Frank Zappa Absolutely Free

I still have my original vinyl of AF, love all those early albums.

 

I'm probably in a minority, but my favorite track from this album is Status Back Baby. Perfect satire.

 

This is like The Supremes...See the way it builds up. Ya feel it?

BABY BABY BABY BABY! My pruuuuuuuune is yourrrrrrrrrs

 

So, a couple of questions that probably don't merit another thread... Maybe I can just ask them here.

If I own the Lumpy Money collection, is it worth tracking down any of the other sundry issues of We're Only in It for the Money or Absolutely Free if I'm not a completest?

Also, is the 2012 remaster of Absolutely Free the one to get on CD?

Thanks!

 

Absolutely. The old Rykos don't hold a candle to these 2012 remasterings. They've really done Frank's catalog right these last few years.

As for your other question, depending on how much you dig these albums. Lumpy Money features the original mono versions of Lumpy Gravy (without the spoken word bits) and We're Only in It for the Money, which both sound fantastic. It also includes the controversial 80s remixes of these two albums. I think it's worth it to have the stereo We're Only in It for the Money, sans 80s overdubs, though I haven't gotten around to replacing my Ryko there. The mono versions are my go to mixes at this point. I don't think I've ever heard the mono Absolutely Free, but I would love to.

 

Thanks so much!

 

AF and "Sgt. Pepper's" got released a mere few days apart. Isn't it a surprising coincidence that they both are "concept" albums, and both with the tracks not banded and seguing into each others? Either that or a good case of industrial espionage?...

EDIT: ...and both have a theme that's reprised?...

 

Absolutely Free is my favorite of the early Mothers albums, probably because it was the only one I heard for years, until the early albums were reissued on CD. When I got into Zappa in the late 70s, all of the early Mothers's albums were OOP. I found a copy of AF in the college library and made a tape copy. Five or six years later I found bootleg copies of Freak Out and We're Only In It For the Money. The sound quality on those were horrible so I didn't listen to them a lot. By the time the CDs came out, AF was ingrained.