USA, 1967, experimental rock / psychedelic rock / jazz-rock
Everything I love about Zappa: unrestrained creativity, wonderful unpredictability, and a crafted precision that might sound sloppy to those who don’t appreciate Zappa’s sense of satire. After all, the Mothers yodel to a rutabaga. Another thing I love about this album is how there are no breaks between the songs. There are already such careening left turns *within* each song that it’s not really necessary to delineate tracks with moments of silence anyway, is it? “Invocation & Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin” is basically a psychedelic jam-band track, and it’s glorious. Because Side A is all about vegetables. Except it’s…not. Zany, cartoonish music greets us for “The M.O.I. American Pageant” as we hop in our cars and drive back to all the humiliation of American high school. Plasticity is inescapable. I’ve heard people describe “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It” as torture, and it kind of is, but the good, brilliant kind. Everything Zappa is is rolled up into this one song. Can someone expand this track into a full musical? I’m sure it’d be considered genius in France!
Museum Musica 