Over-Nite Sensation: 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition

Frank Zappa

Over-Nite Sensation: 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition

Zappa/UMe

January 10, 2024
Web Exclusive

By Hays Davis

Frank Zappa may not have entered 1973 with high hopes for success, but when Over-Nite Sensation moving through the Top 40 of the Billboard album chart, it became clear that it was appealing to growing fans and possibly the newly curious. That Sensation followed the jazz influence of 1972 Waka/Jawaka and wide band exercise The Grand Wazoo served to highlight how Zappa managed to reach a wider audience, strictly on his own terms.

Sensation it was considered a gateway record for many new Zappa fans at the time, including me Fillmore East-June 1971. Featuring key players including Ian Underwood of the original Mothers, Ruth Underwood (percussion/vibraphone/marimba), jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and George Duke (keyboards), Zappa and his band switch with ease from the friendly rock of “Camarillo Brillo. to the funky 'I'm the Slime' and the crazy energy of 'Zomby Woof', with Zappa's account of his interest in flossing in 'Montana' being just one particularly amusing example of how the humor wasn't never out of focus. During a time when horn bands, prog rock and jazz fusion were gaining attention, Over-Nite Sensation could be considered the perfect Zappa album for its time. Zappa may have seen it as the rest of the music world was finally catching up to him.

The 50th Anniversary Edition Super Deluxe Edition (which also included vinyl and digital options) offers four CDs and one Blu-ray audio disc spanning a total of 88 tracks, including 57 previously unreleased tracks and mixes. Unreleased '73 live shows with the album band Sensation and more on the scene, and a 48-page booklet describes the period in full. Overall, the set provides a deep dive into what became a life-changing album for Zappa and an old fan favorite. (www.zappa.com)

Author Rating: 8/10