Classic Zappa weirdness

Review Score: (10/10)
ABSOLUTELY FREE was the second album by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, coming not long after their groundbreaking debut, FREAK OUT! This one, I think, sounds a little awkward and unsure in places, and one could see it as a transitional album between FREAK OUT! and what many believe to be their magnum opus, WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY. This is the first time that Zappa pursued a "collage" esthetic, and many of the songs (particularly 'Plastic People', 'Duke of Prunes' and 'Call Any Vegetable') resemble clumps of unusual music with bizarre lyrics, jammed together with sudden breaks and dialogue, etc. But somehow, it's all very entertaining. Zappa's flair, not just for strangeness, but for innovative arrangement and production are much in evidence. 'Brown Shoes Don't Make It', a 7-minute "rock opera" with constantly-shifting musical styles, is an early classic of Zappa's. ABSOLUTELY FREE probably isn't the best Mothers of Invention disc, but no library of 60s Zappa is complete without it.

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