THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION: OVER-NITE SENSATION

Over-nite sensation, after the weirdness of WAKA/JAWAKA and THE GRAND WAZOO, was the start of FZ's most prolific period, a period in which he managed to attract the best musicians in the world, all of whom have claimed their stint with FZ was the most inspiring stretch in their careers. His 70ies bands, imho remain unsurpassed by anyone. It is hard to believe that a band would be capable of performing this music live, but they actually managed to play them faster than on the albums. The 7 track-album doesn't feature any real high lights, as the overall level of song quality and playing is so incredibly high, and high lights would suggest low lights as well. My personal favorites are MONTANA and ZOMBY WOOF though. Bordering on neurotic, heavily jazz-influenced rock music, spiced with brilliantly funny lyrics. Never a dull moment with FZ. Nobody before and after him has been able to write songs on such different subjects, and at the same time been able to avoid clichés (I can think of only two love songs in his entire career, and they may have been meant cynically). In other words, if you want to get into FZ, and you don't want to buy the STRICTLY COMMERCIAL collection (don't try any of the other collections I would recommend), this would be a very good place to start. If you like it, there are a lot of beautiful things waiting for you (such as Apostrophe, One size fits all, Sheik Yerbouti, Joe's Garage, Hot rats, etc). The only reason I can think of why this would not receive 4 or 5 stars from everybody else here, is because calling it prog might be stretching it a little. Then again, FZ stretched a lot of musical boundaries. Enjoy!