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L�ther

Frank Zappa - L�ther Audio CD

A fair review of the Frank Zappa "L�ther" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Frank Zappa reviews here, or go back to the Frank Zappa tabs.

Band: Frank Zappa
Title: L�ther
Rating:

Release Date: 1996-09-24
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Re-Gyptian Strut 2: Naval Aviation in Art? 3: Little Green Rosetta 4: Duck Duck Goose 5: Down in de Dew 6: For the Young Sophisticate 7: Tryin' to Grow a Chin 8: Broken Hearts Are for Assholes 9: Legend of the Illinois Enema Bandit 10: Lemme Take You to the Beach 11: Revised Music for Guitar and Low-Budget Orchestra 12: RDNZL 13: Honey, Don't You Want A Man Like Me? 14: The Black Page #1 15: Big Leg Emma 16: Punky's Whips 17: Flambe 18: The Purple Lagoon 19: Pedro's Dowry 20: Lather 21: Spider Of Destiny 22: Duke Of Orchestral Prunes 23: Spider of Destiny 24: Duke of Orchestral Prunes 25: Filthy Habits 26: Titties & Beer 27: The Ocean Is the Ultimate Solution 28: The Adventures of Greggery Peccary 29: Regyptian Strut ('93 remix) 30: Leather Goods 31: Revenge of the Knick Knack People 32: Time Is Money 33: Filthy Habits 34: Titties 'N Beer 35: Ocean Is the Ultimate Solution 36: Adventures of Greggery Peccary 37: Regyptian Strut (1993) 38: Leather Goods 39: Revenge of the Knick Knack People 40: Time Is Money

Just call this "Zappa's Revenge"
" Yes, his detractors say he was "arrogant," "bitter," "spiteful," and so on, and this criticism isn't without merit, but Warners really made life miserable for him at the time. The whole debacle FZ had in the 1970's and 1980's with Warner Brothers was one more slap in the face this man suffered in the "Land Of Opportunity. If anything, he suffered from his own Type A personality. He delivered an eight-sided box set to the record company to fulfill his contract, and they wouldn't release it, and they wouldn't let him release it elsewhere. Mercury Records printed 300 copies of it before Warners halted the process, saying they had the material in their own vault. They wouldn't pay him, they wouldn't release him from his contract, and they wouldn't release the record, citing it as "objectionable. " The law suit over this, and all his master tapes, from "Freak Out," with the Mothers Of Invention up through "Zoot Allures," went on for years, costing HUGE amounts of money and dissolving business relationships as well.

But "Lather" (or "Leather," depending) is one of those gems that nobody thought would ever see a proper release. It was played once in its entirety on a Los Angeles radio station (before the days of the snotty, wussy, fascist FCC's retarded tactics), and only existed as a bootleg, until the folks at UMRK unearthed it, and gave it its due. And despite some minor changes, it's all here, for all to experience the way it was meant to be.

The bulk of this material is available on other releases, ones Warners put out without Zappa's authorization to make some money from "product," but in 1996, it finally saw the light of day. He has written and arranged such a staggering breadth of material, in so many styles and formats, it can be endlessly rearranged, and somehow come off as fresh.

Recorded between 1972 and 1976, it contains tastes of the jazz era of The Mothers, with George Duke and Ruth Underwood, orchestras, small rock combos, and early versions of some of the tracks which were reworked on "Sheik Yerbouti. "

The only thing I wouldn't have done on this was use the bonus materials, as used here. They are little gems from the vault, previously unavailable, but they have no place in the continuity of this particular issue. Even though they are at the end of it all, they still disrupt the idea of the original program. A good idea would be to make a back-up copy, and simply not put this stuff on. But this is just my two cents, although I am a long-time fan, and I understood, or should I say, I "got" what he was doing.

But don't confuse this cover with Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother. " (chortle).

Must have for a Zappa fan

EXCELLENT! Hours of musical bliss. If you don't already have the Studio Tan/Orchestral Favorites/Sleep Dirt suite, this is a must have, and the original "Real Deal" from FZ.

A MUST Have and the PERFECT Place To Start!
Short of making them a mix-tape (and even that would depend on what I knew of their taste in music) I would usually recommend 5 or 6 albums to start with. If you were from the planet Mars and wanted to know who Zappa was, and what he was about, I would tell you to start right here! Back "in the day" I would always have difficulity in introducing someone to Frank's work mainly due to how much is actually out there. But, even then, I would inevitability leave something out!

With the release of this long awaited collection, the Zappa family has almost done my work for me! Originally released as 4 albums; "Live in NY", "Sleep Dirt", "Studio Tan" "Orchestral Favorites", (and a few tracks off "Sheik Yerbouti") this triple CD box has a little bit of everything. Biting satire (Titties and Beer, Greggery Peccary), Blues rock (Illinois Enema Bandit, which contains one of Frank's better guitar solos), Orchestra (Naval Aviation in Art), hard rock (Tryin to Grow a Chin, Broken Hearts) and blistering jazz/rock that would stand against the best of Beck, McLaughlin, Di Meola, et. al. (Filthy Habits, RDNZL and the brilliant Ocean is the Ultimate Solution, though the latter, at 8 minutes, is almost cut in half compared to the original 13 minute version on Sleep Dirt!?!). It also contains many of the between song spoken interludes that later ended up on Sheik Yerbouti and Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar.

Barring a few omissions (I'd still buy "Sheik Yerbouti" on it's own for Flakes, Jones Crusher and `Yo Mama), this is the perfect example of the wide variety inherent in Frank's music, the brilliance of his talent and backing bands, should please any fan of Rock and/or Jazz music, is the perfect place to start and is a TRUE 5-star release!!
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FZ's genius on display
A must for any FZ fan!. FZ at his finest.

COMO TANTA LOCURA, TALENTO E INSPIRACION PUEDEN CABER EN TRES DISQUITOS ????
SI ARRANCAMOS SABIENDO QUE EN REALIDAD ESTE DISCO, POR CAPRICHOS DE LAS COMPA�IAS DISQUERAS, FUE DESMENUZADO EN VARIAS EDICIONES. . SI TENEMOS EN CUENTA QUE ZAPPA EN REALIDAD LO CREO A MEDIADOS DE LOS '70, QUE LO DIFUNDIO POR RADIO ANTES DE QUE SALGA AL MERCADO. . . COMO UNA OBRA ASI PUEDE LLEGAR A SER TAN COHERENTE, TAN ORGIASTICA, TAN DEMENTE, TAN DESPROLIJA, TAN GENIAL. . TODO A LA VEZ???????? AQUI LA GUITARRA DE ZAPPA ADQUIERE UNA EXPRESION Y LOCUACIDAD REALMENTE EXASPERANTE. . . filthy habits. . the ocean is the ultimate solution. . . tenes hasta boogie!!! esta edicion puede parecer demasiado, incluso para fans de zappa. . . . en mi humilde opinion es una obra bestial, arrogante , impredecible que por primera vez puede apreciarse como lo quiso el artista!BUY IT, BUY IT, BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

You can see a complete list of all Frank Zappa discography, or go back to the Frank Zappa tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.