Though Frank Zappa occupies a hallowed role as an important cultural agent provocateur and far-sighted social commentator, he was largely a marginal figure commercially during his early years. Released in 1973, Over-Nite Sensation changed all that, becoming his first certified gold disc and laying the ground for a newly energised composer to pursue myriad personal projects.
Honouring its importance in Zappa’s overall catalogue, the 50th-anniversary edition is a sumptuous affair. The five-disc (four-CD/one-Blu-ray audio) version boasts 88 tracks including 57 previously unreleased mixes from the vaults, two complete and previously unreleased 1973 live recordings. There are also new Atmos and surround sound mixes, though these were unavailable to Prog at the time of reviewing.
Early working versions of this material, even when rendered as instrumentals, show how durable and robust they actually are in terms of composition. On Fifty-Fifty, heard minus Ricky Lancelotti’s impressively unhinged vocal, George Duke and Jean-Luc Ponty have ample room to do their thing and it sounds like an outtake from The Grand Wazoo’s jazzier excursions. Inca Roads and RDNZL, both held back from the final cut of the album, showcase the talents the composer was able to draw upon, the latter sparkling with Ruth Underwood’s dazzling vibraphone. Ponty’s sublime playing also catches fire in a too-brief rehearsal snippet of Dinah-Moe Humm.
Special mention should go to Tom Fowler’s deft, melodious bass work across this entire set, truly the glue holding everything together amid a formidable line-up. Zappa may well be lauded as a genius by some but without this team’s heavy lifting these pieces, fuelled and driven by a virtuoso combination of fiery precision, might very likely fail to fly. The charismatic quality of this ensemble, while abundantly evident in the studio, transfers just as well to the stage in the two spectacularly satisfying concerts.
In going for a determinedly commercial musical direction Zappa brilliantly distils his usual discursive writing into strikingly direct and neatly honed compositions. Inevitably these are mostly topped by his bent for comedic, sexually explicit topics. At the time of its recording, Zappa was a 32-year-old man whose recurring obsessions and humour were straight out of the schoolboy locker room – opinions may vary on how well that side of the Zappa equation holds up.
In 2004, biographer Barry Miles concluded that Zappa’s lyrics were ultimately unimportant. “It is the music that will last,” he observed. Fifty years after Over-Nite Sensation’s original release, he’s not wrong.
Over-Nite Sensation 50th Anniversary Edition is on sale now via UMC.
