Frank Zappa: Mystery Disk
The Birth Of The Mothers Of Invention

By Ralph Hulett

Record Collector News, November/December 2008

There are few musical artists that can be regarded as creative, individualistic, ingenious, strange, and controversial as Frank Zappa. His music mirrored him, for the body of work he left behind is as complex as Zappa himself. Perhaps one reason for this is he was one of those artists who belived in his musical vision, played by his own rules and never apologized to anyone for it. His reaction to critics and audiences alike was a sarcastic humor. After a San Diego show in 1977 I talked music with Zappa for an hour, and he told me about his very independent nature in the early 1960s when he set out on his early gigs in Torrance and Pomona: "Club managers there felt that musicians were a piece of furniture or a jukebox – you were there to serve them. I didn't want to do that, so I got fired." But even though the going got rough, he was determined to make it in music. So I asked him why he created the Mothers. Ironically, the very shocking nature of this band made him think he could land a recording contract. In true Zappa fashion, his logic made sense. He recalled, "The music that was making it then was cute, personality music, while the Mothers were ugly and a real mess," he recalled. "I figured, though, that if there was a market for plastic Creature from the Black Lagoon dolls, there was also one for us."

The Mystery Disk is loaded with Zappa history – it chronicles his earliest recordings and then his days with the Mothers of Invention up to 1969. Zappa originally re-released his first twenty vinyl albums in 1985-87 as three box sets named Old Masters. The first two included the extra attraction of a disc of unreleased recordings, compiled in 1998 by Rycodisc onto the one Mystery Disc CD. Everything is here with the exception of the Verve single "Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?" / "Big leg Emma" which showed up on the 1988 CD Absolutely Free. Some other material showed up on other releases, but most of the Mystery Disk material from Box One did not – and this provides the listener of little known, unique snapshots of Zappa's very early recording exploits. The CD has 35 tracks; 1-20 are from Box One and the rest are from Box 2. Box One had rare press clippings photos, lyrics – and most important – notes by Zappa on all of the material. These really help fans focus in on the music through his first-hand experiences. I'm going to focus on some of the most interesting moments, from both musical and Zappa history vantage points.

Kicking it all off are two instrumental cuts that are real standouts, music from a film score Zappa wrote before creating the Mothers. "Run Home Slow" was a low budget Western from 1965 written by Zappa's high school English teacher, produced by Tim Sullivan and starring Mercedes McCambridge. The use of xylophone, guitar, marching drums and soaring horns create a patchwork of dramatic effect. It evokes the climax to High Noon, where the two gunfighters meet in the street and begin walking. This segues into the original "Duke of Prunes," a very pretty, slow classical piece with cello, flute and a winsome clarinet solo. Zappa made enough money from this score to buy an electric guitar and buy the Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga, which he renamed "Studio Z." Along this line in the booklet is a nifty little news story from 1962 about a 21-year old Zappa, shown playing acoustic, who scored symphony music for another film, Tim Carey's "The World's Greatest Sinner."

During this time Zappa was living at Studio Z, and his survival came from gigs at the Village Inn, 80 miles from Sun Village. Recordings from these gigs aren't fantastic quality-wise but are great Zappa history. "The Village Inn" segment has the emcee saying "How do you like the band?" to which a ticked off woman yells back, "We like them, but we don't like you! Now get off!" Next comes an entire song from that night, the Jimmy Hugihes hit, "Steal Away," sung Etta James style by a lady named Corsa. For such an early recording, Zappa's blues runs on guitar explode in between the lyrics with precision and intensity. The only problem is that he wasn't given a solo spot in this song to really work the fret board. Next comes another Studio Z creation, "I Was a Teenage Malt Shop." Zappa claimed, "I had been working on what might have been the world's first 'rock opera' ... a stupid piece of trash." Zappa doodles away on piano, Motorhead is on acoustic guitar, and Vic Mortensen follows Zappa's keyboard progression on drums. It's got a cool, fun little bouncy feel to it and sounds like a dance episod of "My Three Sons" or "Ozzie and Harriet."

Besides working on what he called his "hideous little rock opera," Zappa also was working on at sci-fi film with his musician friend Don Vliet (a.k.a. Captain Beefheart). He'd later sing on Zappa's first solo album Hot Rats, which featured Zappa's talent in extended guitar solos and became a major influence in jazz-rock fusion. Zappa and Beefheart recorded some rock songs at this time, and "Metal Man Has Won His Wings" is one of these. Zappa claimed that Beefheart's lyrics were taken from a comic book that was pinned up on a studio bulletin board. Beefheart sounds like Wolfman Jack except for the high note, and he sang out in the hall while the band jammed a cool blues riff in the studio. It sounds just like a band jamming – Zappa's playing is volume-ridden and intense, and he churns out some fantastic, powerful blues runs with Vic Mortenson on drums and some unknown guy from a surf band on drums. This tune has the seeds of what would grow into Zappa becoming a guitar master. And speaking of guitar work, "Bossa Nova Pervertamento" returns us to Studio Z, in another jam where Zappa plays some very interesting acoustic jazz-type rhythm riffs behind drums and bass.

What would Zappa be like as a music teacher? To find out, listen to "The Uncle Frankie Show" where Zappa, supposedly illegally on a college radio station teaches some basic rock and roll keyboard work. Then he segues into "Charva " that is a solo 50s-style rock and roll treatment that Zappa sings, plays piano, bass and drums. It's a sad tale of a guy who's singing to his girl that he's sorry he punched her dad's lights out. Zappa also experimented in 1962 with half-speed recording and multiple overdubs with "Speed Freak Boogie" with Zappa on speeded-up lead and rhythm guitar, over Doug Moon's normal speed acoustic.

It's intriguing for the time – but what comes next is most are two of the most fantastic recordings of the entire disk, two of the earliest Mothers recordings.

Zappa explained the history of the band's birth: "Ray Collins called me one night to replace another guitar player in the band he had been working with (The Soul Giants), since he had gotten in a fight with him. They had a good gig at a club in Pomona called the Broadside. After the sax player quit, I took over, changed the name, and eventually this recording was made."

The song is a blues called "Behind the Sun" and it sounds great, although there's only 55 seconds of it here. But the next recording makes this up for, where the band, "Through a number of perverse twists of fate" as Zappa put it, became used in a party scene in the movie Mondo Hollywood. The music is live, explodes and drives forward with a ferocity that few bands back then dared to sound like, or were even capable of. Zappa cooks on guitar here. It's raw and powerful – play this turned up for maximum effect! Herb Cohen was present when this song was filmed and afterward decided to become manager of the Mothers. The band's big break came when record producer Tom Wilson saw the band at Hollywood's Whisky A Go-Go, was intrigued and thought they had potential. On these early Mothers days, Zappa told me that: "Wilson saw us doing a song about the Watts riots ("Trouble Every Day") and thought we were a great white blues band. He got us a contract, and our first album, Freak Out!, cost $20,000 to produce, which was astronomical in those days. It was also the first double rock album, which was also unheard of, and MGM didn't know how to sell it."

Zappa chose more Mothers history with the 1965 rehearsal for "How Could I Be Such a Fool?" right before Freak Out! was made. It actually moves along better than the album version and the vocal is pensive and sincere. There are even some nice little harmonies in there. Throughout the rest of the CD Zappa inserted various snippets of Mothers concert madness. In late 1965 or early 1966 the Mothers played at the Fillmore West as the opening act for Lenny Bruce. After band introductions Bill Graham tells the crowd to dance in the corners or on th stage. Then in preparation for the Mothers later on that night he says, "After Lenny we'll take down the chairs, and you can do whatever you want." Wild cheers arise at that. Then the band breaks into part of an early "Plastic People" that's a speeded up takeoff on "Louie Louie." Track 20 at the Fillmore East, with the band making crazy noises onstage, finishes up the first Old Masters box set cuts. More concert insanity ensues at London' Festival Hall show from October 28, 1968. During this tour Zappa had been writing chamber music pieces in airports and hotels and then found a use for them around the middle of the tour. Zappa explained: "I opted to hire 14 members of the BBC symphony to play these pieces, and build a cheesy little psycho-drama around them, featuring the band doing something other than our usual stuff."

By now the Mothers consisted of quite an ensemble. The band consisted of Zappa on guitar and vocals, Ian Underwood on alto sax and piano, Bunk Gardner on tenor sax and clarinet, Motorhead Sherwood on baritone sax and tambourine, Roy Estrada on bass and vocals, Don Preston on electric piano and odd noises, Arthur Dyer Trip III on drums and percussion, and Jimmy Carl Black on drums. Zappa's psychodrama takes us into his view of the music world – the good, bad and the ugly. It's crazily entertaining, unpredictable and illustrates how Zappa challenged his audience at shows. This is one of the more interesting portions from Ahead of Their Time. On this CD it opens with an orchestral end part to "Harry You're a Beast" followed by a giant explosion of volume. It sounds something like a keyboards being run across at full volume and a reverb unit being kicked over. "Don Interrupts" begins as the band complain at someone ruining his or her piece, and Preston yells, ''Silence you fools! Don't you believe in progress? We must overthrow the diatonic system ... it's got to be new – it's got to progress!" He's told to take his progress and stick it under a rock, then three of the Mothers decide to leave and start their own band.

At times Zappa narrates the drama and says the new band has to fit in and be packaged right, so they must have a lot of discipline and "receive initiation into the robot musical world ." In other words, be mindless, commercial and play with no musical deviation. The new band puts on uniforms to copy, or ridicule, the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's costumes. "Piece One" has with oboe, horns and percussion that progresses into uncharted musical realms. Then Jimmy Carl Black rebels, saying, "I thought this was a rock and roll show." He proclaims that no one will get laid after a show unless you play rock and roll and drink beer, so – he quits the new band! Preston argues with Black, saying that he won't get laid wearing that stupid uniform anyway. Zappa steps in and announces no one will score in London with the babes unless they look like a pop star – so he fixes Black up in a mod jacket and neckpiece, a feather boa and a Jimi Hendrix wig. Black looks at himself, screams in horror, then goes into the audience trying to find some babes. Zappa tells him if he's lucky then "get something for the robots too." It's Zappa humor at its nuttiest. The ensuing seven-minute "Piece Two" nearly defies description – it 's got some of the strangest live music ever recorded, with strings, wind instruments and percussion all trading parts, individually and collectively reaching their own crescendos. The robot band counts time. There's also a band audition. It's crazy, unorthodox, thrilling and completely Zappa.

Next, Ian Underwood's classical Liberace-style piano opening opens up "Agency Man." Then it becomes a waltz, with Zappa's scathing lyrics on talent folks that work behind the scenes. Zappa must have been fond of this song because a studio version follows, recorded at New York's Apostolic studios in 1967. It's an interesting Mothers rehearsal recording – one can hear the song being worked out with Zappa giving directions and other band members cracking up, being unable to sing. "Black Beauty" is a live instrumental from Thee Image in Florida, either from 1968 or 1969. An edited version of this was on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 5 and includes Lowell George on guitar. The Mystery Disk #2 sleeve gives the date as 1968; Vol. 5 booklet says this is from 1969. In either event, it's near the end of the Mothers' illustrious, wild and crazy career. There's also a humorous broadcast from KPFK that has the Mothers talking about what instruments they play.

Zappa disbanded the Mothers in 1969, and his musical evolution went far into new areas. He embarked on projects with numerous musicians – talent that went from Sugarcane Harris and Ian and Ruth Underwood to Jean-Luc Ponty, George Duke, Terry Bozzio and Steve Vai. He was perhaps the most uncompromising of any artist, something he never apologized for. As far as the Mothers went, Zappa put it this way: "We're satirists and we are out to satirize anything." His film venture from 1971, 200 Motels, took a look at a musician's life on the road and the band's sexual escapades. Zappa dismissed criticism on his song's sexual references and claimed he reported on life as he saw it. As the 1970s unfolded, Zappa challenged audiences with more complex rhythmic structures and radical tempo changes like "The Black Page" on 1978's Zappa in New York. Controversy grew with success. His best-ever selling album, 1979's Sheik Yerbouti, had the hit "Dancin' Fool" but also "Jewish Princess" which the Anti-Defamation league called anti-Semitic and tried to stop its airplay. Zappa called the ADI a "noisemaking organization" that wanted to "create a stereotype image of Jews that suits their idea of a good time" Then he shut his mouth, and Zappa's sheer talent with improvising was brilliantly shown in the 1981 albums Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar, taken from the previous two years of touring. Always an innovator,  Zappa's work also delved into orchestral albums like the 1980s London Symphony Orchestra volumes and Boulez Conducts Zappa. But Zappa wasn't always happy with results of others interpreting his work. I asked him if it was because maybe his music was too complex to transfer to the stage. He replied, "Complicated music is only limited only by people who are trying to perform it. In classical music, for example, the composer is at the mercy of those interpreting his work. If the conductor doesn't know what he's doing, then the composer gets screwed."

Zappa died of pancreatic cancer on Dec. 6, 1993. His family announced that "Composer Frank Zappa left for his final tour just before 6:00 p.m. on Saturday."

His legacy has been widely praised. Among many other awards, in 1995 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, when he was called a prolific composer who bridged with ease many genres that included rock, jazz, classical, avant-garde and novelty. Noted classical composer and friend Nicolas Slonimsky said that Zappa "created a new musical millennium." Conductor Kent Nagano doesn't use the word "genius" often but said, "Frank is a genius ... He is extremely literate musically." In Guitar Player's 1992 tribute issue, editor Don Penn said of Zappa that he is the "most important composer to come out of modern popular music." Recently his son Dweezil paid tribute to his late father with his Zappa Plays Zappa world tours. I've seen the 1996-97 Los Angeles shows, which have included Bozzio and Vai and have had many shining moments. The 1996 performance had an amazing "Inca Roads." Like the images this song portrays, Zappa's music blazed many new trails, zigzagging acros new ground in ways that took us on new journeys. Check out Zappa's brilliant work with the Mothers and beyond to see where you might end up.

Quotes in this article were taken from: The Daily Aztec, Oct. 6, 1977.

Ralph Hulett is co-author of the Led Zeppelin biography on the 60s-70s music scene, Whole Lotta Led. His photography website is at: www.rockretrospect.com. Thank you to Rycodisk for Zappa's notes in the Mystery Disk booklet To see more on Zappa check out Wikipedia's nice history and also the official family web it at www.frankzappa.com.