is comprised of the "play."

A fascinating collection of mostly instrumental live and studio material recorded by the original Mothers of Invention, complete with horn section, from 1967-1969, Weasels Ripped My Flesh segues unpredictably between arty experimentation and traditional song structures. Highlights of the former category include the classical avant-garde elements of "Didja Get Any Onya," which blends odd rhythmic accents and time signatures with dissonance and wordless vocal noises; these pop up again in "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Sexually Aroused Gas Mask" and "Toads of the Short Forest." The latter and "The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue" also show Frank Zappa's willingness to embrace the avant-garde jazz of the period. Yet, interspersed are straightforward tunes like a cover of Little Richard's "Directly From My Heart to You," with great violin from Don "Sugarcane" Harris…

Burnt Weeny Sandwich is the first of two albums by the Mothers of Invention that Frank Zappa released in 1970, after he had disbanded the original lineup. While Weasels Ripped My Flesh focuses on complex material and improvised stage madness, this collection of studio and live recordings summarizes the leader's various interests and influences at the time. It opens and closes on '50s pop covers, "WPLJ" and "Valarie." "Aybe Sea" is a Zappafied sea shanty, while "Igor's Boogie" is named after composer Igor Stravinsky, the closest thing to a hero Zappa ever worshipped. But the best material is represented by "Holiday in Berlin," a theme that would become central to the music of 200 Motels, and "The Little House I Used to Live In," including a virtuoso piano solo by Ian Underwood…