Product Code Database
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 Records label.
The recording sessions which produced Over-Nite Sensation also produced Zappa's followup, Apostrophe (') (1974), released as a solo album rather than a Mothers of Invention release.
On other topics, "I'm the Slime" criticizes television, and the playful and musically adventurous "Montana" describes moving to Montana to grow dental floss.
The music of Over-Nite Sensation draws from rock music, jazz and pop music. "Zomby Woof" has been described as a "heavy metal hybrid of Louis Jordan and Fats Waller".
Writing for DownBeat, Ray Townley gave the album 3.5 stars. "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".
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". 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."
The record was certified gold on November 9, 1976.
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.
Production
Music and lyrics
Much of the album's lyrics deal with sex. 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.
Artwork
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.
Reception
The album initially received mixed reviews due to its lyrical content, which some critics found puerile. 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. New Musical Express said that the album was "not one of Frank's most outstanding efforts." Robert Christgau gave the album a C, mocking the notion that Zappa's humor underscores serious commentary by asking "where's the serious stuff?"
Legacy
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.
Track listing
2023 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition
Personnel
Musicians
Charts
Weekly charts
+ 1973–1974 chart performance for Over-Nite Sensation
! scope="col" Chart (1973–1974)
! scope="col" Peak
position+ 2023 chart performance for Over-Nite Sensation
! scope="col" Chart (2023)
! scope="col" Peak
position
Year-end charts
+Year-end chart performance for Over-Nite Sensation
! scope="col" Chart (1974)
! scope="col" Position
See also
|
|
