Frank Zappa - "LÄTHER"  4 LP Box Set Edison

The LÄTHER Debacle

It all started back in spring 1977, when Zappa delivered the Zappa in New York album to Warner Brothers (his record company at the time). It had a song called "Punky's Whips", which was about Terry Bozzio, Zappa's "cute little drummer", and his crush on Punky Meadows, "lead guitar player from a group called Angel". Punky had given Zappa permission to use his name like this on the record, but he wouldn't give permission to Warner Brothers, so Herb Cohen (Zappa's manager at the time) "took it out" - that is, "Punky's Whips" got deleted from the album, along with references to Punky in another song called "Titties & Beer". Now Zappa fell out with Warner Brothers over this censorship, and gave them three more albums - Studio Tan, Hot Rats III (later renamed "Sleep Dirt") and Orchestral Favorites - to fulfil his contract so he would be free to go to another label.

His contract ruled, as standard record contracts did at the time, that Warner had to release the albums in America within six weeks of delivery. This clause was clearly not designed for situations where the artist delivered four albums at once, and Warner didn't release nothing, so Zappa sued them for breach of contract. Then he re-edited most of the material (and some other stuff) into the four-LP box Läther, in order to offer it to other record companies. He offered it to EMI, but Warners put a stop to that, and he tried to put it out through Mercury/Phonogram on Halloween 1977, but Warner's lawyers had the deal cancelled at the test-pressing stage. (This story is not exactly clear, and the official version, pushed by Rykodisc and Gail Zappa, is that Zappa made Läther FIRST and LATER chopped it up into four individual albums. Some people believe in a third version - that it was Warner, not Zappa, that chopped it up. Pick your favourite.)

So, in early 1978, Zappa (drinking beer and Jack Daniels) played the entire Läther box on KROQ-FM radio (Burbank/Pasadena) and told everyone to "tape record this album off the air because this album is not going to be available in the stores because Warner Brothers is trying to ruin my darn career". This may sound rebellious, but actually Warner Brothers had given the radio station permission to play it: at the time, they didn't want it anyway.

This is the Läther track listing:

1. Regyptian 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. The Legend of the Illinois Enema Bandit

10. Let Me 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. We've Got to Get Into Something Real
15. The Black Page [#1]
16. Big Leg Emma
17. Punky's Whips

18. Flambay
19. The Purple Lagoon

20. Pedro's Dowry
21. Läther
22. Spider of Destiny
23. Duke of Orchestral Prunes

24. Filthy Habits
25. Whatever Happened to All the Fun in the World?
26. Titties & Beer
27. The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution

28. The Adventures of Greggery Peccary

All Vinyl is in Near Mint to Mint Condition.

Label's are in Near Mint to Mint Condition.

Outer Box is in Near Mint to Condition.

(Very, very minor box wear - No split seams or rips)

Long, Long Out of Print in this Fantastic 4 LP Vinyl Edition.