Läther

Läther (/l//ɛ//ð//ɜr/, or "Leather") is the sixty fifth official album by 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 Zappa's distinctive electric guitar solos and satirical lyrics, all edited together in a seemingly random way. The Läther album was intended for release in 1977 as a four LP box set, but it never appeared officially in this format. A variety of bootleg recordings of this material were widely distributed. One of these was a four LP box on the "Edison Record" label and appeared to be professionally packaged. Some may have believed this was authorized, despite the fact Zappa's name did not appear on the album.

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. These three are among the songs written by Zappa in 1972 for a stage musical called Hunchentoot. A full script exists, but the recordings of this project were never completed. The most substantial work is The Adventures of Greggery Peccary, a story 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. More orchestral works come from a September 1975 session with the 37 piece Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra, which was recorded in Royce Hall at UCLA with conductor Michael Zearott. Zappa said the Royce Hall orchestral sessions alone cost him about $200,000. In 1972 Zappa again tried to interest Warner in releasing a similar box, this time as a nine LP package. Negotiations failed again. In 1973 Zappa and Cohen closed Bizarre and opened DiscReet, also distributed by Warner. By April 1975 Zappa's album One Size Fits All was planned for release on the Warner Bros. label. It was initially assigned Warner catalog number BS2879 but it was later released as DiscReet DS2216 in June 1975. Zappa complained bitterly about the lack of promotion given to this album by Warner. Also in April 1975 Zappa 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 "Regyptian Strut". Zappa's liner notes for 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. Zappa's relationship with Herb Cohen ended in May 1976. 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 the money 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. 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. So the final four albums of Zappa's recording contract were then assigned back to DiscReet. During the fall 1976 tour the Zappa band performed in front slide projector images, one of which said "Warner Bros. Sucks!" By late 1976 he was determined to complete his Warner contract as soon as possible. As early as December that year Zappa considered handing multiple individual albums over to Warner and had "more than four" currently in production. and release the recordings in the United States within six weeks. Zappa had paid in excess of $400,000 out of his own pocket to produce these tapes

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. 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". At approximately the same time Zappa was also planning a four LP box set titled Läther. 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 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." 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. By this point Zappa had denied a music copyright license to Warner to reproduce the songs. 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. The same month Zappa said his breach of contract suit against Warner Bros. was for five million dollars

Eventually, Warner issued all four individual albums starting in March 1978 and running through May of 1979. Since Zappa had supplied only the tapes for the final three albums they were released without musician or songwriting credits. Also, the artwork for these albums was not approved by Zappa. Instead, Warner commissioned the designs from cartoonist Gary Panter. The first of Zappa's lawsuits against Warner was scheduled to go to court starting in January 1982. All four individual albums also went out of print when the DiscReet/Warner distribution agreement ended in 1982.