Should Zappa's Läther be listed as 1977 release? - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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darkshade

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Posted: December 11 2012 at 20:24

HolyMoly wrote:

Frank actually released it, that is now established. However: it appears he released it illegally (or in violation of his contract, whatever... damn you Warner Brothers), so that might mean it's a BOOTLEG (hey, it's a stretch, but stay with me here) and therefore should not be changed, since it was technically an unauthorized release, even though it was sanctioned by the artist. So it goes.

Think about this. Frank Zappa released ACTUAL bootlegs of some of his live shows, as official live albums, and they're all listed on his PA page under the live albums section. So now what? Wink

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darkshade

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Posted: December 11 2012 at 20:17

Exactly. All the other posthumous Zappa albums, though recorded during his lifetime, were not intended for release (as far as we know), with some exceptions like Civilization Phaze III, The Lost Episodes, Trance-Fusion, etc... because there just wasn't enough time to get the material released. Albums like Imaginary Diseases or Wazoo, for some crazy reason, were never on Frank's list of things that needed to be released,. So even though the recording dates are from 1972, having the release date as 2006/2007 respectively, makes sense.

But Lather was an album with full intentions by Zappa, to be released in 1977. HolyMoly, you also made a good point about the practicality of it being in chronological order. Also, a newbie Zappa fan, who enjoys the 70s stuff, might miss out on Lather if he is using PA as a guide, as it's on the bottom section of his studio albums. I personally got into the albums that came out of the Warner Bros. fiasco first. When I heard Lather for the first time, I couldn't believe how amazing it was and that it should have just been released normally like all the other albums. I find Lather superior than any of the fall-out albums, either separately or together.

Edited by darkshade - December 11 2012 at 20:18

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HolyMoly

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Posted: December 11 2012 at 20:07

I knew he had it in the can as a finished project, but I was unaware of the Edison records pressing. I think that fact could be the strongest case for changing the orig release date to 1977. Frank actually released it, that is now established. However: it appears he released it illegally (or in violation of his contract, whatever... damn you Warner Brothers), so that might mean it's a BOOTLEG (hey, it's a stretch, but stay with me here) and therefore should not be changed, since it was technically an unauthorized release, even though it was sanctioned by the artist. So it goes.

Of course, common sense tells me that if I'm looking at an FZ discography, it makes more sense to me to put it in 1977 (that's where place it in my own chronological collection, after all), and therefore it makes sense from a practical standpoint to put it in 1977 on PA. It was a complete work that was intended for release, and it would have been released if not for some legal BS.

So I say - let's change it. to hell with Warner Brothers.

Edited by HolyMoly - December 11 2012 at 20:09

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darkshade

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Posted: December 11 2012 at 18:54

Having done some research over the last couple of weeks, it has come to my attention that having Frank Zappa's album "Läther" listed on his PA page as being released in 1996 may be inaccurate, to some degree. Let me explain:

For those who don't know, the album was not widely released to the public as all of Frank's other albums were. This was due to his label at the time, Warner Brothers, not wanting to release the 4 LP set because they did not think it would be commercially viable to do so. Long story short, the album got re-edited by Zappa himself into 4 separate albums (Zappa In New York, though this album was originally supposed to be released anyway, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt, and Orchestral Favorites). These four albums eventually contained music not found on Läther, and vis versa.

Now, having done further research, I found that the album WAS released for a moment, in fact, there was cover art and everything

Look familiar?

What happened was, Warner Brothers refused to release it. When that happened, Zappa pitched the album to other record labels to release it as a sort of "special project", but somehow, Warner was able to keep the other labels from releasing it. Before they did that, Zappa did get the Phonogram label to press copies, and a release date was set. Some promo copies had been distributed as well.

The label even had a distribution company, "Edison Record", who released the album in 1977. Here is side A of the first vinyl:

Again, as I said, Warner somehow got the labels to discontinue pressing the album (probably threat of lawsuit), and Zappa got mad so he played the entire album on the California radio station KROQ, telling listeners to record it and pass along copies.

The reason I say we should list the album as a 1977 release is because of everything I just said. It was a completed album, with the packaging and everything completed, with some promo distribution. But due to legal problems, which can be read about HERE, among other places, it was not "truly" released until 1996 (and 2012)

So, shall we edit the album on Frank's PA page, listing it as a 1977 release, but including notes in the album info that it's release was prematurely cut short and wasn't released until 1996?

Most other sites i've seen about Zappa's music has the album listed like this: Läther - 1977 (1996) or Läther - 1977/1996.

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