''Studio Tan'' is an album by American musician

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

, released in September 1978 on his own

DiscReet Records DiscReet Records, self-identified simply as DiscReet, was a record label founded by Frank Zappa and his then business partner and manager Herb Cohen. The name of the label was a pun derived from disc and the Compatible Discrete 4 process of ...

label, distributed by Warner Bros Records. It reached No. 147 on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart in the United States. Though it was on his own label, Zappa did not authorize the original 1978 release of this album. Warner did no promotion and it was largely overlooked by fans upon release. At the same time Zappa gave interviews which described his legal problems with Warner and former manager

Herb Cohen Herbert Cohen (December 30, 1932 – March 16, 2010) was an American personal manager, record company executive, and music publisher, best known as the manager of Judy Henske, Linda Ronstadt, Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Odetta, Tom Waits, Geor ...

. The 1991 CD re-release was the first time the album was issued with Zappa's authorization.

Recording sessions

The basic tracks for "Let Me Take You to the Beach" date from a 1969 session for the album '' Hot Rats''. The rest of the material was recorded between 1974 and 1976. Primary recording locations included the

Record Plant The Record Plant was a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and last operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it produced highly influential albums, including the New York ...

in Los Angeles and Caribou Ranch in Colorado.

History

In April 1975 Zappa had a one sided demo acetate disc cut at Kendun Recorders in Burbank, California. This unreleased disc contains "Revised Music for Guitar and Low-Budget Orchestra", a nearly 8 minute version of "200 Years Old" and "Regyptian Strut". In the notes to the June 1975 album '' One Size Fits All'' Zappa mentioned a planned studio album which never appeared. Many fans believe that this was to have included ''The Adventures of Greggery Peccary'', filling one side, and that the April acetate was to have been the other side. Instead, Zappa opted to release a new (mostly) live album '' Bongo Fury'' in October the same year. This album contained a four minute edit of the same "200 Years Old" studio recording. In May 1976, Zappa's relationship with manager and business partner

ended in litigation. Zappa and Cohen's company

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 agreed. This led to the October 1976 release of '' Zoot Allures'' on Warner. But Warner changed its position following legal action from Cohen. At this point Zappa was contracted to deliver four more albums to Warner for release on DiscReet. In March 1977 Zappa delivered all four albums to Warner to fulfill his contract. Zappa did not receive payment by Warner upon delivery of the tapes, which was a contract violation. During a long legal battle between Zappa and Warner the material was eventually released during 1978 and 1979 on 4 individual albums: '' Zappa In New York'' (a two LP set), ''Studio Tan'', '' Sleep Dirt'' and '' Orchestral Favorites''. Much of the material from these four albums was also edited by Zappa into a four-LP box set called '' Läther''. Zappa announced this album in a mid September 1977 interview where he described it as his "current album". Zappa negotiated a distribution deal with Phonogram Inc. to release ''Läther'' as the first release on the

Zappa Records Zappa Records is an American record label based in Los Angeles which was founded by Frank Zappa in 1977. It was mostly inactive during the 1980s and 1990s, but was revived in 2006 by the Zappa Family Trust. History In May 1976, Zappa ended his r ...

label. The album was scheduled for a

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

October 31, 1977 release date. But Warner claimed ownership of the material and threatened legal action, preventing the release of ''Läther'' and forcing Zappa to shelve the project. All four tracks on ''Studio Tan'' were also included on the shelved ''Läther'' album. The songs on side two of ''Studio Tan'' are the same as side three of ''Läther''; however, on ''Läther'' there are bits of

musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic ...

and dialog linking the songs. More of these same bits, or "grouts" as Zappa allegedly called them, appear on other albums such as ''

Sheik Yerbouti ''Sheik Yerbouti'' is a double album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in March 1979 as the first release on Zappa Records, distributed by Phonogram Inc. in the United States and Canada. The album was released in other countries by CB ...

''. ''Läther'' was officially released posthumously in 1996. As Zappa had delivered only the tapes to Warner, ''Studio Tan'' was initially released with no musician or songwriting credits.FZ vs. Warner Brs. Story or Lather/Laether/Leather
''Zappa in New York'', Arf.ru Warner also commissioned sleeve art by cartoonist

Gary Panter Gary Panter (born December 1, 1950) is an American cartoonist, illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post- underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end of '' Arcade: The Com ...

, which was not approved by Zappa. When the album was released in September 1978 Zappa said: "I delivered four tapes to Warner last March (1977) as our contract specified and they released this one without telling me. I have received no advance or no royalties from Warner. I consider it a bootleg or pirate album and I'm suing the record company in California." An excerpt from an otherwise 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 Chad Wackerman (born March 25, 1960) is an American jazz, jazz fusion and rock drummer, who has played with Frank Zappa and Allan Holdsworth. He has worked as a band member, session musician, sideman, and bandleader. He is the older brother o ...

Release history

The 1978 vinyl LP had an early fade out at the end of the track " The Adventures of Greggery Peccary". This shortens the song by about 30 seconds. ''Studio Tan'' was first released on CD in October 1991 on Zappa's Barking Pumpkin label along with the Panter artwork and added credits. On this version the track "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" was completely remixed. Also, the early fade out on this track was eliminated. The 1991 CD has the songs from side two in a slightly different order than on the 1978 vinyl edition. Panter would later provide additional art for the album when it was reissued on CD by Ryko in 1995. When the CD was reissued on CD in 2012, the complete original 1978 vinyl version was used, while also eliminating the early fade out on "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary".

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Frank Zappa.

Personnel

* Frank Zappa –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

(Tracks A1–B3);

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

(Tracks A1, B1);

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

(Track B2) * Davey Moire – vocals (Track B1) *

George Duke George Martin Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as ...

– keyboards (Tracks A1, B2, B3) * Eddie Jobson – keyboards & yodeling (Track B1) * Tom Fowler –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

(Tracks A1, B2) * Max Bennett – bass guitar (Tracks B1) * James "Bird Legs" Youman – bass guitar (Tracks B3) *

Chester Thompson Chester Thompson (born December 11, 1948) is an American drummer best known for his tenures with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Weather Report, Santana (band), Santana, Genesis (band), Genesis and Phil Collins. Thompson has performed ...

– drums (Tracks A1, B2, B3) * Paul Humphrey – drums (Track B1) * Don Brewer –

bongos Bongos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' ...

(Track B1) * Ruth Underwood – percussion &

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

(Track B3) * Michael Zearott – conductor (Track B2) * John Rotella –

woodwind instrument Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and ...

s (Track B2) * Mike Altschul –

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

(Track B2) * Ray Reed – flute (Track B2) * Earle Dumler –

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

(Track B2) * Victor Morosco –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

(Track B2) * JoAnn Caldwell McNab –

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

(Track B2) * Graham Young –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

(Track B2) * Jay Daversa – trumpet (Track B2) * Malcolm McNab – trumpet (Track B2) * Bruce Fowler –

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

(Tracks A1, B2) * Don Waldrop – trombone (Track B2) * Jock Ellis – trombone (Track B2) * Dana Hughes –

bass trombone The bass trombone (, ) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and u ...

(Track B2) * Murray Adler –

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

(Track B2) * Sheldon Sanov – violin (Track B2) * Pamela Goldsmith –

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

(Track B2) * Jerry Kessler –

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

(Track B2) * Edward Meares –

upright bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

(Track B2) * John Berkman –

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

(Track B2) * Alan Estes – percussion (Track B2) * Emil Richards – percussion (Track B2) * Mike D. Stone of the

– engineer

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1978 albums Albums produced by Frank Zappa DiscReet Records albums Frank Zappa albums Albums with cover art by Gary Panter Unauthorized albums