Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Zappa, Frank
Label: Zappa Records
Release: 1969
Duration: 40:34
Rating: 4/5
Of all the backing bands in the story of the unforgettable American composer, guitarist, singer, producer, satirist and director Frank Zappa, usually going by the name The Mothers of Invention and sometimes (shortened) The Mothers, the most beloved remains their original incarnation, which featured visually comical but musically brilliant characters like Jimmy ‘ the Indian of the group’ Carl Black, Ian Underwood, Don Preston, Bunk Gardner, Ray Collins and Motorhead Sherwood, to name just the most important ones.
All of these musicians left an incredible mark on the early part of Frank’s creative career, back when he was still working under the banner of The Mothers of Invention and hadn’t yet fully established himself as a solo artist. Many of the musicians listed above were pretty disappointed after the original version of The Mothers of Invention fell apart, and felt that Frank, who swapped out his lineups like crazy from the late sixties on, had somehow left them high and dry, even though he occasionally invited a few of them back to collaborate. Plenty of them are still musically active today in various bands that keep the wonderful legacy of Frank’s early years alive, such as The Grandmothers of Invention.
»Mothermania« was the first collection of the best, or rather, the most provocative achievements of Zappa and the original version of The Mothers of Invention, with whom he worked in the second half of the turbulent sixties of the last century. These sonic provocateurs, who existed even before Frank decided to team up with them and turn them into a psychedelic/avant-garde/progressive rock sensation, were without a doubt one of the most revolutionary bands of their time, and it would be a great injustice to pigeonhole them into just a single genre.
The eternal innovator and visionary Frank was never keen on ‘best of’ projects, and the release of the compilation »Mothermania« was no different: he did it purely to fulfill his contractual obligation to his label at the time, Verve. To avoid putting out a run-of-the-mill ‘best of’, he deliberately gathered previously unreleased, remixed versions of his own and The Mothers of Invention’s works, such as »Brown Shoes Don’t Make It«, the uncensored version of »Mother People«, »Idiot Bastard Son«, »Plastic People« »Call Any Vegetable« and »Hungry Freaks, Daddy«, to name just a few. Soon after its release, Zappa ‘disinherited’ the compilation and refused to acknowledge it as part of his body of work, which is why this release, which only came out on CD for the first time in 2012, was long regarded by devotees as a forgotten rarity.
Calling an album like »Mothermania«, which at the time of its release was a fairly clever selection of previously unreleased versions of some representative works from the early period of Frank’s career, a regular ‘best of’, despite its subtitle, would surely be unfair, since these aren’t versions of well-known compositions you’ve already heard. Still, the reissue of this collection is recommended only to Frank’s most devoted followers, since for those just discovering his incredibly rich and sprawling discography, his best studio and live albums are a better bet than assorted ‘best of’ compilations.
Lineup
Frank Zappa – guitar, keyboards, vocals
Don Preston – keyboards, bass guitar
Jimmy Carl Black – drums, percussion
Roy Estrada – bass guitar, vocals
Bunk Gardner – woodwinds
Elliot Ingber – guitar
Billy Mundi – drums, vocals
Jim Sherwood – guitar, woodwinds, vocals
Art Tripp – drums
Ian Underwood – woodwinds, guitar, keyboards
Production
Frank Zappa
Track list
1. Brown Shoes Don’t Make It
2. Mother People
3. The Duke Of Prunes
4. Call Any Vegetable
5. The Idiot Bastard Son
6. It Can’t Happen Here
7. You’re Probably Wondering Why I’m Here
8. Who Are The Brain Police?
9. Plastic People
10. Hungry Freaks, Daddy
11. America Drinks And Goes Home
