Absolutely Free

This article is about the album. For the Canadian band, see Absolutely Free (band). For the song by Frank Zappa, see Absolutely Free (song).

Absolutely Free
Studio album by The Mothers of Invention
Released	May 26, 1967 (1967-05-26)
Recorded	November 15–18, 1966
Studio	TTG Studios, Los Angeles, California
Genre	Experimental rock doo-wop avant-pop
Length	38:29
Label	Verve
Producer	Tom Wilson
Frank Zappa chronology
Freak Out! (1966) Absolutely Free (1967) Lumpy Gravy (1967)
The Mothers of Invention chronology
Freak Out! (1966) Absolutely Free (1967) We're Only in It for the Money (1968)
Singles from Absolutely Free
"Son of Suzy Creamcheese" Released: 1967

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Kerrang!
Uncut	8/10
The Village Voice	B–

Absolutely Free is the second studio album by the American rock band the Mothers of Invention, led by Frank Zappa, released in 1967. Absolutely Free is, again, a display of complex musical composition with political and social satire. The band had been augmented since Freak Out! by the addition of woodwinds player Bunk Gardner, keyboardist Don Preston, rhythm guitarist Jim Fielder and drummer Billy Mundi. Fielder quit the group before the album was released and his name was removed from the album credits.

Overview

The album's emphasis is on interconnected movements, as each side of the original vinyl LP comprises 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".

In the book Necessity Is..., former Mothers of Invention band member Ray Collins said that Absolutely Free is probably his favorite of the classic Mothers albums.

Reissues

The CD reissue adds a single that the Mothers released at the time between side one and side two. It features 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 rare Verve singles.

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 on any other issue.

Music

"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" around 1965, the words were set to the tune of "Louie, Louie".

The title of "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" was inspired by an event covered by Time reporter Hugh Sidey in 1966. The reporter correctly guessed something was wrong 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 a surprise public relations visit later that day.

In the songs "America Drinks" and "America Drinks and Goes Home", Zappa combines a silly tune with nightclub sound effects to parody his experiences playing with drunken lounge music 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).

Cultural references

It is not unusual to find melodies or scores from other composers within the music of Frank Zappa. Absolutely Free is full of musical references to other compositions and artists, including Igor Stravinsky.

For example, "Amnesia Vivace" begins with a collage of quotations from Stravinsky ballets: first, the band plays the "Ritual Action of the Ancestors" from The Rite of Spring, Part II; then harpsichord and chattering voices evoke the pounding Dance of the Adolescents in Part I, over which sax and Zappa's voice start quoting the bassoon melody at the very opening of the Rite and continue into the lyrical Berceuse (also for bassoon) at the end of Stravinsky's The Firebird. The opening sequence of Petrouchka is quoted in the middle section of "Status Back Baby". "Soft-Sell Conclusion" ends with a version of the trombone melody that opens Stravinsky's "Marche Royale" from The Soldier's Tale.

The "Invocation & Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin", in the beginning of the saxophone solo (first cadence) quotes the trio directly from the fourth movement of Gustav Holst's The Planets, Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity.

The melody to "The Duke of Prunes" is the love theme from Zappa's own film score to Run Home Slow.

"Call Any Vegetable" includes a quotation from the Jupiter movement in "The Planets" by Gustav Holst.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Frank Zappa

Side one: "Absolutely Free" (#1 in a Series of Underground Oratorios)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Plastic People"	3:40
2.	"The Duke of Prunes"	2:12
3.	"Amnesia Vivace"	1:01
4.	"The Duke Regains His Chops"	1:45
5.	"Call Any Vegetable"	2:19
6.	"Invocation & Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin" (instrumental)	6:57
7.	"Soft-Sell Conclusion"	1:40

Side two: "The M.O.I. American Pageant" (#2 in a Series of Underground Oratorios)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"America Drinks"	1:52
2.	"Status Back Baby"	2:52
3.	"Uncle Bernie's Farm"	2:09
4.	"Son of Suzy Creamcheese"	1:33
5.	"Brown Shoes Don't Make It"	7:26
6.	"America Drinks & Goes Home"	2:43

2017 Reissue Bonus Record

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Absolutely Free Radio Ad #1"	1:01
2.	"Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?"	2:39
3.	"Big Leg Emma"	2:32
4.	"Absolutely Free Radio Ad #2"	1:01
5.	"Glutton for Punishment..."	0:24
6.	"America Drinks (1969 Re-Mix)"	1:55
7.	"Brown Shoes Don't Make It (1969 Re-Mix)"	7:27
8.	"America Drinks & Go Home (1969 Re-Mix)"	2:42

CD Reissue

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Plastic People"	3:42
2.	"The Duke of Prunes"	2:13
3.	"Amnesia Vivace"	1:01
4.	"The Duke Regains His Chops"	1:52
5.	"Call Any Vegetable"	2:15
6.	"Invocation & Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin"	7:00
7.	"Soft-Sell Conclusion"	1:40
8.	"Big Leg Emma"	2:31
9.	"Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?"	2:37
10.	"America Drinks"	1:53
11.	"Status Back Baby"	2:54
12.	"Uncle Bernie's Farm"	2:10
13.	"Son of Suzy Creamcheese"	1:34
14.	"Brown Shoes Don't Make It"	7:30
15.	"America Drinks & Goes Home"	2:45

Personnel

The Mothers of Invention

• Frank Zappa – guitar, conductor, vocals
• Jimmy Carl Black – drums, vocals
• Ray Collins – vocals, tambourine, harmonica, PRUNE
• Roy Estrada – bass, vocals
• Billy Mundi – drums, percussion
• Don Preston – keyboards
• Jim Fielder (Uncredited) – guitar, piano
• Bunk Gardner – woodwinds

Additional musicians

• Suzy Creamcheese (Lisa Cohen) – vocals on "Brown Shoes Don't Make It"
• John Balkin – bass on "Invocation & Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin" and "America Drinks"
• Jim Getzoff – violin on "Brown Shoes Don't Make It"
• Marshall Sosson – violin on "Brown Shoes Don't Make It"
• Alvin Dinkin – viola on "Brown Shoes Don't Make It"
• Armand Kaproff – cello on "Brown Shoes Don't Make It"
• Don Ellis – trumpet on "Brown Shoes Don't Make It"
• John Rotella – contrabass clarinet on "Brown Shoes Don't Make It"
• Herb Cohen – cash register machine sounds on "America Drinks & Goes Home"
• Terry Gilliam, girlfriend and others – voices in "America Drinks & Goes Home"

Note

(Jim Sherwood was credited as a member of The Mothers on the album's original release, but he actually joined the band during the recording of We're Only in It for the Money, and he isn't featured on this album.)

Production

• Frank Zappa – producer, arranger, layout design, cover art, collage, liner notes
• Tom Wilson – producer
• Val Valentin – director of engineering
• Ami Hadani – engineer
• David Greene – remixing
• Doug Sax – mastering
• Ferenc Dobronyi – cover design
• Cal Schenkel – cover design
• Alice Ochs – cover photo
• Jerry Deiter – photography
• Alice Ochs – artwork

Charts

Year	Chart	Position
1967	Billboard 200	41

External links

• Lyrics and information
• Release details
• "The Meaning of Cordovans" reporter Hugh Sidey recalls the event when he saw Lyndon B. Johnson wearing the wrong shoes