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

Frank Zappa loved '50s doo wop music. He grew up with it, collected it, and it was the first kind of pop music he wrote ("Memories of El Monte," recorded by the Penguins in 1962). Cruising with Ruben & the Jets, the Mothers of Invention's fourth LP, is a collection of such music, all Zappa originals (some co-written with MOI singer Ray Collins). To the unexperienced, songs like "Cheap Thrills," "Deseri," and "Jelly Roll Gum Drop" may sound like an average doo wop song. A closer look reveals unusual chord sequences, Stravinsky quotes, and hilariously moronic lyrics - all wrapped in four-way harmony vocals and linear piano triplets. A handful of songs from the group's 1966 debut, Freak Out, were rearranged ("How Could I Be Such a Fool" and "Anyway the Wind Blows" give the weirdest results), and old material predating the Mothers was recycled ("Fountain of Love"). "Love of My Life" and "You Didn't Try to Call Me" became live staples.

Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Absolutely Free (1967) {1995 Ryko Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 272 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 101 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 13 Mb
© 1995 Rykodisc / The Zappa Family Trust | RCD 10502
Rock / Experimental Rock

This packagepackage contains the complete libretto (clean American version), plus two additional tracks not included on the original release.

Before becoming obsessed with sex, politics and the Synclavier, Frank Zappa was a performer of great whimsy, who here, on his second album, was singing about such topics as fruits and vegetables while also displaying a developing critical attitude toward American social mores. Dense with musical references from "Louie Louie" to Holst's "The Planets," ABSOLUTELY FREE is a testament to the young Zappa's awesome musical breadth. These Mothers of Invention lack the precision of Zappa's later combos, but give a firm R&B grounding to his experimentation. ABSOLUTELY FREE includes the classic "Brown Shoes Don't Make It," a biting parody of suburban American values, along with forgotten masterpieces like "Call Any Vegetable," a tune pointing out the ease with which we can become in tune with our little green buddies.

Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Freak Out! (1966) {2012 UME Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 385 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 143 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 8 Mb
© 2012 UMe / ZFT | ZR 3834
Rock / Experimental Rock

One of the most ambitious debuts in rock history, Freak Out! was a seminal concept album that somehow foreshadowed both art rock and punk at the same time. Its four LP sides deconstruct rock conventions right and left, eventually pushing into territory inspired by avant-garde classical composers. Yet the album is sequenced in an accessibly logical progression; the first half is dedicated to catchy, satirical pop/rock songs that question assumptions about pop music, setting the tone for the radical new directions of the second half.

Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Absolutely Free (1967) {2012 UMe Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 270 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 103 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 8 Mb
© 2012 UMe / ZFT | ZR 3835
Rock / Experimental Rock

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.

Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention - Weasels Ripped My Flesh (1970) {1995 Ryko Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 275 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 98 Mb
Full Artwork @ 400 dpi (png) -> 7 Mb
© 1995 Rykodisc / The Zappa Family Trust | RCD 10510
Rock / Experimental Rock / Jazz / Fusion

From the perplexing Germanic interlude of the opener, "Didja Get Any Onya?" to the complex xylophone changes of "The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue," Zappa combines avant garde music, jazz, R&B, novelty elements, and plenty of flippant rock attitude. Interestingly, there are some straight-up rock tracks too, such as the interpretation of Little Richard's "Directly From My Heart To You," and the guitar-led attack of "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama," balancing highbrow conceptualism with unpretentious directness in Zappa's inimitable fashion.

After getting over the colorful, disconcerting Neon Parks album cover illustration on WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH, the listener is faced with following the whiplash-inducing, genre-jumping gymnastics inside. A mix of live tracks with studio cuts made with the original Mothers of Invention, WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH is one of Frank Zappa's most eclectic, varied, and experimental early releases.

Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Cruising With Ruben & The Jets (1968) {1995 Ryko Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 274 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 95 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 17 Mb
© 1995 Rykodisc / The Zappa Family Trust | RCD 10505
Rock / Experimental Rock / Doo Wop

Having blown the music world's mind with the Mothers, Frank Zappa made a left turn to indulge his childhood love of doo-wop. Recording with the rest of the Mothers, he created CRUISING WITH RUBEN & THE JETS, an album of "greasy love songs and cretin simplicity." It is also an album of authentically performed doo-wop songs that might have even been hits had they been recorded a decade earlier. From the falsetto voice singing of unrequited love, street-corner background harmonies and "Earth Angel"- styled narratives in "Love Of My Life " and "Deseri" to the questionable production values, Zappa accurately recreated the doo-wop sound. In the process, he proved that there was more to his talent than a crude sense of humor.

Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Uncle Meat (1969) [2CD] {1995 Ryko Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 355 Mb + 396 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 129 Mb + 143 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 67 Mb
© 1995 Rykodisc / The Zappa Family Trust | RCD 10506/07
Rock / Experimental Rock

Over the two-record set, Zappa manages to cover the entire spread of his interests. Masquerading as a movie in progress, it is a way of highlighting the struggle of trying to keep the band together against a pretty hostile, or worse, apathetic audience. The frustration of putting something out that is artistically brilliant has a particular significance, as music and film go hand in hand. The film dialogue is either hilarious or it will leave you cold. The former is the general consensus. Zappa was so far ahead that his earth life ended before we caught up with him. Weird but highly recommended.

Recorded from October 1967 to February 1968. Includes liner notes by Frank Zappa.

UNCLE MEAT was digitally remixed with approximately 40 minutes of previously unreleased material from the original sessions.

From the beginning, Frank Zappa cultivated a role as voice of the freaks - imaginative outsiders who didn't fit comfortably into any group. We're Only in It for the Money is the ultimate expression of that sensibility, a satirical masterpiece that simultaneously skewered the hippies and the straights as prisoners of the same narrow-minded, superficial phoniness. Zappa's barbs were vicious and perceptive, and not just humorously so: his seemingly paranoid vision of authoritarian violence against the counterculture was borne out two years later by the Kent State killings. Like Freak Out, We're Only in It for the Money essentially devotes its first half to satire, and its second half to presenting alternatives…