Läther

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Läther
Läther cover
Studio album by Frank Zappa
Released September 24, 1996
Recorded 1972–1976
Genre Progressive rock, art rock, jazz fusion, experimental rock
Length 172:56
Label Rykodisc
Producer Frank Zappa
Professional reviews
Frank Zappa chronology
The Lost Episodes
(1996)		 Läther
(1996)		 Frank Zappa Plays the Music of Frank Zappa: A Memorial Tribute
(1996)

Läther (pronounced like "leather" due to the umlaut) is an album by Frank Zappa. Although its history is complex it was eventually released as a set of three CDs in September 1996. The album cover appears to be a parody of that of Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother.

Produced by Zappa in 1977, Läther features unreleased tracks, unreleased versions of familiar tunes and alternate mixes and shorter edits of tracks that appeared on four separate albums in 1978 and 1979. Zappa in New York (1978), Studio Tan (1978), Sleep Dirt (1979) and Orchestral Favorites (1979), and in edited form on Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar (1981). The recordings contained in Läther were made between 1972 and 1976.

Legal hassles with Warner Bros., Zappa's record label at the time, prevented the original release of Läther. Stories vary, but according to Gail Zappa, Zappa conceived Läther as a four-album box set which Warner Bros. declined to release. The label then thwarted Zappa's attempts to release it elsewhere by threatening legal action.

Contents

[edit] History

Prior to the CD's 1996 release, Läther had been considered one of rock music's great lost albums; "the Smile [The Beach Boys' unreleased album] of the Freak Out set."[1]

The official version of history, from Frank's wife, discards the widely-held belief that these recordings were initially separate albums reworked into a four-album set. Gail Zappa is adamant that the opposite is true. In July of 1996, for publication in the liner notes of the official CD release of Läther, Gail Zappa wrote the following:

"As originally conceived by Frank, Läther was always a four-record box set. One more time for the world: Läther was always a four-record box set. The record company [Warner Bros.] didn't want to release it. FZ wanted to release it with another record company [Mercury/Phonogram] as a special project. The record company [Warner Bros.] didn't want the record company [Mercury/Phonogram] to release it. He asked for an assignment of his contract from the production deal to the record company direct in order to advance the possibility of being able to do 'special projects' (like box sets, would you believe?). Briefly, the record company [Mercury/Phonogram] agreed -- one record appeared on this label -- then reneged. They told him that under his contract, he owed them four more records (they didn't want him to release it). He reluctantly reformatted Läther and delivered it to the label. Nothing like this had ever happened before. No artist had cured his obligations by delivering all the albums required at once. They wouldn't pay him. They wouldn't release him. He took Läther to a local radio station and asked them to play the entire program. They did and this is how it came to pass that Frank asked listeners to get their tape recorders ready and thus delivered Läther free to the public radio audience. They did and the rest is history."[2]

However, the material contained in on the album was already completed in 1976, at least a year prior to the time it was edited into Läther. Other information gained from Zappa interviews at the time shows that Frank delivered tapes for Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites to Warner Bros. soon after completing these recordings in 1976. Warner failed to pay Zappa for the tapes at this time under the terms of their contract. Zappa then re-edited the recordings into Läther in 1977. In 1978 and 1979 Warner eventually released the 1976 recordings without Zappa's authorization on three separate LP's.

Zappa took matters into his own hands in December 1977 by playing the entire work on Pasadena's KROQ radio station and instructing listeners to tape it. He said, "This is Frank Zappa as your bogus temporary disc jockey making it possible for you to run your little cassette machine and tape an album which is perhaps never going to be available to the public at large." While this has always been seen as a rebellious move on Zappa's part, Warner Bros. actually gave the station permission to broadcast the album, as they had no interest in releasing it at the time. It wasn't until he offered the four-album set to Mercury/Phonogram that Warner Bros. decided to release the individual albums he had delivered to them. Until the CD was released, on Rykodisc, Läther's material was available on bootlegs which had been sourced either from tapes of the radio broadcast or from copies of the test pressing.

The three-CD set represents the eight-sided album as it was originally conceived. Most of the material on Läther appears in some form on the 1978–79 albums—in total, twenty of the thirty tracks present appear elsewhere. However, only six tracks on the set are precisely the same as those on Rykodisc's other Zappa albums, the remaining being either alternative mixes or unique to the box.[3]

[edit] Track listing

All tracks by Frank Zappa.

[edit] Side one

  1. "Re-gyptian Strut" – 4:36
  2. "Naval Aviation in Art?" – 1:32
  3. "A Little Green Rosetta" – 2:48
  4. "Duck Duck Goose" – 3:01
  5. "Down in de Dew" – 2:57
  6. "For the Young Sophisticate" – 3:14

[edit] Side two

  1. "Tryin' to Grow a Chin" – 3:26
  2. "Broken Hearts Are for Assholes" – 4:40
  3. "The Legend of the Illinois Enema Bandit" – 12:43

[edit] Side three

  1. "Lemme Take You to the Beach" – 2:46
  2. "Revised Music for Guitar & Low Budget Orchestra" – 7:36
  3. "RDNZL" – 8:14

[edit] Side four

  1. "Honey, Don't You Want a Man Like Me?" – 4:56
  2. "The Black Page #1" – 1:57
  3. "Big Leg Emma" – 2:11
  4. "Punky's Whips" – 11:06

[edit] Side five

  1. "Flambe" – 2:05
  2. "The Purple Lagoon" – 16:22

[edit] Side six

  1. "Pedro's Dowry" – 7:45
  2. "Läther" – 3:50
  3. "Spider of Destiny" – 2:40
  4. "Duke of Orchestral Prunes" – 4:21

[edit] Side seven

  1. "Filthy Habits" – 7:12
  2. "Titties 'n Beer" – 5:23
  3. "The Ocean Is the Ultimate Solution" – 8:32

[edit] Side eight

  1. "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" – 21:00

[edit] Side nine

  1. "Regyptian Strut (1993)" – 4:42
  2. "Leather Goods" – 6:01
  3. "Revenge of the Knick Knack People" – 2:25
  4. "Time Is Money" – 3:04

[edit] References

  1. ^ Review of Läther. Goldmine (October 11, 1996). Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  2. ^ Gail Zappa, liner notes booklet, Läther, Rykodisc, 1996, pp. 5-6
  3. ^ Zoot (September 26, 1996). Läther Source Codes. alt.fan.frank-zappa. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.

[edit] External links

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Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention
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