Studio Tan is an album by Frank Zappa, first released in September, 1978 on his own DiscReet Records label.
History
In early 1976 Zappa's relationship with manager and business partner Herb Cohen ended in litigation. Zappa and Cohen's company DiscReet Records was distributed by Warner Bros. When Zappa asked for a re-assignment of his contract from DiscReet to Warner in order to advance the possibility of being able to do special projects without Cohen's involvement, Warner Bros. briefly agreed. This led to the 1976 release of Zoot Allures on Warner. At this point Zappa was contractually bound to deliver 4 more albums to DiscReet and Warner.
Later in 1976 Zappa claimed he delivered master tape copies of 4 individual LP's to Warner Bros. (see [1]) This would have fulfilled all of Zappa's final obligations to DiscReet and Warner and freed him to move to another distributor for his next release. The four albums in question were Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt, Orchestral Favorites, and Zappa In New York (a 2LP set.) Believing that the material was sub-standard, Warner refused to pay Zappa for his production costs upon delivery of the 4 albums (5 discs) according to their contract.
Due to Warner's breach of contract Zappa decided in early 1977 that he was contractually free to reconfigure the material on the 5 discs into a single 4LP set called Läther. Though both collections contained unique material the 4 disc set was trimmed down from the original 5 disc configuration, not the other way around as is commonly assumed. While Gail Zappa claims "Läther was always conceived as a 4 disc set", she was apparently unaware that all the material on the original 5 disc configuration was already recorded between 1971 and 1976, and completed a year before Läther. Zappa In New York was completed and released in 1977. It was later censored and re-sequenced by Warner without Zappa's authorization in 1978.
Despite the official story written much later in 1996 there is no evidence that Zappa ever delivered tapes for Läther to Warner. Nor would a single 4LP set have fulfilled the requirements of the Zappa/Warner contract as the 4 disc box would have counted as a one release. (see [2]) Zappa created each of the 4 original albums with a unique and consistent musical style of it's own. For Läther the individual styles were completely mixed up and the songs were linked with new musical and dialog segments. Trying to create Läther out of the original 5 disc collection would have been like trying to turn an omelette back into eggs. (see [3])
Zappa then attempted to get a distribution deal with Mercury/Phonogram to release Läther on the new Zappa Records label. This led Warner Bros. to threaten legal action, preventing the release of the Läther collection. In 1978 and 1979 Warner finally decided to release the 3 remaining individual albums they still held, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt, and Orchestra Favorites. As Zappa had delivered the tapes only, the three individual albums were released with no musical credits. (see [4]) Warner commissioned their own sleeve art by Gary Panter, which was not approved by Zappa.
The material on the album was made available to the public again when Läther was finally released to the public in 1996. Of the four albums that comprise Läther, Studio Tan is the only one of the individual albums to be represented in its near entirety. It is also the only one that could have been possibly taken from the Läther tapes, thus strengthening the argument that the individual albums were created first. The only clear differences are that "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" is presented in a slightly different mix on Studio Tan and that the ending of the song had been shortened on the original vinyl release on DiscReet.
An excerpt from an unreleased alternate version of "Revised Music for Guitar and Low-Budget Orchestra" appears on the 1987 compilation The Guitar World According to Frank Zappa, with drum overdubs by Chad Wackerman.
Track listing
All compositions by Frank Zappa.
Side one
- "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" – 20:40
Side two
- "Lemme Take You To The Beach" – 2:44
- "Revised Music For Guitar and Low-Budget Orchestra" – 7:36
- "RDNZL" – 8:12
Personnel
Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)
| Year |
Chart |
Position |
| 1978 |
Pop Albums |
147[1] |
References
External links
|
