''Over-Nite Sensation'' is the twelfth album by The Mothers of Invention (credited as The Mothers), and the seventeenth album overall by

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

, released in September 1973. It was Zappa's first album released on his

DiscReet Discreet may refer to: * Discreet Logic, a subsidiary of Autodesk Media and Entertainment * DiscReet Records DiscReet Records, self-identified simply as DiscReet, was a record label founded by Frank Zappa and his then business partner/manager He ...

label.

Recording

wanted to use backup singers on the songs "

I'm the Slime "I'm the Slime" is a 1973 single by Frank Zappa and The Mothers from the studio album '' Over-Nite Sensation''. The single version is a different mix and edit from the version on the album. Live recordings of the song can be found on '' Zappa i ...

", "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. However, an invoice shows that they were actually paid $25 per hour, and in total $187.50 each for 7 1/2 hours of service. 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. Ike later insisted that Zappa not credit the Ikettes on the released album. Zappa confirmed in 1973 that Tina and the Ikettes did appear on the record even though he was "not supposed" to say so.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUXZN6mKiS8 The recording sessions which produced ''Over-Nite Sensation'' also produced Zappa's followup, ''

Apostrophe (') ''Apostrophe (')'' is the fifth solo studio album and eighteenth in total by Frank Zappa, released in March 1974 in both Stereophonic sound, stereo and Quadraphonic sound, quadraphonic formats. An edited version of its lead-off track, "Don't Eat ...

'' (1974), released as a solo album rather than a Mothers of Invention release.

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. 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, jazz and pop music. "Zomby Woof" has been described as a " heavy metal hybrid of

Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as " the King of the Jukebox", he earned his high ...

and

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...

Artwork

The cover was done by Dave McMacken as somewhat in 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 ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' said that the album was "not one of Frank's most outstanding efforts."

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave the album a C, mocking the notion that Zappa's humor underscores serious commentary by asking "where's the serious stuff?" 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.

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. 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 Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

's '' Permanent Vacation''. Zappa is credited in the liner notes.

Track listing

2023 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition

Personnel

Musicians *

– guitar, vocals on all tracks except "Fifty-Fifty" and most of "Zomby Woof" *

Kin Vassy Charles Kindred Vassy (August 16, 1943 – June 23, 1994) was a singer-songwriter, who in addition to his solo recordings also recorded with other artists, most notably Kenny Rogers, Frank Zappa and Elvis Presley. In the 1960s, Vassy was a mem ...

– 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 The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

, tenor saxophone * Bruce Fowler – trombone * Ruth Underwood – percussion, marimba, vibraphone * Jean-Luc Ponty – violin, baritone violin *

George Duke George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...

–

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, keyboards * Tom Fowler – bass * Ralph Humphrey –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Tina Turner and the Ikettes – backing vocals (uncredited) (Tracks 2-3 and 5-7) Production *Producer: Frank Zappa *Engineers: Fred Borkgren,

Stephen Desper Stephen W. Desper is an American audio engineer who is best known for his work with the Beach Boys during the early 1970s and for inventing the Spatializer. The Spatializer is an effects unit which employs psychoacoustic techniques that emulate th ...

, Terry Dunavan, Barry Keene, Bob Stone *Remixing: Kerry McNabb *Arranger: Frank Zappa *Technician: Paul Hof *Cover design: Ferenc Dobronyi *Illustrations: Cover - David B. McMacken, Inside - Cal Schenkel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1973 albums Albums produced by Frank Zappa DiscReet Records albums The Mothers of Invention albums Albums recorded at Bolic Sound