THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION: OVER-NITE SENSATION

In the Judaeo-Christian, Islamic, inclusively monotheistic Hindu, and Mahayana Buddhist traditions, the prophet and prophecy are central. This only follows, given the import of a human "speaking on behalf of God."

Correspondingly, there are secular prophets. I would like to submit that Frank Zappa was such an individual. "Comic Master of the Absurd' is one appellation attributed to him. At the core of this comic mastery is a perception of humanity that does not flinch in its exposition of human folly. We find this in the album, "Over-Nite Sensation" by (Frank Zappa and) The Mothers (of Invention).

What would Frank Zappa make of social media? Chances are his answer lies in his lyrics to "I Am the Slime." Like most products of human collective activity (culture, science, technology. . .), social media is (in the words of Adrian Monk) "a blessing, a curse . . . . ."

For me, the power of the rock we call progressive is associated with the points in time in which I first encountered it. This musical potency expresses itself in the endurance it maintains in the Imagination. In a sense, the music that perseveres exists on a level that is somewhat timeless. The sustaining piece of music lives on a plateau in which time and space meet in the ever-present now.

Frank Zappa's caustic commentary, found in "I Am the Slime," does originate in the milieu of the early Seventies, but it possesses further applicability to our present time. And, when I listen to this effective indictment of media excesses, I am brought back to a juncture in the Seventies grounded in a comical high school memory: "'I Am the Slime' 00zing out of your trigonometry book."

With Frank Zappa the composer and producer of all songs on "Over-Nite Sensation," he fleshes them out with an eclectic group of musicians and, in addition to himself, vocalists: We have everyone from George Duke, to Jean-Luc Ponty, to Ian and Ruth Underwood, to Tom and Bruce Fowler, to (uncredited) Tina Turner and the Ikettes. Whatever the social criticism and lampooning of human irrationality that comprise Frank Zappa's lyrics, the music defies characterization, reflecting the unity of the comic (and tragic) vision of its creator.

Sigmund Freud would have been "at home" with "Camarillo Brillo," "Dirty Love," and "Dinah-Moe Humm." And, the album's title, "Over-Nite Sensation," is a double entendre not only suggesting instant success, but also an outcome of the encounter recommended in "Dirty Love."

Perhaps, Karl Marx might have found in "Montana," through its agrarian satire, a critique of capitalism.

A reported atheist, Frank Zappa nevertheless speaks to us from a comic/tragic perspective that expects better from those who constitute The Human Condition. Zappa may not have "heard" the Word at the fulcrum-point of existence; yet, in his music, he directs us to transcendence.