• Voto:
L’esordio con i suoi Mothers of Invention fu un doppio LP. No, signori, nulla a che vedere con le opere rock del decennio seguente, né con le lunghe suite progressive o roba del genere: un album doppio perché stracolmo di idee, che il buon Frank aveva maturato da quando, giunto in California, aveva scoperto quello che poi sarebbe stato la sua vita, la musica, da quando ascoltava Ballard, da quando conobbe Beefheart, da quando iniziò a divincolarsi tra sperimentalismo e romanticismo, in un panorama underground come quello di Los Angeles dove personaggi così eccentrici ancora non erano visti di buon occhio. Non fu facile. Anni e anni di prove, di studi, di protesta, alla ricerca della massima libertà creativa. L’absolutely free, appunto.
“Freak Out!” esce nel 1966 ed è un prodotto di una varietà impressionante: in esso sono tranquillamente accostati alcuni inni di protesta giovanile (l’iniziale “Hungry freaks, Daddy”, “Any way the wind blows”), influenze beat e blues (“I ain't go no hearth”, “Motherly love”, “You didn’t try to call me”, dove vengono fatte prove di destrutturazione), elettronica (“Who are the brain police”), brani acid rock (la fantastica “Trouble comin’every day", da alcuni definita addirittura un rap arcaico), soul (“How cold I be such a fool”), rock’n roll ("I’m not satisfied”), doo-wop songs (“Wowie zowie”), free-jazz (“It can't happen here”) esperimenti di avanguardia con collage di musiche e rumori (“Help, I'm a Rock” e il capolavoro “The return of the son of monster magnet”) con un cabarettistico uso delle parti recitate, e infine quelle canzoncine da lui stesso definite “stupide” (“Go cry on somebody else's shoulder”), nelle quali però si celava una saggia ironia nei confronti di chi si opponeva a un giusto cambiamento, a una giusta rivoluzione da portare avanti in quegli anni.
Ironico prima di tutto con sé stesso, Zappa ricreava il suo mondo freak partendo proprio da chi di chi questo mondo aveva paura, dai perbenisti ai tradizionalisti, dal potere americano ai quartieri metropolitani. Il suo messaggio è forte, dannatamente attuale, le sue rabbie sembrano prender corpo da versi simili a dure sentenze, il suo pensiero va ben oltre il famigerato orizzonte. Zappa non è stato solo musicista, chitarrista, compositore, satiro, poeta: è stato l’innovatore per antonomasia, l’artista a tutto tondo, il genio della rivoluzione non solo musicale del secondo Novecento, precursore di svariati movimenti musicali e culturali.
Dopo questo "Freak Out!", che indicare semplicemente come “pietra miliare” del rock sarebbe fin troppo riduttivo, il genio di Zappa avrà modo di regalarci le sue idee, le sue pazzie, le sue sperimentazioni, il suo talento in circa ottanta album, fino alla sua prematura scomparsa nel 1993.
Uno di questo mondo impiegherebbe una vita solo per ascoltarli tutti; lui, che in soli 27 anni li ha partoriti, probabilmente non era uno di questo mondo…
When once you find that the way you lied Una volta che ti dovessi rendere conto di aver mentito
and all the corny tricks you tried, e di tutti i trucchi mediocri che hai tentato,
will not forestall the rising tide of non ci sarà prevenzione alla marea crescente
hungry freaks, daddy... di freaks affamati, papà…
Ma dopo ben 40 anni, cara America, siamo punto e a capo.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 Hungry Freaks, Daddy (03:27)
Mr. America, walk on by your schools that do not teach
Mr. America, walk on by the minds that won't be reached
Mr. America try to hide the emptiness that's you inside
But once you find that the way you lied
And all the corny tricks you tried
Will not forestall the rising tide of HUNGRY FREAKS DADDY!
They won't go on four no more
Great mid-western hardware store
Philosophy that turns away
From those who aren't afraid to say what's on their minds
The left behinds of the great society
HUNGRY FREAKS, DADDY!
Mr. America, walk on by your supermarket dream
Mr. America, walk on by the liquor store supreme
Mr. America try to hide the product of your savage pride
The useful minds that it denied
The day you shrugged and stepped aside
You saw their clothes, and then you cried,
"Those HUNGRY FREAKS, DADDY!"
They won't go on four no more
Great mid-western hardware store
Philosophy that turns away
From those who aren't afraid to say what's on their minds
The left behinds of the great society
03 Who Are the Brain Police? (03:33)
Aahh ah ahahahaaa, aahh ah ahahahaaa
What will you do if we let you go home,
And the plastic's all melted,
And so is the chrome?
WHO ARE THE BRAIN POLICE?
Aahh ah ahahahaaa, aahh ah ahahahaaa
What will you do when the label comes off,
And the plastic's all melted,
And the chrome is too soft?
Aaahhh!
Think I'm very tired and I'm going to die
I think I'm going to die, I think I'm going to die
WHO ARE THE BRAIN POLICE?
Aahh ah ahahahaaa, aahh ah ahahahaaa
What will you do if the people you knew
Were the plastic that melted,
And the chromium too?
WHO ARE THE BRAIN POLICE?
06 How Could I Be Such a Fool (02:11)
When I won your love, I was very glad
Every happiness in the world belonged to me
Then our love was lost and you went away
Now I shed my tears in lonely misery
I know now that you never ever really loved me
It hurts me now to think you never ever really cared
I sit and ask myself a thousand times to try and find
What really happened to the love that we shared
How could I be such a fool
How could I believe all those lies you told me
How could I be taken in by your sweet face
You spoiled our love, you ruined my life
I'm so tore down, I'm a terrible disgrace
But there will come a time and you'll regret the way
You treated me as if I was a fool and didn't know
The many times you lied about your love for me
Someone else is gonna know that your love was just a show...
How could I be such a fool?
07 Wowie Zowie (02:51)
Wowie Zowie
Your love's a treat
Wowie Zowie
You can't be beat
Wowie Zowie, baby
You're so neat
I don't even care
If you shave your legs
Wowie Zowie, baby
You're so fine
Wowie Zowie, baby
Please be mine
Wowie Zowie
Up and down my spine
I don't even care
If you brush your teeth
I dream of you each mornin'
I dream of you each night
Just the other day I
got so shook up
I dreamed of you in
the afternoon
Baum didi, baum
didi, baum didi,
Baum didi, baum
didi, baum didi
I dream of you each mornin'
I dream of you each night
Just the other day I
got so shook up
I had a flash in the afternoon
Wowie Zowie, baby
Love me do
Wowie Zowie
And I'll love you too
Wowie Zowie, baby
I'll be true
I don't even care
If your dad's the heat
Wowie Zowie
Wowie
Wowie Zowie
Wowie
Wowie Zowie
Wowie
Wowie Zowie
09 Any Way the Wind Blows (02:54)
Any way the wind blows is-a fine with me
Any way the wind blows, it don't matter to me
'Cause I'm thru with-a fussin' and-a fightin' with-a you
I went out and found a woman who is gonna be true
She makes me oh so happy now, I'm never ever blue
Any way the wind blows,
Any way the wind blows,
Any way the wind blows
She's my heart and soul and she loves me tenderly
Now my story can't be told just how good she is to me
Yes, she treats me like she loves me and she never makes me cry
I'm gonna stick with her 'till the day I die
She's not like you baby, she would never ever lie
Any way the wind blows,
Any way the wind blows,
Any way the wind blows
Any way the wind blows,
Any way the wind blows,
Any way the wind blows
Now that I am free from the troubles of the past
Took me much too long to see that our romance couldn't last
I'm gonna go away and leave you standing at the door
I'll tell you pretty baby I won't be back no more
'Cause you don't even know what love is for
Any way the wind blows,
Any way the wind blows,
Any way the wind blows
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