LÄTHER

This is more of a historic release than anything essential. Almost all Zappa fans know the story behind lather, Warner Brothers wouldn't let FZ release the album in this format. To get back at then, Zappa went to a radio station and played the entire album, from side 1 to side 8, straight through. Now, many years later, Lather is finally released in its intended glory.

Many of the songs here are from other albums. These albums include Zappa In New York, Studio Tan (the entire album, although presented with slightly varying structures), Sleep Dirt, and a few others. Despite this downfall there are bright spots. First, the songs from Sleep Dirt are presented without vocals, whereas the ones on Sleep Dirt had them. In my opinion, they benenfited from them greatly without the annoying vocals. Secondly, there are some previously unreleased tracks, but unfortunatly very few. One highlight of these is an early version of A Little Green Rosetta. Totally different and fantastic! Third, the bonus tracks. Again some rarites here that any Zappa enthusist should have. On the first one of these Zappa tells the story of what Lather should have been. But aside from these its nothing special about this collection, other then the fact that is presented on three CDs like originally intended.

All in all this is for the die hard Zappa fan, not the casual listener. This is also good if you want to introduce yourself to the albums mentioned above. But this is a bad starting point, IMO. Recommended to the Zappa completists.