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 Records
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 in the United States.

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 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 released the live double album Zappa in New York (1978), they told him that he still owed them four more albums. He then attempted to get a distribution deal with Phonogram Inc. 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 1991 reissue swapped "Revised Music for Guitar & Low-Budget Orchestra" and "Lemme Take You to the Beach" in the album's running order.) The material on Studio Tan was made available in a different form when Läther was released in 1996 as a triple album.

Content

All four tracks were originally intended for the shelved Läther album. Side two of the album was to be side three of Läther, although on Läther there are brief segments of sound effects between the songs that are absent on Studio Tan. "Greggery Peccary" has an early fadeout on the Studio Tan LP compared to both Läther and reissues of Studio Tan from 1991 onwards.

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^[5]

• Frank Zappa – guitar (Tracks A1-B3); vocals (Tracks A1, B1); percussion (Track B2)
• Davey Moire – vocals (Track B2)
• George Duke – keyboards (Tracks A1, B3, B4)
• Eddie Jobson – keyboards & yodeling (Track B1)
• Tom Fowler – bass guitar (Tracks A1, B2)
• Max Bennett – bass guitar (Tracks B1)
• James "Bird Legs" Youman – bass guitar (Tracks B3)
• Chester Thompson – drums (Tracks A1, B2, B3)
• Paul Humphrey – drums (Track B1)
• Don Brewer – bongos (Track B1)
• Ruth Underwood – percussion & synthesizer (Track B3)
• Michael Zearott – conductor (Track B2)
• John Rotella – woodwind instruments (Track B2)
• Mike Altschul – flute (Track B2)
• Ray Reed – flute (Track B2)
• Earle Dumler – oboe (Track B2)
• Victor Morosco – saxophone (Track B2)
• JoAnn Caldwell McNab – bassoon (Track B2)
• Graham Young – trumpet (Track B2)
• Jay Daversa – trumpet (Track B2)
• Malcolm McNab – trumpet (Track B2)
• Bruce Fowler – trombone (Tracks A1, B2)
• Don Waldrop – trombone (Track B2)
• Jock Ellis – trombone (Track B2)
• Dana Hughes – bass trombone (Track B2)
• Murray Adler – violin (Track B2)
• Sheldon Sanov – violin (Track B2)
• Pamela Goldsmith – viola (Track B2)
• Jerry Kessler – cello (Track B2)
• Edward Meares – upright bass (Track B2)
• John Berkman – piano (Track B2)
• Alan Estes – percussion (Track B2)
• Emil Richards – percussion (Track B2)

Charts

Album - Billboard (United States)

References