Over-nite sensation

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Over-nite sensation
Studio album by The Mothers of Invention

Publication
(s)

7th September 1973

Label (s) DiscReet Records
Barking Pumpkin Records
Rykodisc (CD)
VideoArts Music (CD)
Zappa Records (CD)

Format (s)

LP vinyl , CD

Genre (s)

Rock , progressive rock , blues rock

Title (number)

7th

running time

34:25

production

Frank Zappa

Studio (s)

Bolic Sound, Inglewood
Whitney, Glendale
Paramount Studios, Los Angeles

chronology
The Grand Wazoo
(1973) 		Over-nite sensation Apostrophe (')
(1974)

Over-Nite Sensation is the eleventh music album by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention .

background

It appeared in 1973 on the Discreet label and is attributed to rock . After his two-album excursion into jazzy realms, Zappa turned back to rock music. The musically compact and complexly structured pieces that were short by Zappa's standards were striking. This was rewarded by the audience: The sales figures skyrocketed, with Over-Nite Sensation , an album by the Mothers was gilded for the first time.

The musical complexity of the album as a whole is unusual for the time. Overall oriented towards rock, the individual pieces offer space for all kinds of cross references to jazz (rock), soul, funk and other musical styles. Typical for Zappa are the quickly played unison runs, which he weaves into some arrangements here, and the sound effects that are also characteristic of his way of working, which briefly interrupt the flow of hearing. Zappa packs all of this into compact, catchy songs. The structure of the pieces, which is accessible to a broader audience, is supported by the subtle mix, in which drums, bass and vocals are usually clearly in the foreground, while the other instruments - apart from solos - only appear in the front listening room if their melodic or rhythmic function plays a role absolutely required.

Already the opening song Camarillo Brillo - ostensibly a normal rock song - surprises the listener with sensitive guitar interjections and subtly increasing brass quotes. I'm the Slime begins like many other rock songs end - in the collective improvised interplay of the musicians. Then a brass section anticipates the chorus, then the song ends in a funky rap, in which the cartoon-like, evil-looking, deep narrative voice of Zappa stands out. The chorus - in which the soulful singing ikettes have their say - is followed by a snotty-cheeky guitar solo right into the fadeout . The text is also remarkable: Zappa criticizes the power of television penetrating every corner of life, which the rulers are only too happy to use - a criticism that is still valid today. The rock song Dirty Love captivates not only with a wild wah-wah guitar solo, but also for the mention of the "poodle", which can be found here for the first time - probably the most famous of the many " running gags " that Zappa repeatedly built into his songs. In fifty-fifty , that with his hard Breaks recalls still most likely to Zappa songs of earlier days, control keyboardist George Duke and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty with two notable solos. In front of a funky background, Zomby Woof offers intricate scraps of melody, nested rhythm structures with 7/8 and 5/4 passages that superimpose the 4/4 time that serves as the basis, then rock passages, jazzy wind quotes and atonal passages until the piece comes in a moving guitar solo Zappa ends. In front of a funky-soulful background, Dinah-Moe Humm develops into a rap after a well-composed intro, in which funny instrumental and vocal interjections comment on the textual events ironically: In it, a woman named Dinah-Moe bets 40 dollars that no one can bring her to orgasm ; in the end, however, the hero of the story triumphs by penetrating the woman's somewhat dumb sister, which makes Dinah-Moe's dynamo hum (English: to humm ). Another rap, the Dadaist radio play Montana , closes the album. The rock journalist Volker Rebell saw it as "an arrangement-technical marvel, crammed full of large orchestral passages, jazz rock brass quotes, the most intricate melodic and rhythmic figures". The piece also contains a sensitive and melodic, but at the same time rough guitar solo - perhaps one of the best Zappa has ever played. The solo is followed by a quirky, difficult passage that gives an impression of Tina Turner's and Ikette's singing skills.

reception

Over-Nite Sensation was considered by several reviewers to be the first Zappa album, which mainly contained pieces that the average radio listener could also like, although the lyrics contained the special humor that Zappa was already used to. While his earlier records were more of a program for minorities, with this record he won a new circle of fans without losing his old ones - which was reflected in the sales of the album. For Carl-Ludwig Reichert, the music was “convincing, modern rock”. Although the fellow musicians had to subordinate themselves to the tight arrangement corset and be content with "narrowly limited score play", the individual achievements of the members of this Mothers formation were emphasized - for some critics at the time, "perhaps the most musically potent of all". Above all, the percussionist Ruth Underwood on xylophone, marimbaphone and various percussion instruments as well as the keyboardist George Duke , the Zappa, as he later put it himself, could only be replaced by two keyboardists after his departure - the yardstick was different, the Duke with his contributions, can hardly be achieved. As usual with Zappa, opinions differed on the quality of the texts. Where the subconscious became visible for some and ironic enjoyment was offered “word for word, yes letter by letter”, others emphasized Zappa's witty play with words and even technical terms, while Barry Miles Zappa was “instinctual” because of the sex-heavy texts Interest ”in such things, but at the same time also stated that the texts can only be understood“ in the context of the time ”.

Publications

The album Over-Nite Sensation has been released in many different versions. The following overview clarifies the main distinguishing features.

  • In the USA and Canada the LP was released in a gatefold cover , in Great Britain and Germany initially in simple slip-in sleeves.
  • The German second edition also had a gatefold cover, as did the editions in Portugal, Greece, Japan (some with a seven-page text booklet), Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Australia. Compared to the US original, the European versions had an inner cover that was only printed in two colors (brown and black). The CD editions currently available in Europe, on the other hand, again offer the multi-colored version.
  • In the Spanish version, not only the track Dinah-Moe Humm was replaced by the title Eat That Question from the album The Grand Wazoo . The censor also struck on the cover: The places at the lower corners of the picture frame, where corn on the cob fertilize kneeling women, had been partially blackened . In addition, Dinah-Moe Humm's text was deleted from the inside of the bw-text sheet
  • In 1973 a single was released on Discreet with I'm the Slime on the A-side and Montana on the back.
  • Another vinyl version of the album was released in the “Quadrophonic Sound” format, which was new at the beginning of the 1970s (and soon disappeared from the market).
  • Re-releases appeared in the USA in 1977 on Discreet (with a brown reprise label) and in 1987 as part of The Old Masters Box Three on Barking Pumpkin.
  • In 1986 the album was first released on CD in the United States on Rykodisc . It is not only noticeable that Over-Nite Sensation and the album Apostrophe (') were combined on one CD, but also that, contrary to the time of the respective first release, the order of both albums was reversed. This peculiar double CD was also released in 1990 in Europe (Zappa Records), Japan (VACK), Australia (Rykodisc) and Russia (JPCD).
  • The album was released as a single CD in 1995. There is also a Japanese edition with a cardboard cover that appeared in 2001.

Sales successes

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Over-nite sensation
  US 32 10/06/1973 (50 weeks)

Over-Nite Sensation was Zappa's first big seller. In the USA, the album made it into the charts and climbed to 32nd place - the eighth-best position that a Zappa album has ever achieved. The album stayed in the charts for almost a year. A little more than three years after its publication, on November 9, 1976, sales in the USA exceeded the required mark of one million copies: For the first time in its career, Zappa was awarded a gold record .

Musician

The Mothers of Invention

Guest musician

production

  • Producer: Frank Zappa
  • Sound engineers: Fred Borkgren, Steve Desper, Terry Dunavan, Barry Keene
  • Remix Engineer: Kerry McNabb
  • Arranger: Frank Zappa
  • Technicians: Paul Hof, Jay "Dunt" Sloatman, Kanzas J. Canzus
  • Illustrations: David B. McMacken
  • Graphic: Cal Schenkel
  • Photos: Emerson-Loew

Track list

All pieces were composed by Frank Zappa.

  1. Camarillo Brillo (3:59) describes the initiation of a liaison between the singer and a Mexican magician who is particularly noticeable for her crazy-looking red hairstyle that looks like steel wool.
  2. I'm the Slime (3:34) is a political rock song in the form of a rap , in which Zappa criticizes the omnipotence of television, which flows like slime into every niche of society.
  3. Dirty Love (2:58) screams, despite the reluctance shown by the other person, for dirty love that gets by without cheap feelings - like in the "greasy notebooks in your father's bottom drawer".
  4. Fifty-Fifty (6:09) not only asks the question "Does this singer have something to say?", But also provides the answer: "The chances are Fuffzich Fuffzich!"
  5. Zomby Woof (5:10) is a sex fantasy told in the form of a horror film.
  6. Dinah-Moe Humm (6:01) tells of a voyeur and an orgasm bet.
  7. Montana (6:35) is the absurd cowboy tale of a farmer plucking dental floss from trees with oversized tweezers.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Volker Rebell: Frank Zappa - freak genius with tailcoat habit . In: Rocksession 1 , Rororo Sachbuch, 1977, ISBN 3-499-17086-8 , pp. 269f.
  2. ↑ Dave Connolly on ProgArchives (February 2007)
  3. ^ Carl-Ludwig Reichert: Frank Zappa . DTV, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-423-31039-1 , p. 77.
  4. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Richter: Over-Nite Sensation . In: Sounds - plates 66-77 . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 1979, p. 621f.
  5. ↑ Article Zappa, Frank . In: Colin Larkin (eds.): The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 3 rd Edition, Vol. 8 . London 1998
  6. ↑ Volker Rebell: Frank Zappa - freak genius with tailcoat habit . In: Rocksession 1 , Rororo Sachbuch, 1977, ISBN 3-499-17086-8 , p. 269.
  7. ↑ Michael Davis: Little Band We Used To Play In . Keyboard Magazine, June 1980.
  8. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Richter: Over-Nite Sensation . In: Sounds - plates 66-77 . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 1979, p. 622.
  9. ^ Carl-Ludwig Reichert: Frank Zappa . DTV, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-423-31039-1 , p. 79.
  10. ↑ Barry Miles : Zappa . German edition. Rogner & Bernhard in Zweiausendeins, 2005, ISBN 3-8077-1010-8 , p. 272.
  11. ↑ Charts US
  12. ↑ Placements (as of February 2007)
  13. ^ Carl-Ludwig Reichert: Frank Zappa . DTV, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-423-31039-1 , p. 77.
  14. ↑ First gold record (as of February 2007)
  15. ↑ Camarillo Brillo (as of February 2007)
  16. ^ Frank Zappa; Carl Weissner (transl.): Plastic People - Songbook, Corrected Copy . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 1978, p. 324.
  17. ^ Frank Zappa; Carl Weissner (transl.): Plastic People - Songbook, Corrected Copy . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 1978, p. 328ff.
  18. ^ Frank Zappa; Carl Weissner (transl.): Plastic People - Songbook, Corrected Copy . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 1978, p. 332ff.
  19. ^ Frank Zappa; Carl Weissner (transl.): Plastic People - Songbook, Corrected Copy . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 1978, p. 336ff.
  20. ^ Frank Zappa; Carl Weissner (transl.): Plastic People - Songbook, Corrected Copy . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 1978, p. 340ff.
  21. ^ Frank Zappa; Carl Weissner (transl.): Plastic People - Songbook, Corrected Copy . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 1978, p. 350ff.