In 1968, an ad from Frank Zappa in the L.A. Free Press read: “The Mothers of Invention cordially invite you to join them on Tuesday, July 23, 1968 when they will be taking over the Whisky a Go Go for 5 full hours of unprecedented merriment, which will be secretly recorded for an upcoming record album. Dress optional. Starting sometime in the evening. R.S.V.D.T.” That album ultimately ended up remaining mostly unheard, until now. The live collection Whisky a Go Go, 1968 is set to finally be released June 21st, 2024, via Zappa Records/UMe.
In 1968, an ad from Frank Zappa in the L.A. Free Press read: “The Mothers of Invention cordially invite you to join them on Tuesday, July 23, 1968 when they will be taking over the Whisky a Go Go for 5 full hours of unprecedented merriment, which will be secretly recorded for an upcoming record album. Dress optional. Starting sometime in the evening. R.S.V.D.T.” That album ultimately ended up remaining mostly unheard, until now. The live collection Whisky a Go Go, 1968 is set to finally be released June 21st, 2024, via Zappa Records/UMe.
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…
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…
The Firebird is an exciting one-hour dance special based on the mystical Russian folk tale of enchantment and love, set to Stravinskys fantastical ballet score. This adaption of James Kudelkas masterpiece for the stage combines classical ballet with magical visual effects. Mr. Kudelkas choreography is by turns elegant, virtuosic but always passionate and musically evocative. The Firebird features the top dancers from the internationally renowned National Ballet of Canada, including the great Greta Hodgkinson (nominated for the Prix Benois de la Danse in 2000) as the main role, Aleksandar Antonijevic as Prince Ivan, Rebekah Rimsay as Princess Vasilisa, and the unforgettable Rex Harrington as Kastchei the Demon. Conductor Valery Gergiev leads The Kirov Orchestra in the performance of the music.
Compiled by Frank Zappa for broadcast on WLIR-FM in Garden City, New York on New Year's Eve 1973, this remarkable set offers a cross-section of his recent live performances with the Mothers Of Invention, and finds him at his wittiest and most inventive. A treat for serious fans, the entire WLIR-FM set is presented here, digitally remastered.
Compiled by Frank Zappa for broadcast on WLIR-FM in Garden City, New York on New Year's Eve 1973, this remarkable set offers a cross-section of his recent live performances with the Mothers Of Invention, and finds him at his wittiest and most inventive. A treat for serious fans, the entire WLIR-FM set is presented here, digitally remastered.
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…