Zappa, Frank - Arthur Schmidt
ARTHUR SCHMIDT
[Zappa's] formula is wearing thin—or perhaps this Brucean music of disgust suffers in the current buyers' market for outrage. Only one song [on Over-Nite Sensation], "Montana," approaches parody, and that of an indefinite genre…. One of Zappa's most persistent themes and/or subjects, silly hippies, though it provides the best cut ("Camarillo Brillo") seems, well, dated.
Except that this is close to a good record, one would be tempted to compare Zappa to Henry Miller, with whom the former shares a vision of sex as rancid, dumb and funny: Like Miller getting older, he is less shocking, tapeworming himself, and overwriting.
Even if the lyrics are jokes, this is machismo rock in the Miller style. The composite love-object wears a "rancid poncho," has bug-ridden hair, "bovine perspiration on her upper lip area" and "cheap aroma." (p. 82)
["Camarillo Brillo"] is by far [the album's] highlight. If not Zappa at the top of his...
[The entire page is 223 words long]
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