A witty, venomous way to start off your debut album. This song is pretty much a summary of what Frank's 60s lyrics were all about. It's a stone-cold classic. There is still no consensus on who exactly played the solo on the studio rendition, is there? I mean, i and a lot of other people think it's Frank, but some think it's Elliot Ingber. One thing is for sure, it's a great one. I really like this version: For a very different, funky take: Frank Zappa 1974 05 12 Hungry Freaks, Daddy
This is going to be a fun thread to follow. I have only recently gone down the Zappa rabbit hole. I started with Freak Out and am working my way through in chronogical order of release. I am only through "The Grand Wazoo" so far as I am trying to really absorb each album the best I can before moving on to the next one.
I started in about 2016 or so I think, and I don’t regret going down the hole. I haven’t liked everything, but we’ll get to those records eventually, and who knows, maybe my feelings will change.
This thread inspired me to fire up my needle drop of the original Verve Mono mix for this one. I agree with the other comments on Hungry Freaks Daddy being such a great openner. Hungry Freaks Daddy is not just a great openning track for the album Freak Out but may well be the most prophetic openning track for the future discography in rock history IMHO.
That's the thing with Zappa, you can't rely on your initial impression from my experience. This is a big part of the reason I am taking my time working through the discograpghy. Much of my first impressions have been, "what the hell is this?" kind of reaction. I now love some, but not all, of the stuff I had a strong negative initial reaction to upon my first exposure.
i think that is most peoples reaction. i was probably 17 or 18 and the bass player in our band was about 40 and he gave me some Zappa, and I was exactly the same, "what the ...." ... a few weeks later I asked to borrow it again, because as weird as some of it is, he has subtle (term of the forum here) earworms and they get deep. I then purchased a ton of it and now I really like most of it ... some not so much, but most of it is just great. That's the other thing though, over the thirty or forty years he was releasing stuff, you generally got a ton of variety and inventiveness, something sadly lacking, generally, in popular music.
Really? I skipped Mothermania since I have all the albums that comp draws from. Perhaps I need to check it out. Are the mixes for all the tracks different than the album versions?
There are several mixes that are exclusive to MOTHERMANIA. It's a great collection and I was happy to see it finally issued on cd during the last series of re-issues. I'd say grab a copy!
Hungry Freaks, Daddy Fantastic riff that opens up after the first time through. Bass is loud and pumping. Frank's guitar solo is fantastic...just ripping. Biting lyrics, biting guitars. Perfect debut song for Frank. Love it...probably my favorite track from Freak Out! Good luck on this thread, @Musicman1998 ! I'll be here the whole way. It's gonna be a LONG thread.
When listening to 'Hungry freak daddy" for the first time, you get the idea that the Mothers are a different band at the moment the kazoo bursts in. Humor belonged in Zappa's music right from the beginning !
Here's some notes I have of the differences 1. Brown Shoes Don't Make It [album version] 2. Mother People [new mono mix] 3. The Duke of Prunes [album version] 4. Call Any Vegetable [edit] 5. The Idiot Bastard Son [new mono mix & edit] 6. It Can't Happen Here [new stereo mix & edit] 7. You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here [new stereo mix] 8. Who Are the Brain Police? [new stereo mix] 9. Plastic People [album version] 10. Hungry Freaks, Daddy [new stereo mix] 11. America Drinks & Goes Home [album version] UNIQUE VERSIONS ON MOTHERMANIA (RELATION TO FREAK OUT!, WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY AND ABSOLUTELY FREE) Mothermania was an old compilation that Zappa himself put together. Some tracks were a bit different than the original versions: in fact, all Freak Out! tracks are alternate stereo mixes, all We're Only In It for the Money tracks are alternate mono mixes, and all Absolutely Free tracks are the original Absolutely Free mixes (but "Call Any Vegetable" has been shortened). And here are the exact differences, vinyl side by vinyl side, track by track, according to JWB, Román García Albertos, Biffy the Elephant Shrew and Michael Gula: Side 1: Brown Shoes Don't Make It - no difference. Mother People - alternate mono mix: Complete song from beginning to end. No sound effects edited in, the line "Shut your f***in' mouth about the length of my hair" line is NOT censored, and the song ends after "holding you near me" - no vinyl record scratch, just a natural fade-out The Duke of Prunes - no differences. But the subtitles that appear on Absolutely Free are not used on Mothermania; the title "The Duke of Prunes" covers the whole suite, with "Amnesia Vivace" and "The Duke Regains His Chops, which are included here.) Call Any Vegetable - the "improvised section" is edited out: it jumps right from the Holst quote at the beginning of "Invocation & Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin" into "Soft-Sell Conclusions", skipping the whole sax/guitar solo part. (Note that these subtitles that appear on Absolutely Free are not used on Mothermania; the title "Call Any Vegetable" covers the whole suite.) The Idiot Bastard Son - alternate mono mix: Complete song. full blown intro not on We're Only In It for the Money (piano & timpani - very nice), no "I never wanted to ..." section edited in, no snorks, and the end fades out naturally. Also, Frank made the acoustic guitars and clarinets more relevant in this mix. (The LP is worth getting just for this track alone.) Side 2: It Can't Happen Here - On Freak Out!, it is not differentiated by title, but only considered an untitled segment of "Help, I'm a Rock". This is a completely new stereo mix; the old Freak Out! stereo featured the usual strict left/middle/right division typical of '60s stereo imaging - this is a more sophisticated stereo mix. It's also an alternate edit, with straight singing all the way through, and no piano/percussion section. The end is looped - it goes "It can't happen here, can't happen here, can't happen heeere [cheesy tape echo] ..." - and there is also "an extra scrap of FZ dialog ('... since you first took the shots')". At one point the word "psychedelic" is plainly heard - the word is inexplicably edited out of the Freak Out! version. You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here - completely new stereo mix; the old Freak Out! stereo featured the usual strict left/middle/right division typical of '60s stereo imaging - this is a more sophisticated stereo mix. Who Are the Brain Police? - completely new stereo mix; the old Freak Out! stereo featured the usual strict left/middle/right division typical of '60s stereo imaging - this is a more sophisticated stereo mix. Plastic People - no differences. Hungry Freaks, Daddy - completely new stereo mix; the old Freak Out! stereo featured the usual strict left/middle/right division typical of '60s stereo imaging - this is a more sophisticated stereo mix. The echo effect that was applied to the last words ("the great society") on the Freak Out! vinyl has been removed (and was also removed from the Freak Out! 1985 remix). America Drinks & Goes Home - some disagreement here
This is a frequent experience of mine. Hoping that revisiting some of the less-liked numbers will have grown on me.
Here's a version of "Hungry Freaks, Daddy" recorded by the Meridian Arts Emsemble. 1998 release. I like some of their arrangements of Zappa pieces quite a bit.
HF, D Ok, pretty faboo opening salvo from the Head Mother. Pretty much its all Zappa, as he expanded the Mothers he took on more of an influence, and he would continue exploiting the individual characteristics, which were pretty basic here. I do gotta say I dismiss most of this early material, but none of it should be ignored. Everything he did was part of one collective piece of music, each separate album one child in a vast expanded family.
Great to be here! I go back all the way with this record. It was bought by my moms BF on release. He came back from CA with it. I hated it. He had gotten Country Joes Rag Baby EP too, which I liked better. (Thing called love is better than the LP version.) Anyway fast forward to my High School Radio station where I am hanging and working and they had records in their little library. In fairness to me I had my copy of hot rocks stolen from the studio. Anyway can I just say I graduated High School with Dixie Chicken, American Beauty, and Freak Out. (I had made a half hour sketch show with my friends and called it "Hungry Freaks" BTW) SO when I get home after Freshman year college it's like the clock struck FReak Out and I loved it that summer. Anywy HFD has always been a great song. In the day I would even venture it was a "hard rock" song. It was extreme, in the music and in the sarcasm. It was underground and scathing. And Dixie Chicken and American Beauty? I could write a book.
Just got done spinning an original LP of Freak Out. My wife is out of town this week, so now I will play all four discs of the MOFO cd set, loudly. It's been some years since I heard all four discs . . . Then the exclusive tracks on the two disc version. This will be fun. I know how to party. lol.
Earliest Zappa memory follows. My first EVER job at a local Mickey Dees (15 yrs old). On the night crew ,cleaning the place up with locked doors. My night "manager" sparks one up and puts Freak Out on the restaurant PA system. The rest as they say is "history". In the best sense of the word,(or Phrase).
