by Stuart L. Klein Albuquerque, New Mexico United States Reviewed on December 9th, 2001
I heard Absolutely Free in '67 when I was a kid, the only Zappa album I heard as a child-- I lived in NY then, and some freaky friends of family played it for me. Only song I retained was a long song about a pumpkin or two. Only thing else I recalled until recently about this disc was the singing-- it sounded like yelling and laughing. Playing the disc today, it is great, because I'm now more musically sophisticated (so the conceit goes). There is a reference to the very beginning of Stravinsky's "Petrushka" in 'Status Back Baby'. In the track with lyrics that concern vegetables and, especially, pumpkins, there is a reference to Holst's "planets", right before the deliberately-- I hope-- cheesy (cheese is another buzzword on this disc, along with pumpkin) long West Coast guitar solo. A taping for the band to rehearse to, of the concluding number, 'America Drinks and Goes Home' is included in the middle of the recording, titled 'America Drinks'. Some might be offended by having a practice recording on the disc, but it makes sense in the context of the disc's warts and all. The budget for the whole recording was low, so Zappa skimped on vocals, giving it the accidentally-on-purpose "yelling and laughing" sound.
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