ARF: Notes and Comments: FREAK OUT!: The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet

FREAK OUT!

The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet

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From: krkier@aol.com wrote: Can anyone out there tell me what or who Monster Magnet is? I discovered a band a few years ago on tv with this name, but don't know if they got their name from the Mothers. Is it a comic-figure, a big magnet or the main attraction in a Japanese horror-movie of the mid fifties???
From: Andy Hollinden (ahollind@indyunix.iupui.edu) Back in around 1964/65, my brothers and I had a Monster Magnet. It was shaped like a big horseshoe magnet and was made out of red plastic. The handle was the monster's mouth and the arms of the magnet were it's big, muscular arms that ended in closed fists. In the fists--sort of like brass knuckles-- were the actual magnets that seemed pretty strong for a kids' toy. I remember you could pick up a 5 gallon tin of potato chips with the thing.
From: "D.G. Porter" (dgporter@pacbell.net) Not to be confused with the cheesy-but-cool sci-fi film, The Magnetic Monster.
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	FZ: Suzy? SUZY CREAMCHEESE: Yes FZ: Suzy Creamcheese? SUZY CREAMCHEESE: Yes... FZ: That's the voice of your conscience, baby, uh... I just want to check one thing out with you, do you mind dear?
CC
Some time latter in 200 Motels voices of Good and Bad conscience drove Martin Lickert character Jeff mad.
7:40 Louie Louie
From: Matt-a-roo On the newest Ryko release of Freak Out, listen closely to The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet. About seven minutes and forty seconds in, THERE IT IS. Right channel. Louie Louie. Before that, you can hear some people yelling the rhythm (Ha ha ha! Ha ha! Ha ha ha! Ha ha!) I'm not crazy.
From: Patrick Neve (splat@darkwing.uoregon.edu) I'll bite. Here's what I hear:
7:10-7:38 "ooh-ooh-ee-ee"'s fade into a short chorus of the 123-12-123-12 pattern Matt describes, but without any pitch variation. This is, of course, way in the background.
7:38 An organ plays a major chord (gotta check which one). It follows the 123 part, but with only headphone monitoring I can't pick out the rest. I'll give it another listen at volume tomorrow. Anyways, by 7:50 it sounds as if the organ is being played with a forearm.
The only reference I can discern is rhythmic, and possibly coincidental. It sounds as if the spontaneous choral utterances were answered rhythmically by the organ for a measure, then dropped. What do y'all think? Is this FZ's first recorded use of Louie, Louie?
From: Michael Pierry <stilliving@home.com> In the Real FZ Book, Frank refers to 1965 as being the year several times, and he also says that side 4 of the album (i.e. Monster Magnet) was basically recorded in one night (starting at midnight). This was the same night that Tom Wilson was on acid. My guess is that Frank recorded all the raw weirdness that night and then edited it together into a compacted, bizarrely structured bunch of weirdness later on.
Frank also asserts: "By the time Freak Out! was edited and assembled into an album, Wilson had spent twenty-five or thirty thousand dollars of MGM's money-- a ridiculous sum in those days, even for a double LP. (In fact, I believe Freak Out! was THE FIRST rock double LP.)"
So with all that money spent, maybe it was a few weeks of recording time and then several months of editing and mixing (for which you'd still need studio time)? Somehow or other, at least 25 grand was spent completing the album.
From: AJ Wilkes <u6n71@keele.ac.uk> One other thing - the Miles book says that Freak Out was recorded over the months of November to January, and then one track in March. Yet both the other books (Don Quixote and Mother) say it was recorded in three weeks in March (a long time for an album in 1966, most took a few days) and it was only November 1965 that Tom Wilson first saw the Mothers. I think the March only version is more plausible; I doubt that a record company would pay for three months worth of studio time for an ugly band to make their debut album.
From: Lewis Saul I'm very interested in this subject, and you would think there would be a historical record here or people who could confirm things....
I am amazed that the Zappas have always put FEBRUARY, 1966 as the release date even though there are quotes in the liner from MARCH! Was a February 1966 release perhaps decided upon and then pushed back, or something like that?
In any case, as we can tell from a 1963 recording of Any Way The Wind Blows, these numbers certainly ought to have been in pretty good shape for a three-week session!
From: RRAALLFF <rraallff@aol.comARF> By an odd coincidence, or some weird karma, I happened to be there that night in MARCH 1966. (this was before I met Frank formally or started working for him).
-- Calvin

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