Studio Tan

Studio Tan
Studio album by Frank Zappa
Released	September 15, 1978
Recorded	1969, 1974 – 1976 at The Record Plant, LA; Royce Hall, UCLA and Caribou Studios, Nederland, Colorado
Genre	Experimental rock, jazz fusion, progressive rock
Length	39:18
Label	DiscReet
Producer	Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa chronology
Zappa in New York (1978) Studio Tan (1978) Sleep Dirt (1979)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Studio Tan is an album by Frank Zappa, first released in September 1978 on his own DiscReet Records label. It reached #147 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. This is Official Release #24.

Background

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. Records. When Zappa asked for a reassignment of his contract from DiscReet to Warner in order to advance the possibility of doing special projects without Cohen's involvement, Warner briefly agreed. This led to the 1976 release of Zoot Allures on Warner. Early in 1977, Zappa delivered the master tapes for a quadruple-LP set, titled Läther.^[2] However, Warner changed its position following legal action from Cohen, and refused to release the album, claiming that Zappa was contractually bound to deliver four more albums to Warner for the DiscReet label.^[3]

After Warner Bros. released Zappa In New York, they told him that he still owed them four more albums. He then attempted to get a distribution deal with Phonogram to release Läther on the new Zappa Records label. This led Warner to threaten legal action, preventing the release of Läther and forcing Zappa to shelve the project. As Zappa had delivered the tapes only, these three individual albums were released with no musical credits.^[4] Warner also commissioned sleeve art by Gary Panter, which was not approved by Zappa. When this material was first released on CD in 1991 Zappa chose to release the individual albums, along with Panter's artwork. The material on Studio Tan was made available in a different form when Läther was released in 1996.

Content

All four tracks were originally intended for the shelved Läther album.

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 songs written and composed by Frank Zappa.

Personnel

• Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals, percussion
• George Duke – keyboards
• John Berkman – piano
• Tom Fowler – bass guitar
• Terry Bozzio – drums
• Davey Moire – vocals
• Eddie Jobson – keyboards, yodeling
• Max Bennett – bass guitar
• Paul Humphrey – drums
• Don Brewer – bongos
• James "Bird Legs" Youmans – bass guitar
• Ruth Underwood – percussion, synthesizer
• Michael Zearott – conductor
• Pamela Goldsmith – viola
• Murray Adler – violin
• Sheldon Sanov – violin
• Jerry Kessler – cello
• Edward Meares – upright bass
• Bruce Fowler – trombone
• Don Waldrop – trombone
• Jock Ellis – trombone
• Dana Hughes – bass trombone
• Earle Dumler – oboe
• JoAnn Caldwell McNab – bassoon
• Mike Altschul – flute
• Graham Young – trumpet
• Jay Daversa – trumpet
• Malcolm McNab – trumpet
• Ray Reed – flute
• Victor Morosco – saxophone
• John Rotella – woodwind instruments
• Alan Estes – percussion
• Emil Richards – percussion

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

References