Freak Out!

Maybe 3.5? I didn’t have time to listen multiple times today but I’d come back to it

Wowie zowie, I freaked out!

Wild and weird, especially for 66. This album is insane, but somehow still relatively accessible which is very impressive. Plus adding in its place as one of the first concept albums AND one of the first double albums, it's definitely earned its place here.

Had to turn it off after like 4 songs

Love me a bit of Frank Zappa. Weird and amusing and then even more weird. It's a bit long for one sitting but I made it through. Not the sort of thing I can listen too every day but I will listen again and the score may go up.
(edit : I have and it won't)

Started listening to this and made a comment to my wife that it's not quite as weird as I expected it to be. Then the second half came on and I was put in my place.

It's not a bad record, but it's not one I see myself putting on again anytime soon.

This was super fun. A psychedelic record that just seemed to be making fun of psychedelic music. The lyrics are funny. You feel like you are in on the joke as you listen.

This was fun!
+3 !

I’m at a 4.

This is my first time listening to ANYTHING by Frank Zappa ever, so starting at the debut is probably a good point; I'm vaguely aware of his place in this general era of music, but I couldn't tell you the first thing about the guy before listening to this. I did enjoy this a lot, though.

Admittedly, the last 20 minutes or so of the album cloud & overshadow the first 40 minutes, and tried their hardest to do a Men in Black-esque mindwipe on me, which probably worked to some degree. It is impossible to talk about this album in full without acknowledging that the final 20 minutes feel like a glimpse into the very molecules of the drugs that powered so much of the 1960s, and those molecules seep their way through the music & into the mind, and it is… certainly a trip of sorts. I’m not sure how to feel about that part of the ride – I didn’t hate it, but I’m not sure it’s a trip I’d willingly hop onto again.

Those first 40 minutes are really good though, and they’re strong enough to keep this at a stable 4 – a lot of it is riffs on other artists of the 60s, especially on the folksier/hippie side of things, but there’s some doo-wop, rock & a little bit of the Beatles scattered throughout. “Go Cry on Somebody Else’s Shoulder” is the blatant obvious pastiche here, specifically of “Put Your Head On My Shoulder”, but the album works mainly because it plays these genres totally straight, in a very Weird Al-adjacent way that strikes a good chord with me. The best way to parody something is to do it as faithfully as possible, and Frank Zappa & friends here completely nail that vibe.

When they do play it totally straight though (namely on “Trouble Every Day”, the standout of the album for me), it just tells me that they could’ve REALLY done some great work without having to riff on the entire culture of the 60s to that point. Granted, this album wouldn’t be as good without it, but there are moments here where the writing feels contrarian, a little too loose, or just outright toxic in its negativity. It’s never *bad* writing, but it occasionally tries to punch below the belt a little too much, to the point that even Trey Parker & Matt Stone would probably tell him to dial it back.

Ultimately though, I liked it – for 1966 in particular, this feels well ahead of schedule. It’s far from perfect, but so much of what’s here in its experimentation & willingness to go against the grain feels innovative in a way that’s hard to describe, but once again, kind of easy to feel after listening to it. Apparently, Paul McCartney once said this album acted as one of the inspirations for Sgt. Pepper’s, so… I’m excited to get that one now. As far as this album goes though, it’s a solid, solid 4 for me -- no less than a 3.

It's just not that good, right? Maybe you had to be there. Was going to give this two but the self indulgence of "It Can't Happen Here" tipped me over to 1 and Monster Magnet confirmed it.

Wonderful and chock with irreverence!

My WHOLE LIFE, people I respect as musicians have been trying to sell me on Frank Zappa's greatness. No matter how many time I try, I just can't. This was no exception. Much of the music IS great. I love the experimentation. But there is something about the goofy feel to the compositions overall that just turn me off. Frank's voice and delivery, the lyrical content... I just can't take any of it seriously and that makes me just not care enough to be invested in it.

Lots of similar sounding psych rock albums on this list. This one was probably the most enjoyable of the bunch with quite a clean sound despite the age

This was like really bad. Most of this album didn’t need to be recorded. It sounds like some teenagers recording their joke songs in the basement. Maybe one of them finds the tape years later and goes wow we were really bad, but looks back on the time fondly. Seriously though there’s like 30 minutes of them just screwing around at the end of the album. Before that the actual songs feel like they’re supposed to be satirical takes on 50s rock and roll but they miss the mark by a mile and it just sounds stupid.

I really hate everything about this sonically.
There may be some valid social commentary within? Alot of it is joking around.
The vocals hurt too much to closely listen.
Yuck.

I mean honestly for a Zappa album it's kind of restrained. It is super cool to see this album as an evolutionary step in rock coming out of the blues and the freak scene in the west coast in the 60's. I'm deducting a star for 12 minutes of noodling being the last song.

I'm glad I finally listened to this one. I'm not super familiar with Zappa's discography, but I do love Hot Rats. This isn't exactly similar to that one, but it was very ahead of it's time - I actually had to double check the date. Kind of mind blowing that something like this came out in 1966, pre Sgt Peppers even! I appreciate what they were going for with the satirical songs in the first half, but I find them a bit boring. Probably because I find the musical styles that most of them imitate a bit hackneyed. It starts to get really interesting from around "Trouble Every Day" though, from then on I loved it. So, bit of a mixed bag, but I'll give an extra star for the sheer creativity and innovation.

I quite enjoyed the first 3/4's or so of the album. But the back portion went off the rails for me. Especially Can't Happen Here.

Jotain kiinnostavia ideoita, mutta välillä mennään reilusti huti sekoilun kanssa. Hyvä, että levy on olemassa mutta kerralla kuunneltuna 2/5

Batcrap crazy and lots of fun