Studio Tan

Untitled

Studio Tan is an album by Frank Zappa, first released in September, 1978 on his own DiscReet Records label.

History

In 1976 the relationship between Zappa and his manager/business partner Herb Cohen turned sour. 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. Later in 1976 Zappa claimed he delivered master tape copies of 4 different LP's to Warner Bros. This would have fulfilled all of Zappa's final obligations and freed him to move to another label for his next release. The four albums in question were Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt, Orchestral Favorites, and Zappa In New York (a 2LP set.) Perhaps believing that the material was sub-standard, Warner refused to pay Zappa upon delivery of the 4 albums (5 discs) according to their contract.

Therefore in 1977 Zappa decided 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 5LP configuration was already completed in 1976, a year before Läther. In fact 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. Zappa In New York was released in 1977 after it was censored and re-sequenced by Warner without Zappa's authorization.

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 had initially rejected, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt, and Orchestra Favorites. The three individual albums were released with no musical credits, as Zappa had not supplied this information. Warner commissioned new 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 to be represented in its near entirety. The only clear difference is that "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" is presented in a slightly different mix on Studio Tan.

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. "Lemme Take You To The Beach" – 2:44
2. "Revised Music For Guitar and Low-Budget Orchestra" – 7:36
3. "RDNZL" – 8:12

Personnel

• Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals, percussion
• George Duke – keyboards
• John Berkman – piano
• Michael Zearott – conductor
• Pamela Goldsmith – viola
• Murray Adler – violin
• Sheldon Sanov – violin
• Jerry Kessler – cello
• Edward Meares – bass guitar
• 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
• 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

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1978	Pop Albums	147