Classical 1967 album reviews
ABSOLUTELY FREE Frank Zappa, Verve/Rykodisk RecordsFrank Zappa's sophomore album was widely expected after he caught all and sundry by surprise with his debut double album release, Freak Out!, which he recorded with his band, The Mothers Of Invention.
ABSOLUTELY FREE
Frank Zappa, Verve/Rykodisk Records
Frank Zappa's sophomore album was widely expected after he caught all and sundry by surprise with his debut double album release, Freak Out!, which he recorded with his band, The Mothers Of Invention. Here was a continuation of his weird freakiness, both in sounds and concepts that still sounded so fresh, so intriguing and so unique. Absolutely Free is once again a display of complex musical composition and with lots of political and social satire. Zappa did not need any flower-power culture to get him going. Anyway, he wasn't part of that movement - he actually shunned it. However, he was clearly enamoured by the alternative sub-cultures that existed in Los Angeles, where he lived, as well as in other parts of the US. If Freak Out! was the first real alternative album, Absolutely Free was the first album to make really good use of cut-out techniques. Zappa, alongside legendary producer Tom Wilson (who had worked with Simon and Garfunkel and Bob Dylan among other talents), managed to deliver songs that said so much about American conformity and hit out against hypocrisy in a very radical manner. The additions of sax player Bunk Gardner and keyboards player Don Preston allowed Zappa even more space for experimentation and adventure.
If Bob Dylan managed to lampoon Middle American values with much subtlety, Zappa just went in for it, cutting no corners. Plastic People and America Drinks And Goes Home are two cases in point with Zappa all the more hitting out against hypocrisy and double standards, but this time, getting even bolder with his use of garage rock, avant-garde jazz, 1950s' doo-wop, cutting edge experimentation and oddball delivery of some of the most awry reflections a latter-day composer can come up with.
The cheerful surrealistic Call Any Vegetable is complemented by Brown Shoes Don't Make It, a seven-minute plus epic, inspired by operetta which ridicules American suburban culture and repressed sexual thoughts and obsessions. Zappa also tried, albeit unsuccessfully to enter the pop singles charts with two songs, Why Dontcha Do Me Right and Big Leg Mama, songs which were aimed to dumb, spoilt teenagers. These songs were eventually included in the album's re-release on Rykodisk Records back in 1995. I recall Mancunian songwriter Roy Harper referring to Zappa as a great, leftfield artiste when I interviewed him back in 1985. Then, he was on holiday in Malta, and he recalled his sincerity, even if his music may initially shock, citing Plastic People as an "immortal song" that said so much about many hollow people, not least those connected with the music business.
Absolutely Free eventually paved the way for one of Zappa's most quoted albums We're Only In It For The Money which in a way was a reaction to the musical mores and happenings of 1967, just as the rock music movement then was a reaction to the establishment at that time.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO
Verve Records, The Velvet Underground and Nico
Velvet Underground's debut album still sends shivers down the spines of those who initially experienced it, or second generation followers of the band (like myself) or many later followers including a crop of Maltese indie bands. Alison Galea of Beangrowers once described this debut as "one of the most impressive ever". All of us usually refer to this album as the one "with the banana cover", and as such this debut album is simply great in more ways than one.
Released on Verve Records, the same label which helped along Frank Zappa, The Velvet Underground and Nico projected avant-garde in a more stark and morose manner. By all means, it was an avant-garde album, yet it was thoroughly different from what Zappa and co. were doing on the other side of the US.
Recorded in 1966 during Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable multimedia event tour, The Velvet Underground and Nico would gain notoriety for its experimentalist performance sensibilities, as well as its focus on controversial subject matter in songs such as Heroin, or sado-masochism on Venus In Furs. Though relatively unpopular upon its release, it has since become one of the most influential and critically lauded rock albums in history, and features in practically every critic's list. Who would have ever thought that Lou Reed, already a controversial figure at Syracuse, New York, would come up with harsh, pristine sounds that evoked a confused, perhaps even a tortured conscience on the aforementioned Heroin? Besides, ace Welsh viola player John Cale's dissonant sounds provided some sheer adventures in a most unexpected manner. They also evoked the influences of American experimentalists La Monte Young and John Cage, among others. Yet, this album also presented a bittersweet side with German singer Nico providing some rather moody female vocal recitations on Femme Fatale, I'll Be Your Mirror and All Tomorrow's Parties, as well as backing up Lou Reed on Sunday Morning.
There is some confusion as to who actually produced The Velvet Underground and Nico. Although Andy Warhol was the only formally credited producer, he had very little direct influence or authority over the album beyond paying for the recording sessions, and being responsible for the unique cover, typical of his artistic approach at that time. In fact, several other individuals who worked on the album are often mentioned as the album's technical producer.
These include Norman Dolph, John Licata and Tom Wilson. Dolph himself, however, admits John Cale as the album's rightful creative producer, as he handled the majority of the album's musical arrangements. And yet, Cale later recalled that it was Wilson who actually produced nearly all the tracks on The Velvet Underground and Nico.
"The band never again had as good a producer as Tom Wilson," Cale once told a Rolling Stone interviewer. "Andy Warhol didn't do anything." Lou Reed claims that Warhol was their protégé. In an interview he gave to Rolling Stone magazine in later years, Reed would say that "in a sense, he really did produce it, because he was the umbrella that absorbed all the attacks when we weren't large enough to be attacked... and as a consequence of him being the producer, we'd just walk in and set up and do what we always did and no one would stop it because Andy was the producer. Of course he didn't know anything about record production - but he didn't have to."
The Velvet Underground And Nico provided a mass contrast from the heady, colourful psychedelic scene at that time. In the end, it doesn't matter who provided such a challenging production. However, one must credit Lou Reed for writing lyrics that were so challenging then, and to some extent even now. Few writers would be bold enough to siphon their love for the likes of William Burroughs, Hubert Selby and Allen Ginsberg into songs that exposed life's less desirable realities.
Frank Zappa, Verve/Rykodisk RecordsFrank Zappa's sophomore album was widely expected after he caught all and sundry by surprise with his debut double album release, Freak Out!, which he recorded with his band, The Mothers Of Invention. Here was a continuation of his weird freakiness, both in sounds and concepts that still sounded so fresh, so intriguing and so unique. Absolutely Free is once again a display of complex musical composition and with lots of political and social satire. Zappa did not need any flower-power culture to get him going. Anyway, he wasn't part of that movement - he actually shunned it. However, he was clearly enamoured by the alternative sub-cultures that existed in Los Angeles, where he lived, as well as in other parts of the US. If Freak Out! was the first real alternative album, Absolutely Free was the first album to make really good use of cut-out techniques. Zappa, alongside legendary producer Tom Wilson (who had worked with Simon and Garfunkel and Bob Dylan among other talents), managed to deliver songs that said so much about American conformity and hit out against hypocrisy in a very radical manner. The additions of sax player Bunk Gardner and keyboards player Don Preston allowed Zappa even more space for experimentation and adventure.
If Bob Dylan managed to lampoon Middle American values with much subtlety, Zappa just went in for it, cutting no corners. Plastic People and America Drinks And Goes Home are two cases in point with Zappa all the more hitting out against hypocrisy and double standards, but this time, getting even bolder with his use of garage rock, avant-garde jazz, 1950s' doo-wop, cutting edge experimentation and oddball delivery of some of the most awry reflections a latter-day composer can come up with.
The cheerful surrealistic Call Any Vegetable is complemented by Brown Shoes Don't Make It, a seven-minute plus epic, inspired by operetta which ridicules American suburban culture and repressed sexual thoughts and obsessions. Zappa also tried, albeit unsuccessfully to enter the pop singles charts with two songs, Why Dontcha Do Me Right and Big Leg Mama, songs which were aimed to dumb, spoilt teenagers. These songs were eventually included in the album's re-release on Rykodisk Records back in 1995. I recall Mancunian songwriter Roy Harper referring to Zappa as a great, leftfield artiste when I interviewed him back in 1985. Then, he was on holiday in Malta, and he recalled his sincerity, even if his music may initially shock, citing Plastic People as an "immortal song" that said so much about many hollow people, not least those connected with the music business.
Absolutely Free eventually paved the way for one of Zappa's most quoted albums We're Only In It For The Money which in a way was a reaction to the musical mores and happenings of 1967, just as the rock music movement then was a reaction to the establishment at that time.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO
Verve Records, The Velvet Underground and NicoVelvet Underground's debut album still sends shivers down the spines of those who initially experienced it, or second generation followers of the band (like myself) or many later followers including a crop of Maltese indie bands. Alison Galea of Beangrowers once described this debut as "one of the most impressive ever". All of us usually refer to this album as the one "with the banana cover", and as such this debut album is simply great in more ways than one.
Released on Verve Records, the same label which helped along Frank Zappa, The Velvet Underground and Nico projected avant-garde in a more stark and morose manner. By all means, it was an avant-garde album, yet it was thoroughly different from what Zappa and co. were doing on the other side of the US.
Recorded in 1966 during Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable multimedia event tour, The Velvet Underground and Nico would gain notoriety for its experimentalist performance sensibilities, as well as its focus on controversial subject matter in songs such as Heroin, or sado-masochism on Venus In Furs. Though relatively unpopular upon its release, it has since become one of the most influential and critically lauded rock albums in history, and features in practically every critic's list. Who would have ever thought that Lou Reed, already a controversial figure at Syracuse, New York, would come up with harsh, pristine sounds that evoked a confused, perhaps even a tortured conscience on the aforementioned Heroin? Besides, ace Welsh viola player John Cale's dissonant sounds provided some sheer adventures in a most unexpected manner. They also evoked the influences of American experimentalists La Monte Young and John Cage, among others. Yet, this album also presented a bittersweet side with German singer Nico providing some rather moody female vocal recitations on Femme Fatale, I'll Be Your Mirror and All Tomorrow's Parties, as well as backing up Lou Reed on Sunday Morning.
There is some confusion as to who actually produced The Velvet Underground and Nico. Although Andy Warhol was the only formally credited producer, he had very little direct influence or authority over the album beyond paying for the recording sessions, and being responsible for the unique cover, typical of his artistic approach at that time. In fact, several other individuals who worked on the album are often mentioned as the album's technical producer.
These include Norman Dolph, John Licata and Tom Wilson. Dolph himself, however, admits John Cale as the album's rightful creative producer, as he handled the majority of the album's musical arrangements. And yet, Cale later recalled that it was Wilson who actually produced nearly all the tracks on The Velvet Underground and Nico.
"The band never again had as good a producer as Tom Wilson," Cale once told a Rolling Stone interviewer. "Andy Warhol didn't do anything." Lou Reed claims that Warhol was their protégé. In an interview he gave to Rolling Stone magazine in later years, Reed would say that "in a sense, he really did produce it, because he was the umbrella that absorbed all the attacks when we weren't large enough to be attacked... and as a consequence of him being the producer, we'd just walk in and set up and do what we always did and no one would stop it because Andy was the producer. Of course he didn't know anything about record production - but he didn't have to."
The Velvet Underground And Nico provided a mass contrast from the heady, colourful psychedelic scene at that time. In the end, it doesn't matter who provided such a challenging production. However, one must credit Lou Reed for writing lyrics that were so challenging then, and to some extent even now. Few writers would be bold enough to siphon their love for the likes of William Burroughs, Hubert Selby and Allen Ginsberg into songs that exposed life's less desirable realities.