Läther (, or "Leather") is the sixty-fifth official album by American musician Frank Zappa. It was released posthumously as a three-CD set on Rykodisc in 1996. The album's title is derived from bits of comic dialog that link the songs. Zappa also explained that the name is a joke, based on "common bastardized pronunciation of Germanic syllables by the Swiss."
Läther integrates many aspects of Zappa's musical oeuvre — heavy rock, orchestral works, and complex jazz flavored instrumentals, along with his distinctive electric guitar solos and satirical lyrics, all edited together in a seemingly random way.
Zappa said in 1978 that he originally configured the music on Läther as four individual albums, and that he completed these four albums in March 1977. Writing in the liner notes upon the album's release in 1996, Frank's wife Gail Zappa claimed a different story.
The Läther album was intended for release as a four-LP box set on Halloween, October 31, 1977. However, this release was cancelled. Prior to the official 1996 release, unauthorized bootleg recordings of this material were widely distributed.Slaven, 2003, Electric Don Quixote, p. 248.
A 1996 Goldmine magazine review compared Läther in importance to The Beach Boys' unfinished album Smile, describing it as "the Smile of the Freak Out! set: the great lost Uncle Frank album" and a "sprawling, flawed masterpiece".
Background Zappa's relationship with manager Herb Cohen ended in May 1976. Zappa and Cohen were the co-owners of the DiscReet record label, which was distributed by Warner Bros. Records. After Cohen cashed one of Zappa's royalty checks from Warner and kept the money for himself, Zappa sued him. Zappa was also upset with Cohen for signing acts he did not approve.
Cohen filed a lawsuit against Zappa in return, which froze money which the pair were expecting to receive from an out-of-court settlement with MGM/Verve over the rights to Zappa's early Mothers of Invention recordings. The MGM settlement was eventually finalized in mid 1977 after two years of negotiations. Zappa re-negotiated with Warner and had his contract re-assigned in October 1976. He delivered the album Zoot Allures directly to Warner that month, while bypassing DiscReet.Miles, Barry (2004), Frank Zappa, p. 253; pp. 258–259. Zappa had intended this as a double LP, but he was later forced to re-edit the release into a single LP at the insistence of Warner executives. Cohen countersued, claiming that the Warner release violated the terms of his DiscReet contract with Zappa.Herb Cohen Obituary, The Guardian (London), April 2, 2010 So the final four albums of Zappa's recording contract were then assigned back to DiscReet, against Zappa's objection.
Recording sessions Läther was assembled by Zappa in 1977 from a wide variety of recording sessions stretching back as far as eight years, but mostly between 1972 and 1976. The tracks utilize a constantly changing cast of backing musicians. Most of the songs on Läther are linked together with bits of musical sound effects (musique concrète) and comic dialog from Zappa band members, Terry Bozzio, Patrick O'Hearn, and Davey Moire. More of these same bits, or "grouts" as Zappa allegedly called them, appear on other albums such as Sheik Yerbouti.
The album's opener "Re-Gyptian Strut" comes from December 1974 sessions at Caribou Ranch in Colorado. "Flambé" and "Spider of Destiny" were also recorded at the ranch with additional overdubs in 1976 at the Los Angeles Record Plant. These three are among the songs written by Zappa in 1972 for a stage musical called Hunchentoot. A full script exists, but the Hunchentoot recordings were never completed.
Basic tracks for "Lemme Take You to the Beach" were recorded during The Hot Rats Sessions in 1969, with the working title "Dame Margret's Son To Be A Bride". The track was finished in 1976 at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. "Down in De Dew" comes from November 1972 sessions in New York and Los Angeles. "For The Young Sophisticate" is a 1973 studio recording from Bolic Sound and is different from the later live version on Tinsel Town Rebellion.
Most of the live tracks were recorded in December 1976 at the Palladium in New York City. The last recordings are live tracks including "Tryin' to Grow a Chin" from a February 1977 London show at the Hammersmith Odeon. This song also appeared in a different later recording on Sheik Yerbouti.
Many of the orchestral works come from a September 1975 session with the 37-piece Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra, which was recorded at Royce Hall with conductor Michael Zearott. Zappa said the 1975 Royce Hall sessions alone cost him about $200,000, due to the number of musicians hired.
The most substantial work is "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary", a story with Zappa's narration set to music, which lasts over 20 minutes. The piece is scored for a large orchestra and was recorded in Los Angeles between 1972 and 1974.
History In April 1975 Zappa complained about ongoing contractual disputes between DiscReet and Warner. The same month he 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", "200 Years Old" and "Re-Gyptian Strut". Zappa's liner notes in the June 1975 album One Size Fits All mention a planned studio follow up album which never appeared. Instead, Zappa released the (mostly) live album Bongo Fury in October 1975. Bongo Fury contained a four minute version of "200 Years Old" which was edited from the one on the April 1975 acetate.
A complete album titled Six Things was also cut as a demo acetate at Kendun in April 1976. This was an unreleased early edit of music from the Royce Hall orchestral sessions. The same year Zappa tried to negotiate release of an orchestral album with Columbia Masterworks, but the deal fell through when the label did not agree to Zappa's terms.
During the fall 1976 tour the Zappa band performed in front of slide projector images, one of which said "Warner Bros. Sucks!"Audio recording "Irate Phone Calls" on Zappa in New York - 40th Anniversary Edition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWQBo59yl28 Zappa was upset over inadequate promotion. By late 1976 he was determined to complete his Warner contract as soon as possible. As early as December that year Zappa talked about handing multiple individual albums over to Warner and had "more than four" currently in production. Contracts then stipulated that Zappa deliver four new albums to Warner for release on DiscReet. In December 1977 Zappa said: "Between last October and December 31 of this year I was required to deliver to Warner Brothers four completed albums. I delivered all four in March of this year. According to the contract, upon receipt of the tapes, they have to pay me. They received the tapes and they did not pay me."
Warner was expecting to receive only one album at a time, not four. Upon delivery the label was required to pay an advance to Zappa of $60,000 per album ($240,000 total) and release the recordings in the United States within six weeks. Warner failed to honor these contractual terms. Zappa had paid in excess of $400,000 out of his own pocket to produce these tapes and in response, he filed a multi-million dollar breach of contract lawsuit.
Most of the material on Läther would be released during 1978 and 1979 on Zappa in New York, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt (previously titled Hot Rats III), and Orchestral Favorites. In an October 1978 radio interview, Zappa identified these four individual albums as the ones he previously delivered to Warner and added "Läther was made out of four albums. Warners has released two of them already and they have two more that they're probably gonna release."
The first of these four albums was a two-LP live jazz rock album and was produced with Zappa approved cover art. Two others were single disc jazz rock studio albums, while the last was made up of orchestral recordings. Therefore, the complete four individual album collection actually fills a total of five full-length LPs. Zappa's contract with Warner defined a specific number of "units" and each individual release was counted as one album or one unit, regardless of the number of LP discs in the set.
After having violated the contract with Zappa, Warner scheduled the release of Zappa in New York on DiscReet. A Warner Bros. Records advertisement in the June 30, 1977, issue of Rolling Stone magazine described the release of the album as "imminent".Rolling Stone (magazine) June 30, 1977, "Dateline Burbank, News & Weather from the Home of Warner Bros. Records", (advertisement) p5
At approximately the same time Zappa was also planning a four-LP box set titled Läther. In 1979 Zappa said that he put the Läther album together based on the premise that Warner had not paid him for the four individual albums and this gave him the right to release the material elsewhere. Final editing for the album was completed at the Los Angeles Record Plant and Zappa's handwriting on the tape boxes show either EMI or Arista as the intended client. Both sets of recordings (five-LP and four-LP) have much of the same music, but each also has unique content.
Zappa attempted to get Läther released in the four-LP box configuration as the first release on the Zappa Records label. He briefly negotiated distribution with Capitol/EMI and then Phonogram Inc. At Phonogram the project reached the test pressing stage. Official documentation for the test pressing shows the project had a "Fixation Date" of 8/31/77 and a release scheduled for Halloween, October 31, 1977. But Warner interfered with these negotiations by claiming rights over the material.Miles, Barry (2004), Frank Zappa, p. 261. By this point Zappa had denied a music copyright license to Warner to reproduce the songs.
Zappa announced the release of Läther in a mid September 1977 interview, following a concert in San Diego, where he described it as his "current album".John D'Agostino, "Zäppa (pronounced Zappa)", San Diego Reader, 15 September 1977, p26 Zappa also wanted to release sides two and four as a single album. He said "it's only the rock 'n' roll, for people who can't afford the box." The single album release never appeared.
An article in Billboard magazine, dated October 22, 1977, described the upcoming release of Zappa in New York from Warner. The same article also stated that Phonogram would rush-release an unnamed all new four record set from Zappa with a list price of $27.92.Billboard (magazine), "Labels Planning Pre-Holiday Superstar Album Release" October 22, 1977 p95 A few uncensored full-length copies of Zappa in New York appeared but the album was quickly pulled from stores. Warner was forced to withdraw it by November due to legal action from Zappa. He objected to the release at this time and claimed that Warner began to manufacture the album only after they heard he had negotiated to release the recordings with a competing company.
Zappa appeared on WIOQ radio in Philadelphia on October 24, 1977 to promote his concert at The Spectrum the same night. While he played tracks from Läther, the broadcast also included a pre-recorded concert advertisement with a clip of Big Leg Emma from Zappa in New York. He complained about legal problems and pleaded with fans not to buy any of his Warner distributed recordings. Zappa did not indicate he was aware of the impending cancellation of Läther, which happened during the following week.audio of this radio broadcast also available in the GSW collection - https://www.afka.net/GSW.htm