The Mothers Of Invention

The band Frank Zappa led from a Pomona bar to Verve Records, whose first three albums set his satire of American life to R&B, orchestral writing and tape collage.

Origin: California, United States
Years active: 1965-1975
Genres: experimental rock, psychedelic rock, avant-garde
Labels: Verve, Bizarre, Reprise
Also known as: The Mothers, The Soul Giants

The Soul Giants

The Mothers of Invention began as the Soul Giants, an R&B covers band with Ray Collins on vocals, Jimmy Carl Black on drums, Roy Estrada on bass and David Coronado on saxophone. After a fight between Collins and the guitarist, Frank Zappa was asked to take over on guitar. He wanted the group to play his own songs, Coronado left over the idea, and on Mother's Day 1965 the band became the Mothers. Zappa wrote in 1968 that he had composed a product to fill most of the gaps between so-called serious music and popular music, and that he then needed a group of his own to present it to the public.

Producer Tom Wilson, who had worked with Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel, heard them play Trouble Every Day, a song about the Watts riots, and signed them to Verve, the MGM division long known for jazz. Verve wanted a new name and suggested the Mothers Auxiliary. Zappa answered with the Mothers of Invention. He later wrote that the band rehearsed an average of twelve hours on each song and thought of every set as one continuous piece of music, like an opera.

Freak Out!

Freak Out! was cut at TTG Studios in Hollywood between 9 and 12 March 1966 and came out on 27 June as a double album. The first two songs recorded were Any Way the Wind Blows and Who Are the Brain Police?. Zappa wrote that Wilson phoned New York after hearing them, and the budget became more or less unlimited. Zappa wrote arrangements for a 22-piece orchestra that included the five-piece band, and the record runs from R&B and doo-wop to orchestral arrangements and sound collages.

It includes Hungry Freaks, Daddy, Trouble Every Day and the three-part Help, I'm a Rock, and it ends with the side-long The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet, which Zappa said was left unfinished. The album reached 130 on the Billboard chart and did better in Europe than in the United States at first. Paul McCartney regarded Sgt. Pepper as the Beatles' Freak Out!. Rolling Stone's entry for it says that of Zappa's more than sixty albums, the first was perhaps the most groundbreaking.

New York

Absolutely Free followed on 26 May 1967, recorded in November 1966 at TTG with Wilson as producer in name while Zappa ran the sessions. It is built as two oratorios, the second called The M.O.I. American Pageant, and holds Plastic People and Brown Shoes Don't Make It. It reached 41 on Billboard. Offered a contract at the Garrick Theater in New York at Easter 1967, the Mothers saw the booking extended to half a year and moved to the city.

There they made We're Only in It for the Money between July and October 1967 at Mayfair and Apostolic studios. Collins had gone, so Zappa sang most of the lead vocals. The cover parodied Sgt. Pepper, and Zappa later said the album was meant to show that the Beatles were only in it for the money. Barret Hansen wrote in Rolling Stone that it was the most advanced work to be heard in rock, while saying that whether it was the best was a moot point. It peaked at 30 on the Billboard 200, the highest of any Mothers album, and entered the National Recording Registry in 2005.

Uncle Meat and the end

The Mothers also made Cruising with Ruben & the Jets, a doo-wop album released in December 1968 under the name Ruben and the Jets. Uncle Meat, a double album, was recorded mostly at Apostolic Studios between October 1967 and February 1968 on a 12-track machine, with live recordings from the Royal Albert Hall added. It came out in April 1969 as music from a film Zappa did not yet have the money to finish, and reached 43.

In late 1969 Zappa broke up the band, often citing the financial strain. Leftover studio and live recordings became Burnt Weeny Sandwich and Weasels Ripped My Flesh in 1970, the second mostly live and loose. Zappa formed a new Mothers that year and mostly dropped the "of Invention". Lowell George and Roy Estrada went on to found Little Feat, and Bongo Fury in 1975 was the last new album credited to the Mothers.

Members

Frank Zappa guitar, vocals, conductor
Ray Collins vocals, harmonica, tambourine
Jimmy Carl Black drums, vocals
Roy Estrada bass, vocals
Elliot Ingber guitar
Billy Mundi drums
Don Preston keyboards
Bunk Gardner woodwinds
Ian Underwood keyboards, woodwinds

Records

Freak Out! 1966 · Verve
The debut double album, cut in four days at TTG and ending with a side-long unfinished ballet.
Absolutely Free 1967 · Verve
Two oratorios recorded in November 1966, with Plastic People and Brown Shoes Don't Make It.
We're Only in It for the Money 1968 · Verve
A satire of the hippie scene with a cover that parodied Sgt. Pepper, and the Mothers' highest-charting album.
Uncle Meat 1969 · Bizarre
A double album built from overdubs and live tape, made as the soundtrack to a film Zappa had not finished.
Weasels Ripped My Flesh 1970 · Bizarre
Mostly live and improvised Mothers recordings assembled after the split, under a Neon Park cover.

Songs

Hungry Freaks, Daddy Freak Out! · 1966
The opening track of Freak Out!, an attack on the American school system.
Who Are the Brain Police? Freak Out! · 1966
The second song recorded for Freak Out!, which Zappa said he wrote down as if dictated.
Trouble Every Day Freak Out! · 1966
Written during the Watts riot, and the song that brought Tom Wilson to the Mothers.
Help, I'm a Rock Freak Out! · 1966
A three-part suite dedicated to Elvis Presley, built from a repeated phrase and overlapping chatter.
Plastic People Absolutely Free · 1967
The opener of Absolutely Free, grown out of a Louie Louie cover and aimed at the Sunset Strip crowd.
Brown Shoes Don't Make It Absolutely Free · 1967
A seven-minute piece in 22 sections, with the only outside orchestra on Absolutely Free.

Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Little Feat, The Beatles, The Velvet Underground

Where to go next

Reference

The Mothers of Invention A history of the band and its line-ups.
Freak Out! Background, recording, release and reception of the debut.
We're Only in It for the Money Recording sessions, cover art and reissues.

Writing and criticism

Rolling Stone review, April 1968 Barret Hansen's review of We're Only in It for the Money, as reproduced on a fan site.
Christgau on We're Only in It for the Money Robert Christgau's 1995 Consumer Guide review of the CD.
Rolling Stone: Freak Out! The magazine's 500 greatest albums entry.
Frank Zappa: Album by Album Uncut's guide, with recollections from Ray Collins, Ian Underwood and Don Preston.

Interviews

The Incredible History of the Mothers Zappa's own account of the band's early years, written for Hit Parader in 1968, as reproduced on a fan site.

Fan sites and communities

Freak Out!: Notes and Comments Track-by-track notes with Zappa's liner notes, session lists and interview quotes.
We're Only In It For The Money: Notes and Comments Zappa on the title and the Sgt. Pepper cover, with interview extracts.
Absolutely Free: Notes and Comments Session dates, musicians and Zappa's own comments on each song.
Uncle Meat: Notes and Comments The Apostolic sessions, the Royal Albert Hall tapes and the film.
Weasels Ripped My Flesh: Notes and Comments Zappa on the album and the cover art.
Chronology 1965 to 1969 A dated chronology of the Mothers' first years, including the Garrick Theater shows.

Sources

The Mothers of Invention, Wikipedia
The Incredible History of the Mothers, Hit Parader (as reproduced on a fan site) (1968-06)
We're Only in It for the Money (review), Rolling Stone (as reproduced on a fan site) (1968-04-06)
Frank Zappa: Album by Album, Uncut (2012-08-31)
Notes and Comments, Information Is Not Knowledge
Chronology 1965 to 1969, Information Is Not Knowledge
Consumer Guide: We're Only in It for the Money, The Village Voice (1995-12-26)