Frank Zappa – Läther

MY COPY IS A ELDORADO RECORDS RELEASE FROM SONOPRESS BRAZILIAN EDITION .

I have this version, a must have for all Zappa fans, or since there are only a limited number I should say a must have for all Zappa fans to fight over!

When asked if Läther will ever be officially released on vinyl, Ahmet said in the Zappacast #48 from 02/02/2021 that "there's no reason it won't be" and "it absolutely needs to be." Let's hope that means sooner rather than later!

my only peeve here with this release is that the whole version of one of my fav Zappa instrumentals ever -The Ocean... .is cut . its missing the first part ? it doesn't seem right

General note: According to Ahmet (appearance on the Apr. 7, 2019 "The Vinyl Guide" podcast), this pressing was unauthorized by the family and was pressed using the same master as the CD. The ZFT is supposedly looking doing into an authorized pressing one day.

Frank Zappa in 1977 had to according to his current contract still four LPs. To under this contract to come out he offered under the name "Lather" sufficient numbers for four LPs. The songs were rejected by the record company then they out of frustration by a local radio station had broadcast. The recordings of this broadcast circulated for years in the bootleg circuit and these are so at the real Zappa-fan known. Also state much of the material from "Lather" whether or not in a different implementation on other Frank Zappa albums. Yet this three CD's existing set still enough interesting material for the many Zappa fans.

There is still a great deal of confusion surrounding Zappa's original artistic intentions for material on the Läther album. Many Zappa fans[citation needed] believe that his original intention was to release the material on 4 individual albums (a total of 5 full-length LP's) as he had delivered the material to Warner Bros. in this form in 1976. The official story given by Gail Zappa when the CD version of Läther was released in 1996 seems to contradict much of the evidence from Zappa interviews and magazine articles from the 1976-1979 period. When the material was first released on CD while Zappa was alive he chose to issue the 4 individual album configuration. Each individual album in the collection had a cohesive and unique style of its own. However, in the Läther configuration the styles were mixed up in a seemingly random way and linked with bits of dialogue and sound effects.

The official story according to Gail Zappa is as follows: the album (Läther) was originally conceived as a four-record box set in 1977. When Frank delivered the album to Warner Bros. Records, the label refused to release it. Zappa asked for a re-assignment of his contract (from DiscReet to Warner Bros.) in order to advance the possibility of being able to do special projects. Warner Bros. briefly agreed before telling him that he owed them four more albums. Zappa reedited the material into the individual albums Zappa in New York, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites. After releasing Zappa in New York, Warner refused to pay him or to release the rest of the albums.

However Gail Zappa was apparently unaware that all the material on Läther was already completed and delivered to Warner in 1976, a year before Läther was created. There are many holes in the official story. There is no proof that the 4 LP Läther box was ever delivered to Warner, nor would a single 4 LP box have fulfilled the of the contract because it would have counted as one release. In actuality it was the fact that Warner failed to release the 3 remaining individual albums which caused Zappa to conclude that Warner was in violation of their contract. This led Zappa to re-compile recordings from all 4 separate albums (5 full length LP's) into a new 4 LP box set called Läther and begin negotiations to release the package with another record company (Capitol/EMI.) Warner then interfered with these negotiations and threatened a lawsuit.

Some truly astonishing instrumentals here!