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It's Bunk Gardner, I believe on soprano saxophone, although that does sound a little reminiscent of clarinet or flute (remember, this was 1966 when recording technology still didn't allow for overproduced crap a la Kenny G or insert your pet soprano sax peeve here, tee hee hee )

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There are groups that tend to dazzle a drug-stupefied audience into submission

This is my top 3:

#1. Roxy & Elsewhere
#2. Weasels Ripped My Flesh
#3. We're Only In It For The Money

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I thought it'd be fun to review all the Mothers albums, like we do on the solo section..

Anyone want to review "Freak Out!"?

"Freak Out!":

As the label on the Cd said, "You only get one chance to make a first impression.And Zappa didn't squander his!"

This is a monumental album.In 1966, there were no other albums like this!
Zappa the Sociological Commentator debuted songs that were eccentric, memorable, hummable, funny, pointed, nasty, truthful,and so much more!

The album opens with "Hungry Freaks, Daddy", a pointed attack on the typical American male, putting down everything he is and likes.This was only the beginning!...Even though Zappa detested love songs, there are some relationship songs on the album:"You Didn't Try To Call Me", "Any Way The Wind Blows", "Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder" all had Zappa telling love stories gone bad..."I Ain't Got No Heart" is Zappa telling us he has no heart and doesn't believe in love..."Who Are The Brain Police" is an eerie excursion into early psychedelia--from a guy who never touched drugs!...."Motherly Love" is a superb anthem , of sorts..."I'm Not Satisfied" is a doo-wop pastiche about how lousy life can be.."Trouble Every Day" is a blues rocker telling the true story of the Watts Riots...The albums ends with Zappa and the Mothers let loose in the studio at 1 am, making noise and some melody on "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet"...

Truly, a masterpiece!...

Next is "Absolutely Free"....

Absolutley Free foreshadows most of the major experimental forms not only in rock music, but several in classical music as well.

AF was Zappa trying to find a middle ground between his love for classical experimentation and straight rock. Whereas FO featured bother sides, they were admittedley segregated into different sections (the only one being truly fusey 'Who Are The Brain police?') Here, Zappa applies classical/jazzy deconstruction to doowop/rock classics ('Plastic People', quotes of 'Duke Of Earl' in 'Duke Of Prunes'), and applies classical structuring and quotation in rock ('Status Back Baby', 'Call Any Vegetable').

This is also where Zappa starts developing his trademark style (which of course comes from the fusion). 'Brown Shoes Don't Make It' and 'Suzy Creamcheese' are the among the most complex, difficult things that the band had had to play until then, while still feeling like music. And of course, there is the 'parody' aspect-('America Drinks') Which comes full force here, producing one of Zappa's finest parodies.

Overall, Absolutley Free is a masterpiece which is unfortunatley frequently overlooked next to FO and WOIIFTM. It's the Rosetta Stone to almost the entirety of Zappa's career, and is a blueprint for the avant-garde that follows.

You are so far off it's not even funny.

Oh wait a second, yes you're right, sorry.

here's a couple more
Brazen. Unlettered. Coarse. Oftentimes Obscene.
"Why'd they even call it that?"
Freak Out!
Is it a freakout. Does it freakout. What's a freakout. Are they all freaked out and they want to TELL us?
?

"Like what is THAT s'pposed to mean?"
"I KNOW! It's soooooooo . . ."
"Uh-huh ....... stoopid."
"YES!, and WEIRD!"
fits of goggling boy-laughs rises as talk descends to 'that weeeeeird girl at the record shop that inSISted on having them play the entire record before
she would buy it or something, I can't remember now, but . . .'

"But I HAVE to say that in my entIRE life *I* have NEVER heard ANY thing so . . ."
"WEIRD!! " they shout in unison.

Of course, neither had I. I remember the time going past too fast and the record was over. But it wasn't pop music. Maybe pop wearing riot gear,
with the riot. Though there were many attempts at different styles performed in the various cuts none seemed radio friendly as a cause of -- and this is the
thing -- the seemingly willful refusal to make the songs actually sound good. There are purposeful uses of distortion of all sorts here, not just in the
audio-technical realm but also in the music's very aggressiveness and even in its more boundary-breaking aspects. It IS rock and roll because of its attitude if not in
musical style and when the music stays there the album reaches its' greatest appeal.
The pair of paeans to rock's golden age of doowop seem contrived, fawning gargoyles of the genre instead. It is hard to hear these and think of their relatives. It
seems on first listen, the author HATES this music which begs the question, why do it? Why Freak Out!?
Hungry Freaks, Brain Police in particular are clear exhortations, a clarion call to witness: as in (thou shalt) FREAK OUT! Wowie Zowie and Motherly Love,
Anyway the wind, you didn't try to call, I Ain't Got No Heart, I'm Not Satisfied all act as witness to do so. Thus, will to freakout. They are advertisements, excuses,
mini novellas in sarcastic print. And the crazy sound effects, only touching now and then with Martin Denny, but in the end overpowering all else as if sound is all
there is that can cajole, lead, overwhelm and conquer this will to freakout.

But in and around the cacophony, the discord, the din what is even more unmistakable is the thinness in the overall sound. Boys and girls, that's the 'sound' of
mid-60's AM. Like it's all coming thru a tin can to your ear.
In other words, censored, clean, free of discord, free of distortion, sanitized like a napkin at the gas station on one of those trundle deals with the handle and the
knob. You pull out the section of towel you want to use and wind up the back with the handle . . . and most of it was mono. And although tons of people had
had loads of success with the mono process, mono in radio was a barrier to be broken as well. and what a way to do it. Now to get the new version of that old mix on the radio. here's a good link:http://www.lukpac.org/~handmade/patio/vinylvscds/freakout.html
and another
[cue up 22dec66 recorded interview with FZ]

the final 21 minutes seem to break all bounds of propriety with this thin canned AM sound with ridiculous kids all playing with the wrong machinery.
"It's indecent! Don't tell your parents you've listened to this. You're lucky you didn't get 6 MONTHS of detention for playing this in band class . . ."
one more link for the songs . . . and the lyrics too,
http://www.globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyri ... k_Out.html

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" . . . On the outside now . . ."

thanx Cal for reminding me,

Absolutely Free!!!!!!! Kill Ugly Radio. If you caught the wind of
Freaking Out, you had to have some slogans, some news to spread around, something to actually say and sing and dance about and too because freedom does
actually mean having the right to flop around and say
"Duke -- Duke -- Duke -- Duke of Prunes -- Prunes --Prunes" if that appeals to you, dreaming how vegetables might respond to you. It is the birth and
adolescence of the young pumpkin in the mythos of absolute freedom, it is the reaffirmation of the freak world as being outside of the high school status world,
outside of madison avenue, outside of city hall and outside of the murmurings of the washington beltway. If Freak Out was a clarion call to witness the will to
Freak Out, then Absolutely Freeee was the Freakery at full tilt, spewing propaganda and actual riot transcripts from the sweat spray of the vituperative center.
Really there was no alternative for On the other Hand you could always
" . . . be a loyal plastic robot for a world that doesn't care!!!
(Smile at every ugly/ Shinin yer shoes and comb your hair)"


Absolutely Unmoderated and Indispensable

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" . . . On the outside now . . ."

Cal, did I ever tell you you're my hero?

The next album to be reviewed after "Absolutely Free" is the classic "We're Only In It For The Money"...

To see many people's opinions on this great album, go to the topic headed "BOING!You Lick A Stamp And Paste it In".

The next Mother's album after it is "Cruising With Ruben & The Jets"...

YOU can review it! (Yes, YOU!)

For reviews and details on "Cruising With Ruben & The Jets", go to the topic headed (what else?) "Cruising with Ruben"...Next to be reviewed is "Uncle Meat". Someone please review it!...Ciao!

This is a review which i wrote 2 years ago in Rateyourmusic.com and i think it's rather interesting to read in retrospect.

Uncle Meat is arguably one of the weirdest Mothers of Invention-era Zappa albums, and historically it could be viewed as a transitional album too. Take "Dog Breath, In the Year of the Plague" for instance, and you can see how it partially brings into mind the lightweight eccentric pop stylings of "Who Needs the Peace Corps" from 1968's We're Only In it For Money, but it also bears some resemblance to "Peaches En Regalia" that would appear on Hot Rats. Many tunes, including "Uncle Meat" and "King Kong" are instrumental and jazzy, just as majority of Hot Rats, but some of the filler tunes still have a lot of weirdness carried to Uncle Meat from aforementioned We're Only In it For Money. Suzy Creamcheese, the fictional character from early Mothers' albums, pops up here and there as well. Tunes with vocals are excellent and quirky as ever, "Sleeping In a jar" is an unfinished ditty that would have fitted nicely to Soft Machine's second album, "The Air" and "Electric Aunt Jemina" are charming mock-doo-wop numbers and "Green Genes" is a lovely slice of dreamy low-key psychedelia which is also reminiscent of the intro to "Duke Of Prunes". Then there are odd tracks that are partially musical jokes (attempt to play "Louie Louie" on Royal Albert Hall's pipe organ, hilarious version of "God Bless America"), spoken-word bits dealing with the microclimate of the Mothers ("Our Bizarre Relationships"), or live recordings mixed with band's history ("Ian Underwood whips it out" starts with Ian's story of his audition for the band and continues with furious sax-driven free-jazz jam in 5/4 time recorded in Copenhagen). The CD version of Uncle Meat tends to be marred with so-called "penalty tracks", which are audio excerpts from the "Uncle Meat" film and a cheesy hard rock song "Tengo Na Minchia Tanta" from 80s. My suggestion is that this CD would be re-released with whole original Uncle Meat on CD plus augmented DVD showing the film itself, that would be an improvement. But the third category of original album tracks is of course: complex instrumentals, and while some tend to be of acquired taste (such as "We Can Shoot You"), "King Kong" suite has got to be the winner. This 6 part tune flows and swings effortlessly and has great instrumental interplay: ostinato/drone bass, swinging drums, great work on reeds and keyboards and guitars, that take leads after one another. Complex, yet mesmerizing. And Hugh Hopper would take cues from this for his classic Soft Machine's "Facelift" composition as well. Whole album is highly recommended for lovers of complex, yet totally far-out and weird music.

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There are groups that tend to dazzle a drug-stupefied audience into submission

1 - Roxy & Elsewhere
2 - One Size Fits All
3 - Chunga's Revenge
4 - Cruising With Ruben and the Jets
5 - Freak Out!

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http://rateyourmusic.com/collection/evitageN/oo

I fucking hate them all. No musical talent. Waste of vinyl or whatever they make them of these days.

Now the Partridge Family, there was a BAND!

1. Freak Out!
2. Roxy & Elsewhere
3. We're Only In It For The Money
4. Absolutely Free
5. Burnt Weeny Sandwich

I've been watching the Disney Robin Hood movie with my little son lately, and although we're watching the Norwegian version, I've noticed that in the original, friar Tuck (a badger) is dubbed by Andy Devine!

"Andy Devine had a thong rind. It was sublime, but the wrong kind."

From ARF, Cal Schenkel <calvin@RALF.com> writes: "I remember Pamela Miller and some other GTO's talking about Andy Devine's Thong Rind (they ran into him hitch-hiking or something) in the kitchen at Frank's. (As I understand it, it's a callous formed from wearing thong footwear)."

Possible associations, intended or not, from Wikipedia: "One type of thong is the G-string or T-back, the back of which consists only of a (typically elasticized) fabric string. The two terms G-string and thong are often used interchangeably; however, they can refer to distinct pieces of clothing. Thongs come in a variety of styles depending on the thickness, material, or type of the rear portion of fabric and are available for both men and women throughout most of the world. The thong is known as fio dental (literally, dental floss) in Brazil, where it is famously commonly worn as swimwear at beaches."

Note the Brazilian term for thong!

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We make a special art in an environment hostile to dreamers. Frank Zappa, 1971

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Andy Devine - they don't make stars like that anymore!

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We make a special art in an environment hostile to dreamers. Frank Zappa, 1971