Full performer name: Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention.

Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention: Frank Zappa (guitar, vocals); Ray Collins (vocals); Bunk Gardner (saxophone); Don Preston (keyboards, vocals); Roy Estrada (bass, vocals); Jimmy Carl Black, Billy Mundi (drums, percussion, vocals).

This package contains the complete libretto (clean American version), plus two additional tracks not included on the original release.

Before becoming obsessed with sex, politics and the Synclavier, Frank Zappa was a performer of great whimsy, who here, on his second album, was singing about such topics as fruits and vegetables while also displaying a developing critical attitude toward American social mores. Dense with musical references from "Louie Louie" to Holst's "The Planets," ABSOLUTELY FREE is a testament to the young Zappa's awesome musical breadth. These Mothers of Invention lack the precision of Zappa's later combos, but give a firm R&B grounding to his experimentation. ABSOLUTELY FREE includes the classic "Brown Shoes Don't Make It," a biting parody of suburban American values, along with forgotten masterpieces like "Call Any Vegetable," a tune pointing out the ease with which we can become in tune with our little green buddies.

Q (8/95, pp.150-151) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "A pair of side-long 'underground oratorios' crystallising Zappa's life themes--the corruptions of materialism, the vacuity of modern culture, the value of vegetables--and his technique, montaging ham-fisted mock opera with puerile bubblegum and a jazz-rock that writhes with exhilaration..."

Down Beat - 3 Stars - Good

Option - Recommended