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Jan 10, 2024 Web Exclusive By Hays Davis

Frank Zappa may not have entered 1973 with high hopes for a hit record, but when Over-Nite Sensation punched through the Top 40 of Billboard’s album chart it became clear that he was appealing to growing numbers of fans and probably the newly curious. That Sensation followed 1972’s jazz-influenced Waka/Jawaka and big-band exercise The Grand Wazoo served to underscore how Zappa managed to reach a wider audience strictly on his own terms.

Sensation was seen as a gateway record for many new Zappa fans at the time, along with Fillmore East-June 1971. Featuring key players including Ian Underwood from the original Mothers, Ruth Underwood (percussion/vibraphone/marimba), jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, and George Duke (keyboards), Zappa and his band shift with ease from the friendly rock of “Camarillo Brillo” to the funky “I’m the Slime” and the mad energy of “Zomby Woof,” with Zappa’s relating of his interest in raising a crop of dental floss in “Montana” serving as but one particularly amusing example of how humor was never far out of focus. During a period when horn-driven bands, prog rock and jazz fusion were all attracting considerable attention, Over-Nite Sensation could be seen as the perfect Zappa album for its time. Zappa might have seen it as rest of the music world finally catching up to him.

The 50th Anniversary Edition Super Deluxe Edition (which also included vinyl and digital options) offers four CDs and a Blu-ray audio disc that collectively span 88 tracks, including 57 previously unreleased tracks and mixes. Unreleased ’73 live shows featuring the album’s band take Sensation and more to the stage, and a 48-page booklet fully details the period. Overall, the set provides a deep dive into what became a life-changing album for Zappa and a longtime fan favorite. (www.zappa.com)

Author rating: 8/10