Although they weren't particularly innovative, and nothing they recorded ever changed the course of rock or pop music one iota, Gary Lewis & the Playboys don't really deserve the marginalization they've gotten to the footnote side of rock & roll history. They were a 1960s singles band, pure and simple, and the perfect example of a "summer band," one that plays fun songs full of bright harmonies, specializing in melodic singalongs that made up for what they lacked in depth by being infectious and persistent. Yeah, drummer and singer Gary Lewis was the son of comedian and star Jerry Lewis, but that's just the footnote to a footnote. Lewis could sing, and he was skilled enough at it to do it while he was playing drums, so forget any notions that his recording career was due entirely to privilege.
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…
In 1966, when even 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.
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.
The Mothers Of Invention's Freak Out (2022 Japanese exclusive limited edition 17-track Mono CD, the debut album from Frank Zappa released in 1966, this edition includes the Bonus Single Version of Trouble Comin' Every Day and Who Are TheBrain Police?
This limited-edition version of The Cutting Edge 1965-1966 is where Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series meets Sony's Copyright Extension series…