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
Zoot Allures (1976) Studio Tan (1978) Sleep Dirt (1979)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

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.

The album's creation was spurred by Warner Bros.' rejection of Zappa's Läther album. After demanding more albums than Zappa was contractually obliged to provide and reediting the live album Zappa in New York, a lawsuit ensued, during which, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites were issued without Zappa's permission.

Studio Tan is derived from two complete sides of Läther. After Zappa gained the rights to his back catalog, Studio Tan was reissued, containing a remixed version of "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary".

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 re-assignment 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, entitled Läther, which he intended as his "swan song" for Warner Bros. 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.

During 1977 Zappa created the individual albums Zappa In New York, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites by re-editing recordings from same batch of tapes that made up the 4-LP configuration. 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. In 1978 and 1979 Warner finally decided to release the three remaining individual albums they still held, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites. As Zappa had delivered the tapes only, these three individual albums were released with no musical credits. 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 the Panter artwork.) Much of the material on Studio Tan was made available to the public again in a different form when Läther was finally officially released to the public in 1996 after Zappa's death.

Content

All four tracks were originally intended for the shelved Läther album. "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" is presented in a very different mix and edit on the CD edition of Studio Tan. Läther presented an almost complete edit, containing several seconds of music that were edited out of the CD remix and the original mix, but a completely different ending. The remix from the Studio Tan CD contained a short note ending the piece, while Läther ends by cutting to a guitar squeal, the voice of Terry Bozzio saying the word "leather", and two marimba hits, conceptually tying the conclusion of the original Läther album with several pieces of avantgarde dialogue. The vinyl release of Studio Tan avoids both the Läther ending by fading out before the keyboard notes and orchestral arrangement that ended the piece's original Läther edit and the remix released on the CD reissue of Studio Tan.

The CD, in addition to using a new remixed version of Greggery Peccary changed the running order of the album, switching tracks 2 & 3. Later CD editions have a severe dropout during RDNZL that is not present on any LP pressing or on the initial CD edition (Barking Pumpkin; ZAX Capitol matrix).

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

1. "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" – 20:40

Side two

1. "Let Me Take You to the Beach" – 2:44
2. "Revised Music for Guitar & Low-Budget Orchestra" – 7:36
3. "RDNZL" – 8:12

Personnel

• Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals, percussion
• George Duke – keyboards
• John Berkman – piano
• Tom Fowler – bass guitar
• Chester Thompson – 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)

Year	Chart	Position
1978	Pop Albums	147