» Edit Band Information
» Edit Albums
» Add a Review
» Add an Album
» Add News | The Mothers of Invention
This celebrated band was formed in 1964 when guitarist Frank Zappa (b. Frank Vincent Zappa, 21 December 1940,
Baltimore,Maryland,USA,d.4 December 1993, Los Angeles, California, USA) replaced Ray Hunt in the Soul Giants, a struggling R&B-based bar
band. Ray Collins(b.19November 1936, USA, d. 24 December 2012, Pomona, California, USA; vocals), DaveCoronado (saxophone), Roy
Estrada (b. 17April1943,Santa Ana, California, USA; bass) and Jimmy Carl Black (b. 1 February1938, El Paso, Texas, USA, d. 1 November
2008,Siegsdorf,Germany;drums) completed their early line-up, but Coronadoabandoned t ...read more
This celebrated band was formed in 1964 when guitarist Frank Zappa (b. Frank Vincent Zappa, 21 December 1940,
Baltimore,Maryland,USA,d.4 December 1993, Los Angeles, California, USA) replaced Ray Hunt in the Soul Giants, a struggling R&B-based bar
band. Ray Collins(b.19November 1936, USA, d. 24 December 2012, Pomona, California, USA; vocals), DaveCoronado (saxophone), Roy
Estrada (b. 17April1943,Santa Ana, California, USA; bass) and Jimmy Carl Black (b. 1 February1938, El Paso, Texas, USA, d. 1 November
2008,Siegsdorf,Germany;drums) completed their early line-up, but Coronadoabandoned the outfit when the newcomer unveiled his
musicalstrategy. Nowrenamed theMothers, the quartet wasrelocated from Orange County to Los Angeles where they were briefly augmented
byseveral individuals,includingAlice Stuartand Henry Vestine, later guitarist in Canned Heat. Jim Fielder was another bass player who
passedthrough the ranks.Heactuallyjoined Buffalo Springfield before he had officially handed in his notice. These temporary additions found
Zappa’svisiondaunting astheMothers embarked on a disarming mélange of 50s pop, Chicago R&B and avant garde music. They wereembraced
by thecity’snascentUnderground before an appearance at the famed Whiskey A Go-Go resulted in a recordingcontract when producer Tom
Wilsoncaughtthe endof one of their sets.
Now dubbed the Mothers Of Invention, owing to pressure from the record company, the band added guitarist
ElliottIngber(WingedEelFingerling) before commencing Freak Out!, rock music’s first double album. This revolutionary set
featuredseveralexceptionalpiecesincluding ‘Trouble Every Day’, ‘Hungry Freaks, Daddy’ and ‘The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet’,each
of whichshowed differentfacetsof Zappa’s evolving tableau. The Mothers second album, Absolutely Free, featured aradically reshaped line-up.
Ingberwas fired at theend of1966 while Zappa added a second drummer, Billy Mundi, plus DonPreston (b. Donald Ward Preston, 21 September
1932,Flint, Michigan,USA;keyboards), Bunk Gardner (horns) and Jim‘Motorhead’ Sherwood (saxophone) to the original nucleus. A six-
monthresidency at NewYork’sGarrick Theater combinedspirited interplay with excellent material and the set showed growing confidence.
Satireflourished on‘PlasticPeople’, ‘AmericaDrinks & Goes Home’ and ‘Brown Shoes Don’t Make It’, much of which was inspired by the
‘cocktail-bar’drudgerythebandsuffered in its earliest incarnation.
However, Zappa’s ire was more fully flexed on We’re Only In It For The Money, which featured several barbed attacks
onthetrappingsof‘flower-power’. Housed in a sleeve which cleverly mocked the Beatles’ Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, theset
included‘TheIdiotBastard Son’ (‘The father’s a Nazi in Congress today, the mother’s a hooker somewhere in LA’) and‘Who Needs The Peace
Corps’(‘I’llstay aweek and get the crabs and take a bus back home’) and indicated Zappa’s growingfascination with technology. The
albumalsointroduced newmember Ian Underwood (saxophone/keyboards), who became anintegral part of the band’s future work. Cruising
WithRuben& The Jets was,to quote the liner notes, ‘an album of greasylove songs and cretin simplicity’. Despite such cynicism, the band
displayedanobvious affectionfor the 50s doo-wop materialon offer, all of which was self-penned and included re-recordings of three songs,
‘How CouldIBe Such A Fool’,‘Any Way TheWind Blows’ and ‘You Didn’t Try To Call Me’, first aired on Freak Out! However, the album was the
lastwhollynewsetcommitted by the ‘original’ line-up. Later releases, Uncle Meat (a soundtrack to the then unmade movie),
BurntWeenySandwichandWeasels Ripped My Flesh, were all compiled from existing live and studio tapes as tension within the bandpulled it
apart.Themusiciansenjoyed mixed fortunes. Estrada joined newcomer Lowell George (b. Lowell Thomas George, 13April 1945,
Hollywood,California,USA, d. 29June 1979, Arlington, Virginia, USA) in Little Feat, third drummer Arthur DyreTripp III switched allegiance to
CaptainBeefheart,while JimmyCarl Black formed Geronimo Black with brothers Buzz and BunkGardner.
A new Mothers was formed in 1970 from the musicians contributing to Zappa’s third solo album, Chunga’s Revenge, and
thescatological‘ontheroad’ documentary, 200 Motels. Three former Turtles, Mark Volman (b. 19 April 1947, Los Angeles,California, USA),
HowardKaylan(b.Howard Kaplan, 22 June 1947, the Bronx, New York City, New York, USA) and Jim Pons (b.14 March 1943, Santa
Monica,California,USA;bass) joined Aynsley Dunbar (b. 10 January 1946, Liverpool, England; drums)and long-standing affiliates Ian
Underwood andDonPreston inthe band responsible for Live At The Fillmore East, June 1971.Here, however, the early potpourri of Stravinsky,
John Coltrane,doo-wop and‘Louie Louie’ gave way to condescendinginnuendo as Zappa threatened to become the person once the subject of
hisire.Paradoxically, itbecame the band’sbestselling album to date, setting the tone for future releases and reinforcing the guitarist’s
jaundicedviewof hisaudience.This period was brought to a sudden end at London’s Rainbow Theatre. A ‘jealous’ member of the
audienceattackedthehaplessZappa onstage, pushing him into the orchestra pit where he sustained multiple back injuries and a compound
legfracture.Hisslowrecuperation was undermined when the entire new Mothers, bar Underwood, quit en masse to form whatbecame known as
FloAndEddie.Confined to the studio, Zappa compiled Just Another Band From L.A. and used the Mothersepithet for the jazz big band on
TheGrandWazoo.Reverting to rock music, the Mothers’ name was re-established with anew, tighter line-up in 1973. However subsequent
albums,Over-NiteSensation, Roxy & Elsewhere and One Size Fits All, wereindistinguishable from projects bearing Zappa’s name and this
nowsuperfluoustitlewas abandoned in 1975, following therelease of Bongo Fury, a collaboration with Captain Beefheart.
Since Zappa’s death a number of biographies have appeared; Neil Slaven’s Electric Don Quixote is
particularlynoteworthy.Zappa’sentirecatalogue has been expertly remastered and reissued with the advent of the compact disc. Rykodisc
Recordsare tobe congratulated fortheirefforts, having purchased the whole catalogue from Gail Zappa for a large, undisclosed sum.The quality
of thoseearly Mothers OfInventionrecordings is by today’s standards quite outstanding. « hide |
Similar Bands: Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, Edgard Varese, Wild Man Fischer, The GTOs Contributors: Zig, seymourbutts, rockandmetaljunkie, Oldfield, Frippertronics, organizedsound, jamest33, biohazardfan, MusicFan2007, Egglord, rattlehead42147, pulseczar, tom79, Alex101, SomethingfromHolland, Veldin, BMDrummer, KILL, Frippertronics,
|
