The Mothers - Over-Nite Sensation [12]

Title: The Mothers - Over-Nite Sensation
Year/Genre/Sub-Genre/City: 1973, Art Rock, Jazz Fusion, Los Angeles, California 10/26
Matrix #: MS 2149 (DiscReet yellow label)
Condition: VG+ (LM) | Members: The Mothers (N/A) | Producer: Frank Zappa
Cultural Facts: [12]

1. Ike Set the Pay at $25: Zappa cut most of this album at Ike and Tina Turner's Bolic Sound studio in Inglewood, and Tina and the Ikettes sang backup on five songs. Ike insisted the women be paid no more than $25 per song, the same as he paid them. When Tina proudly dragged Ike in to hear the brutal "dental floss" section of "Montana," which took the singers days to learn, he said "What is this shit?" and walked out, then refused to let them be credited on the sleeve.
2. A Fan Pushed Him Off the Stage: In December 1971 a man shoved Zappa off the stage at London's Rainbow Theatre into the orchestra pit. He broke his leg, damaged his back, and crushed his larynx, which left his voice about a third lower and kept him in a wheelchair for much of 1972. On Over-Nite Sensation he sings lead on nearly every song in that new, lower voice.
3. Don Pardo Became the Slime: When Zappa hosted Saturday Night Live in December 1976, he played "I'm the Slime" with longtime NBC announcer Don Pardo reading the spoken lines of the song. It's a perfect fit, since the song is about television itself, sung from the point of view of the stuff coming out of your TV set.