Over-Nite Sensation

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Over-Nite Sensation is the twelfth album by The Mothers of Invention (credited as The Mothers), and the seventeenth album overall by Frank Zappa, released in September 1973. It was Zappa's first album released on his DiscReet label.

RecordingEdit

Frank Zappa wanted to use backup singers on the songs "I'm the Slime", "Dirty Love", "Zomby Woof", "Dinah-Moe Humm" and "Montana". His road manager suggested The Ikettes, and Ike & Tina Turner were contacted. Ike Turner insisted that Zappa pay the singers, including Tina Turner, no more than $25 per song (Template:Inflation).<ref name=Miles>Template:Cite book</ref> However, an invoice shows that they were actually paid $25 per hour, and in total $187.50 each for Template:Frac hours of work (Template:Inflation).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During the recording sessions at Bolic Sound, Tina brought Ike into the studio to hear the highly difficult middle section of "Montana" which had taken the Ikettes a few days to learn and master. Ike listened to the tape and responded "What is this shit?" before leaving the studio.<ref name=Miles/> Ike later insisted that Zappa not credit the Ikettes on the released album.<ref name=Miles/> Zappa confirmed in 1973 that Tina and the Ikettes did appear on the record even though he was "not supposed" to say so.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The recording sessions which produced Over-Nite Sensation also produced Zappa's followup, Apostrophe (') (1974),<ref name=Miles/> released as a solo album rather than a Mothers of Invention release.

Music and lyricsEdit

Much of the album's lyrics deal with sex.<ref name=Miles/><ref name=Lowe>Template:Cite book</ref> For example, "Dinah-Moe Humm" describes a woman who wagers that the narrator can't give her an orgasm and is ultimately aroused by watching him have sex with her sister.

On other topics, "I'm the Slime" criticizes television, and the playful and musically adventurous "Montana" describes moving to Montana to grow dental floss.<ref name=Miles/>

The music of Over-Nite Sensation draws from rock, jazz and pop music.<ref name=Lowe/> "Zomby Woof" has been described as a "heavy metal hybrid of Louis Jordan and Fats Waller".<ref name=Lowe/>

ArtworkEdit

The cover was done by Dave McMacken as somewhat in the vein of Salvador Dalí's surreal imagery depicting a two-headed man sitting on a waterbed in a Holiday Inn hotel room surrounded by various objects like a Mothers backstage pass and a television set showing Zappa's face with slime oozing out of it. The entire painting is depicted in a frame showing many sexual acts.

ReceptionEdit

Template:Album ratings

The album initially received mixed reviews due to its lyrical content, which some critics found puerile.<ref name=Lowe/> Rolling Stone magazine disliked the album, describing Zappa as a "spent force", and saying that his best work had been recorded with earlier incarnations of the Mothers.<ref name=Lowe/> New Musical Express said that the album was "not one of Frank's most outstanding efforts."<ref name=Lowe/> Robert Christgau gave the album a C, mocking the notion that Zappa's humor underscores serious commentary by asking "where's the serious stuff?"<ref name=Christgau/>

Writing for DownBeat, Ray Townley gave the album 3.5 stars.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> "There's no pretentious concept behind the various tunes; just lots of electronically-twisted guitar runs, burning baritone violin, and a maze of sound colors/textures that pop in and out of the total picture without rhyme (but definitely with reason) . . . Compared to all the schlock being vomited onto the market these days, Over-night Sensation is a glass of quality cognac".<ref name=":0" />

Later reviews evaluated the album far better, with AllMusic writer Steve Huey writing, "Love it or hate it, Over-Nite Sensation was a watershed album for Frank Zappa, the point where his post-'60s aesthetic was truly established".<ref name=Huey/> Kelly Fisher Lowe, in The Words and Music of Frank Zappa, wrote that "Over-Nite and Apostrophe (') are important [...] as a return to Mothers of Invention form and as close to traditional pop albums as Zappa would ever come."<ref name=Lowe/>

The record was certified gold on November 9, 1976.<ref name=RIAA>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

LegacyEdit

Over-Nite Sensation (1973) and Apostrophe (') (1974) are the subject of a Classic Albums series documentary from Eagle Rock Entertainment, released on DVD May 1, 2007.

The lines "She was buns-up kneelin' / Buns up! / I was wheelin an' dealin'" from "Dinah-Moe Humm" are quoted (as "So there she was / buns up and kneelin' / I was wheelin' and a-dealin'") in "Girl Keeps Coming Apart", on Aerosmith's Permanent Vacation. Zappa is credited in the liner notes.

Track listingEdit

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2023 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe EditionEdit

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PersonnelEdit

Musicians

Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals on all tracks except "Fifty-Fifty" and most of "Zomby Woof"
Kin Vassy – vocals on "I'm the Slime", "Dinah-Moe Humm" and "Montana"
Ricky Lancelotti – vocals on "Fifty-Fifty" and "Zomby Woof"
Sal Marquez – trumpet, vocals on "Dinah-Moe Humm"
Ian Underwood – clarinet, flute, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
Bruce Fowler – trombone
Ruth Underwood – percussion, marimba, vibraphone
Jean-Luc Ponty – violin, baritone violin
George Duke – synthesizer, keyboards
Tom Fowler – bass
Ralph Humphrey – drums
Tina Turner and the Ikettes – backing vocals (uncredited) (Tracks 2–3 and 5–7)