Absolutely Free (studio album) by The Mothers Of Invention

From Jboy56 08/23/2022 12:37

Absolutely ZAPPY Zappa!

A bit of a weaker release than the albums that come out around it but it still has a few shining moments and it still has Zappa humour. The instrumentation is very solid as well throughout and there are some fantastic guitar work as there always is. It can get a little repetitive by the end of the album and it does feel a bit slow at times. The music just feels like it is missing the spark of life his other records seems to have. The songs don't hook you as well as the tracks on albums like Freak Out! do as they seem to be a bit more messy and not as coherent. Despite this, the record is obviously full of experimentation and musical diversity so it is still a lot of fun to listen to and can keep you coming back just to see the craziness of the sound. The longer songs are where the record truly shines though as the two tracks over 6 minutes are the best on the record. There are also great shorter songs scattered throughout as well but they can't maintain this quality. Overall, a classic Zappa album that is a lot fun and doesn't get boring but it is weaker in comparison to his other releases.

From mdbaxter 06/13/2020 16:53

Interesting and captivating album. Great sounding and fantastic guitar work from Zappa. An improvement on their sound in comparison to their debut, in my opinion. A little silly in the middle but consistently high quality stuff otherwise.

From Sandrof1969 02/13/2018 21:16

Grandi canzoni, musica in libertà, pop, jazz, Suzy Creemchease, ironia, sberleffo: c'è tutto il mondo del Frank Zappa anni sessanta in "Absolutely free"

More sounds from weirdsville. Absolutely free, is the slightly forgotten album out of that initial trilogy of LP's. It's not quite as good overall as, freak out, but it's probably more consistent than, money, still, got moments of indulgence as you would expect from Zappa. A nice alternative to what else was happening in music at the time

Very imaganitive album

From ticharu 11/16/2014 11:43

This record struggles with its brilliance, a more brilliant record I'm not sure there is, I never tire of it, I know all the words, my friends know all the words. Like some people know all the bits to The Sound Of Music, we know all the bits to Absolutely Free.

Obviously this album is a giant satire of American music/policies, but why must the music be so goofy? This album is stuck smack dab in the middle of two much better Zappa albums with similar ambitions; Freak Out and We're Only In It For the Money. This whole album sounds like a bunch of people goofing around, and as a result, very little of this music sticks, and after a while, all the shenanigans become somewhat tiresome. "Invocation and Ritual Dance..." is a 7 minute jam that sounds like it belongs more to Hot Rats, and it's a nice change of pace.

Such an awesome album. Zappa at his funniest.