The Lonesome Valley

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Absolutley Free The Mothers of Invention



Absolutely Free (1967) is the second album by The Mothers of Invention, led by Frank Zappa. Absolutely Free is once again a display of complex musical composition with political and social satire. The band had been augmented since Freak Out! by the additions of saxophone player Bunk Gardner, keyboardist Don Preston, guitarist Jim Fielder and drummer Billy Mundi. However, Fielder quit the group before the album was released. His name was removed from the album credits.
For this album, the emphasis is on interconnected movements, as each side on the original vinyl LP composes a mini-suite. It also features one of the most famous songs of Zappa's early career, "Brown Shoes Don't Make It," a track which has been described as a "condensed two-hour musical".^[1]
The CD reissue adds a single The Mothers released at the time between where side one would have ended and side two would have begun featuring the songs "Why Dontcha Do Me Right?" (titled "Why Don't You Do Me Right" on the 45) and "Big Leg Emma," both described as: "an attempt to make dumb music to appeal to dumb teenagers" (these were a rare Verve single).
In the book Necessity Is..., former Mothers of Invention band member Ray Collins claimed that Absolutely Free is probably his favorite of the classic Mothers albums.^[2]
The UK -67 release (Verve VLP/SVLP 9174) came in a laminated flip-back cover, with a Mike Raven poem at the reverse that was not apparent on any other issue.
The title of "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" was inspired by an event covered by Time Magazine reporter Hugh Sidey in 1966. The reporter correctly guessed that something was up when the fastidiously dressed President Lyndon B. Johnson made the fashion faux pas of wearing brown shoes with a gray suit. LBJ flew to Vietnam for an unannounced public relations visit later that day.
In the songs "America Drinks and Goes Home" and "America Drinks" Zappa combines a silly tune with nightclub sound effects to parody his experiences playing with drunken bar bands during the early 1960s. Other songs recorded soon after that used the same kinds of ideas include "On with the Show" by The Rolling Stones (released in 1967), "My Friend" by Jimi Hendrix (recorded in 1968, released in 1971) and "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" by The Beatles (recorded in 1967 and 1969, released in 1970.)
"Plastic People" begins with a mock introduction of the President of the United States, who (along with his wife) can only recite the opening notes to "Louie, Louie". "Louie, Louie" is often interpolated in Zappa's compositions (other examples appear in the Uncle Meat and Yellow Shark albums, among others), and when Zappa first began performing "Plastic People" ca. 1965, the words were set to the tune of "Louie, Louie."

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Blues Magoos - Psychedelic Lollipop (1966)

The band was formed in 1964 as "The Trenchcoats". The original members were Emil "Peppy" Thielhelm aka Peppy Castro (vocals and guitar), Dennis LaPore (lead guitar), Ralph Scala (organ and vocals), Ronnie Gilbert (bass) and John Finnegan (drums). The band made a name for itself in various clubs in Greenwich Village. By 1966 the band had changed its name to fit in with the psychedelic vibe of the times - they first changed their name to the Bloos Magoos, though they changed that to the more conventional Blues Magoos. They also made some line-up changes, bringing in Mike Esposito as lead guitarist, and Geoff Daking as drummer.

Like their name, the group's sound was of the psychedelic variety. They released singles on smaller labels, like Ganim Records and Verve Records, but those singles did not gain the band much recognition. However, Mercury Records signed the band to a record deal in late 1966 and the group's debut album, Psychedelic Lollipop was released shortly thereafter. It was one of the first records to contain the word "Psychedelic" on the sleeve (along with the 13th Floor Elevators' first album, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, and The Deep's Psychedelic Moods, both also from 1966). They played a lot then at the Chess Mate Coffeehouse owned by Morrie Widenbaum, a mostly folk venue that also hosted bands like Southbound Freeway, Siegel-Schwall Blues Band and Blues Magoos.

In a tour of the US in 1967 they were the opening act followed by The Who and then the headliners Herman's Hermits. The group's biggest song, "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet", whose Farfisa riff bears an uncanny resemblance to the 1962 hit by Ricky Nelson, "Summertime" (Deep Purple also used this riff in their hit "Black Night") , was released as a single in 1967 (albeit from their 1966 album), with "Gotta Get Away" as the b-side. The song hit number 5 on the US charts, although it did not fare nearly as well in the UK. It was used for the movie Easy Rider in 1968. Incidentally, The Magoos' "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet" was released as a single in February 1967 by British group The Spectres (later to become The Status Quo). The record did not chart.

The next single by the Blues Magoos, "There's A Chance We Can Make It," was only a minor hit, with its b-side "Pipe Dream" actually charting higher (though neither side hit the top 40). After one more minor chart single with "One By One," subsequent singles were largely ignored by record buyers. Neither of the two albums released after Psychedelic Lollipop, Electric Comic Book and Basic Blues Magoos, had much success. By 1968, the band was discouraged and they split up.

The group's management had other plans. The band was signed to ABC Records, but most of the members did not go along with this plan. Only Castro agreed and started up a revamped Blues Magoos, with Eric Kaz, Richie Dickon, John Leillo and Roger Eaton. In 1969, the band completed Never Goin' Back To Georgia, but that release did not attract public attention either. Eaton left the band, and the other Blues Magoos used session musicians for the follow up Gulf Coast Bound. It did poorly as well and though the Magoos struggled for another two years, they eventually parted ways. In 1981, Castro resurfaced with the group Balance.
Tracks
1.(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet (2:18)
2.Love Seems Doomed (3:02)
3.Tobacco Road (4:42)
4.Queen of My Nights (3:05)
5.I'll Go Crazy (2:03)
6.Gotta Get Away (2:42)
7.Sometimes I Think About (4:13)
8.One by One (2:52)
9.Worried Life Blues (3:53)
10.She's Coming Home (2:43)

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