STUDIO TAN

Of all the four separate albums that went into/got spun out of Zappa's epic Lather album, Studio Tan might be the one which stands on its two legs the least. All the other three at least have a common approach (Orchestral Favorites is self-explanatory, Sleep Dirt - in its original mix - is instrumental jazz-prog, Zappa In New York is live stuff), but these pieces don't really sit together beyond all being recorded in the studio.

Studio Tan is dominated by The Adventures of Greggery Peccary, the saga of a porcine advertising executive which represents Zappa's second attempt at an epic narrative song after Billy the Mountain. That's fine, but it works better as the grand finale to Lather than as a lead-off here, particularly since the remaining tracks are entirely divergent in style (and come from a broad range of different recording sessions at that). With all four tracks on Lather itself, this is only worth it if you have no interest in Lather itself.