Over-Nite Sensation

Ending the Flo and Eddie era of the Mothers of Invention, Zappa found a new angle. 1973's Over-Nite Sensation and the follow-up, 1974's Apostrophe(') — recorded at the same sessions but credited as a Zappa solo album — include many of the songs that would comprise Zappa's concert favorites. "Montana" and "Dinah-Moe Humm" were, arguably, the best known on the album, and feature Zappa's tongue-deeply-in-cheek narration. The emphasis on sexual taboos and his hypercritical societal observations made his music uncomfortable for folks not accustomed to Zappa's bark and bite. "Dirty Love" is nasty funk and nastier wordplay. "I'm the Slime" takes on TV, which in the 21st century sounds a bit more obvious than it did in 1973. Tina Turner and the Ikettes appeared uncredited, while Zappa stalwarts George Duke, Ian Underwood and Sal Marquez provide the tight and inventive musical bedding. Lyrically, Zappa may have skirted certain lines of decency, but musically he was uncontroversially a great instrumentalist whose music was finding new language to speak.