Frank Zappa: Over-Nite Sensation [ZAPPA]

Why you'll love it

Chris Bellman cut this 180g pressing at Bernie Grundman Mastering straight from the original 1973 analog masters, in a gatefold jacket. It went gold in the US, and AllMusic calls it a watershed in Zappa's career.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Remastered
• Gatefold jacket
• Cut from the original analog masters
• Stereo mix
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

After years of sprawling experiments, Frank Zappa did something few expected: he made a tight, funky, hook-laden rock record. Over-Nite Sensation, credited to the Mothers and the first album on his DiscReet label, came out of sessions that also produced Apostrophe ('), and Kelly Fisher Lowe later called the pair about as close to traditional pop albums as Zappa would ever come.

The band is a monster: George Duke on keyboards, Jean-Luc Ponty on violin, Ruth Underwood on marimba and percussion, Ian Underwood and the Fowler brothers on horns and bass, Ralph Humphrey on drums. Tina Turner and the Ikettes sing backing vocals on most of the album, uncredited at the time. "Camarillo Brillo" is pure swagger, "I'm the Slime" takes aim at television, "Zomby Woof" has been called a heavy metal hybrid of Louis Jordan and Fats Waller, and "Montana" packs a fiendishly difficult middle section that took the Ikettes days to master. Dave McMacken painted the surreal hotel-room cover.

It and Apostrophe (') later got their own Classic Albums documentary. "Montana" is about moving out west to grow dental floss, and we've yet to find a more convincing case for rural living.

Also at Kops: more Frank Zappa on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Zappa Records / Barking Pumpkin (cat# 0238501), a reissue of the 1973 album.