Freak Out! [Original recording remastered]

This is an album that stands for itself. I cannot imagine the face of music without it, true, but then music still is a very ugly place to go to without Frank Zappa.

The snarling distorted guitars; the parody-close-to-pastiche of Any Way the Wind Blows and You Didn't Try to Call Me; the social commentary of Trouble Every Day; the dada of Help I'm a Rock; the liner notes; the lyrics (oh! the lyrics!).

Amazing, if anything, because it prefigures everything Zappa went on to do, that is to say, stayed true to. It is one of those immense ironies of art that this is his debut record (a debut on the scale of Iris Murdoch's 'Under the Net').

Let's be plain about this, if you don't know the music of Frank Zappa but are somehow intrigued and want to know more, you should start with 'Apostrophe' or maybe 'Hot Rats'.

If however, you know a little Zappa and want to find out about his roots then here's a good place to start. This album is quite different from all the stuff that came after. The reason for this is that there's some pretty personal stuff on here. On subsequent releases he developed a sort of highly articulate barrier based on a number of techniques. In matters of a personal nature he later directed his attentions to other groups of people and manufactured the kind of 'Frank' he wanted people to see. In short, after this album he was totally in control. He was the 'Central Scrutiniser'.

The darkly cynical and angry track 'I Ain't Got No Heart' is a real song about real feelings. And there are more. 'How Could I be Such a Fool' and 'I'm Not Satisfied' also reveal the bitterness and betrayal he had experienced as a result of relationships with a woman or women unnamed.

This CD also contains plenty of the stuff we all know about Frank but in embryo form. Groovy paranoia (Who Are The Brain Police), Teen parody (Wowie Zowie) and statements of intent (Hungry Freaks, Daddy).

Then, surfacing like a monstrously embarrasing reality check point, we are treated to 'Trouble Every Day' - a wake up call to bigots and racists of every colour. This is the most serious political piece that Frank Zappa ever wrote. His rage at the ramifications of a repressed people driven to fighting in the streets goes way beyond the silly pseudo-revolutionary rants of his contemporaries. Just listen to the way he sings: "He wants to go and do you in, because the colour of your skin, well it just don't appeal to him, no matter if it's black or white because he's out for blood tonight".

The album finishes with 'The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet' (originally subtitled 'The Ritual Dance of The Child Killers'). This album was originally released on MGM records' 'Verve' label which was the home of fine jazz at the time. There really is no wonder that there were questions asked as to why on earth MGM were paying for studio time for a freak to record a cacophony like this. Indeed, 'Monster Magnet' took up almost the whole last side of what was an astonishing double vinyl album.

So, why did this reviewer give it five stars? Well, because it's a great album. The songs are hooky, brilliant, intelligent and probably more a sign of the times than any of the other corporate nonsense that was released in 1965.

You don't have to be a student of Frank Zappa to like this stuff but it helps to be prepared. It's not always easy but this is a truly great debut by a truly great artist.

The majority of artists test the water with their first few releases, then (if they've got the talent) do something ground-breaking. For his debut, Frank didn't just break ground; he picked up a jackhammer and drilled away the foundation of popular music as we then knew it, replacing it with a hearty dose of ugliness, humour and controversy, packed into the first ever rock double-vinyl release (initially released in the UK as a single album without tracks 12-15, which were far too dangerous!). Forty years on (yes, nearly half a century!), this remains an essential rock album. The acid test: you could still put this on the CD player at the end of a party when your best friends are the only ones remaining, and elicit the response "Mate - what the hell IS this stuff?". The show kicks off with the Stones' Satisfaction-influenced "Hungry Freaks, Daddy", wherein Frank gets straight to work with some cutting lyrics about the state of the nation, continues with the savage honesty of "I Ain't Got No Heart" and the scary "Who are the Brain Police?", then a bit of his beloved doo-wop, some irony-laden wall-of-sound love ballads decorated with vibes, soaring brass and percussion arrangements, the Dylanesque "Trouble Every Day", then climaxing with a twenty minute plateful of general weirdness in the closing three tracks. Curiously, the album's lead vocals are credited to Ray Collins, but my experience tells me without doubt that on many of these songs, Frank is the dominant singer, with Collins a co-vocalist taking the occasional lead. In fact, out of all 70+ albums, Freak Out contains some of Frank's best vocal work and is probably the only place you will find him singing a genuine love song. Listen to "How Could I be such a Fool" - you may laugh but this is perfect Scott Walker/Marc Almond territory! Some people say Frank never bettered this work. That's a valid point of view I think, but the thing to bear in mind is that he explored many musical worlds, which all have their place with different people. And, most of the time, that jackhammer was never far away.