Freak Out!

23 thoughts on “Freak Out!”

1. I rate this as good only because I’m not as big a fan of the early Mothers as I am the post Flo and Eddie Mothers. Freak out still contains a few classics, most notably “Help, I’m A Rock” and “Hungry Freaks Daddy”.

2. I am different since the first time i heard this one. The word crazy means another thing now for me.

3. I freak out every time I hear this album. It’s a Zappa essential…”Trouble Every Day” is one of the best social commentaries ever written, and Zappa’s relentless nostalgia/hatred for the 1950s makes “Hungry Freaks, Daddy” embody the entire counterculture movement. If you haven’t heard Zappa’s first, you may be missing his finest.

4. All I have to say is Suzy Creamcheese, What’s gotten inta ya, honey?

5. One would think that a “psychedelic” record released in 1966 would sound dated, but this one doesn’t. I was listening to a tape of this album in the car the other day and my passenger thought “Trouble Every Day” was a rap song, and, you know, it is! Zappa was always years ahead of the times. Although the names have changed with the times, the social comentary of “Freak Out”still rings true, and the music is as revolutionary as ever.

6. We all know that the music is essential Zappa. Fabulous music all the way…

   One thing needs to be said; The album cover art is really charming. With all it’s trendy 60s psychedelia wibes, I consider it as one of the coolest album covers ever.

7. Hungry Freaks Daddy and Trouble Every Day are the protest songs of all protest songs. You’re Probably Wondering Why I’m Here is social commentary describing the perils of being a musician, and also the girl in plastic shoes and plastic hat, who thinks she knows where it’s at. But the music is more important, all the songs are good, even the last three collages are worth listening to, once in a while anyway.

8. Eye must say, a greet wurk of ars!! Boot to bee frankly eye preefer the läther man….

9. Play this to people who don´t know Franky and
   let them guess when it´s done!

10. This album changed my outlook on music and life. I bought it second hand for 12 shillings and sixpence from Chris Higgins, a friend at school. He’d bought it on spec but didn’t like it. I was completely taken over by the album and FZ, and played Freak Out to everyone I knew. “There goes that nutty old Xorg”, they used to say. But just look how far ahead of his time FZ was with ‘Help I’m a Rock’ and ‘Trouble Every Day’ whilst being simultaneously viscious and charming about doowop.I’ve worn out three vinyl copies; the CD is holding up so far.

11. DUDE’S I STILL HAVE THE ORIGINAL VINYL.THAT RECORD SITS ALONG SIDE PURPLE HAZE,DISRAELI GEARS AND RUBBER SOUL.OH YEA!!! MOST LIKELY INSPIRED THE 1ST ZEP ALBUM.
    ANYWAY IN ABOUT 88- 89 I SAW EZRA MOHAWK PLAY” TROUBLE COMIN’ EVERYDAY” @ THE TROCAERO IN PHILLY SHE ROCK IT HARD.HER 1ST RECORD “PRIMODIAL LOVERS” TO THIS DAY RANKS WITH THE AFORE MENTIONED AND IS, I REPEAT IS! THE REASON WHY SHE SHOULD BE IN THE R&R HALL OF FAME.ARTISTS LIKE ALANIS,MELLISA AND ANNIE LENOX SHOULD KISS HER FEET!!! BY THE WAY SHE WAS” SUZI CREAM CHEESE”,KNUKLEHEAD “YOU KNOW WE BEEN CHECKIN’ YOU OUT,WE CHECKED YOU OUT A COUPLE A’ TIMES AND YOU KNOW WHAT?YOU KNOW WHAT SUZI ?”
    HER RETORT”WHAT?” AND FRANKIE AND THE MOTHERFUCKERS OF INVENTIONS KICKED A JAM LIKE NOTHING BEFORE!!!

    HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL AND TO ALL !!!!!!! JUST JAMMIN’ !!!!! SIVLE JAMES

12. SORRY ABOUT THE TYPO’S PEOPLE!!!!!!!!

13. FRANKLY SPEAKING,
    ” CARS AND GIRLS R EASY TO CUM BYE IN THIS DAY AND AGE. LAUGHIN’ JOKEIN DRINKIN’ SMOKIN’ TILL’ I SPENT MY WAGE ,WHEN I WAS YOUNG PEOPLE SPOKE OF IMMORALITTY ALL THE THINGS THEY SAID WERE WRONG ON WHAT I WANTED TO B!!!!! OVER UNDER SIDEWAYS DOWN BACKWARD FORWARD SQUARE AND ROUND”

    JUST JAMMIN’

    SIVLE JAMES

14. Thanks for that Sivle James. Now, there must surely be a way by which you can GET RID OF THE CAPS LOCK? Eh? Thanks in advance… ;-)

15. Zappa is a swindle master.
    And he ‘s a genius.
    OOOh I tell you this: The first time you’ll be listening to this album, you’ll think you’re cool.YOU’RE NOT!
    This album has a commercial potential but this potential has been killed by Zappa himself, and that’s why it is that good, nand that’s why it makes you feel you’re COOL. When he wants to, Zappa can make very commercial albums (Over-Nite Sensation, Apostrophe) but they don’t sound as good as this one.
    It is one of the three best albums that zappa ever released.
    You can Run and buy it safety now.

16. “Freak Out” is undoubtedly one of the top five greatest Zappa albums ever. I think that it has been so heavily praised and puffed up over the years, other (in my opinion) better and more challenging works like “Absolutely Free” and “You Are What You Is” get a little neglected. I think that “Freak Out” works because it is experimental enough to challenge the listener aggressively (i.e.”Monster Magnet”), yet provide some tongue-in-cheek ear relief with downright beautifully written pop gems (“You Didn’t Try To Call Me”, Anyway the Wind Blows”, etc..). So much has been written concerning Frank Zappa the “master composer”, I honestly think that not enough has clearly illustrated what an amazing simple, effective POP SONG WRITER he was. Think of the melodies and forms of such “throwaway” numbers as “Take Your Clothes off When You Dance”, “You Didn’t Try To Call Me”, “Babette”, “Let’s Make the Water Turn Black”, etc…even if Frank treated them with disdain, it is a wonder that the guy never DID get the commercial acceptance he usually poked fun of. “Freak Out” pulls out all the stops. A young, precocious Frank, arranging music beautifully, throwing in all his early influences all the while clearly and deliberately setting up a definite “scene” and artistic template which not only references other great artists, it sets up Frank’s musical world and sensibilities. “Freak Out” still sounds absolutely fresh today, when even that has become a tired, worn cliche. Just put in on for a spin (vinyl or CD) and from the first downbeat of “Hungry Freaks Daddy” (which features Frank’s greatest “mean-ass” twangy 60’s-style guitar solo. One note about the CD mix that really angers me. The CD mix of “You Didn’t Try to Call Me” fades WAY earlier than the original vinyl mix or even the 1985 “Old Masters” mix. That final “Pachuco Rap” that Frank does is priceless and hilarious, and I miss it dearly. WHY???? Anyway, you’ve just GOTTA have “Freak Out”. So there.

17. freak out! is the best album zappa made in the sixties! except HOT RATS. the music on the album was at that time “ahead for their time” freak out was a direct insparacion to beatles “sgt pepper” and i must say: freak out! was probebly the most acid effect album of the sixties! frank “fucking amazing” zappa was whit no doubt the inventor of the psycedelic rock. it cant happen here!

18. Zest for life makes tremendous inroads into culture and media. As original a debut as THE DOORS (1967) or ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? (1967) – or even RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE (1992) in that nothing that preceeded it sounded quite like it or made the same statement in it’s documented medium. The first double album recorded with electric instruments to boot. Zappa “influenced” BLONDE ON BLONDE (1966) that much, at least. FREAK OUT! also shares a tendancy to comment on it’s own nature by way of simply existing. For some obscure reason this album can’t be dismissed. By no means Frank’s best or most overtly sophisticated album it is constantly exhalted by virtue of the fact that it quote “sounds good”. Yes – it contains Frank’s two most accessible songs: “Trouble Every Day” and “I Ain’t Got No Heart”. These songs are also popular due to the fact that the profanity is in the eye of the controller – squarely, in fact – and that they appear to be an observation on something “good”. No-one likes race riots and rats crawling across their floor if they can’t exploit or escape it and some “listeners” believe that in the mid-sixties Frank Zappa showed the positive refinement of “good” taste to avoid saying that the subject of these songs were for quote “assholes”. Unfortunatly, that is the contemporary target audience for this album. People who were seduced by Frank’s imagination of sorts were lonely, unattractive soon-to-be-self-labelled freaks. Possibly of nature. It even inspired Sir Paul McCartney MBE! Still, it became the hippest record in London – then the centre of the entire universe – for less than the album’s duration. Then they discovered THE BONZO DOG (DOO DAH) BAND and drank tea.

    I am aware that this review says absolutely nothing about music but as my ambition is to edit ROLLING STONE I have no desire to take a gander ’round the Packard Goose. Gabba Gabba Hey!

    Aladdin Vladimir McFadden, The dugong prince.

19. Es algo fuera de contexto, realmente al escuchar este disco, todos los demás grupos no provocan oirlos.
    Si en la fecha en que saíó ese disco lo hubiese escuchado, persigo a los Mothers para hacerme recogecables, atrileros, cualquier cosa, para estar con Zappa.

20. I ended up buying this on CD about halfway through my collection. I avoided the early years and went for the stuff around APOSTROPHE(‘)–my formal introduction. After buying everything before HOT RATS, and missing this one, I bought it. Wonderful. What a way to make an impression. From the moronic lyrics of ‘Wowie Zowie’ to the sounds and speed tricks of ‘Monster Magnet,’ a gem. According to some, this album came out after ‘Blonde on Blonde,’ but it’s better to think otherwise.

21. one of my all time favorite albums.
    every song is essential

22. Freak Out or Zoloft, your choice.

23. Everybody must listen to this album at least once! Digest (or digress) as you will. Brilliant!

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