Frank Zappa Apostrophe (')

With Frank Zappa's first charting hit single — #86 with a bullet! — a single version of "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow," Apostrophe(') was credited to Zappa alone, despite being largely derived from the same recording sessions as the previous year's Over-Nite Sensation and featuring the same line-up of players, including Ian Underwood, George Duke, Sal Marquez and Jean-Luc Ponty. The album, not surprisingly, is similar to Sensation. Zappa narrates in his dark, evil voice and the band plays impeccable funk-based rock 'n' roll with plenty of nasty Zappa guitar solos to satiate the faithful. The title track is an impressive instrumental in a long line of great instrumental work, with Cream's Jack Bruce on bass. "Cosmik Debris" unleashes the perfect mix of instrumental and vocal work, with the backing vocals chasing Zappa around in circles. "Stink-Foot" is more Zappa silliness, while "Yellow Snow" uses that humor to make him more accessible to audiences not attuned to his unusual musical influences.