This morning I decided to research an issue that I’m sure
was the topic of discussion at every dinner table last Thursday. Was
Apostrophe and Over-Nite Sesation every released as separate CD’s? As I began my internet quest, (relying on
Wikipedia), I found a simple yes/no answer was not what I was looking for……
As a Zappa collector (thank you Dr. Demento), I knew that
Apostrophe and Over-Nite Sensation were separate vinyl pressings. Over-Nite Sensation was FZ’s seventeenth album
and Apostrophe was the eighteenth. In
fact, the two were recorded during the same sessions. One thing I didn’t realize was that Over-Nite
was released as a Mothers Of Invention album while Apostrophe was released as a
Frank Zappa solo album. I had to refer
to my album crate to verify.
Another tid-bit: The Ikettes were considered as backup singers for a few
selections on Over-Nite. After Ike
Turner listened to one of the recordings, he insisted that they were not
credited on the release. Referring back
to the crate, I couldn’t find any credits on the album. I’m assuming that they did sing the backup
vocals though.
Both albums represent Zappa’s humor, musical arrangement
mastery and bizarre lyrics. One
exception to the humorous lyrical themes is found in Uncle Remus from
Apostrophe. Frank expresses his thoughts
about racial disharmony. On a personal
note, the guitar tone in this song is amazing.
A few things that seems odd to me:
· If Over-Nite was the seventeenth album and
Apostrophe was the eighteenth, why is the combo CD called Apostrophe/Over-Nite
Sensation?
· If Over-Night was released as a Mothers Of
Invention record and Apostrophe a FZ solo record, why were they released as a
combo?
Any thoughts? Let me know.
As far as the separate releases, all I needed to do was go
to Amazon. This year, both albums were
released individually on CD. I’m glad I
did a little investigating though.
Thanks for all the music Frank!
