Frank Zappa - Lather
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Free Music Notes for Lather
Free Music Review: Amazing!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Buy it. You will be pleased you did. Enough said. Note the cows markings on the cover are in the shape of Italy. :)Free Music Review: FZ's genius on display
Hit: 5 Stars
FZ at his finest. A must for any FZ fan!Free Music Review: When will they get it right?
Hit: 4 Stars
At the time, that is in 1977, rumors started circulating about Frank Zappa having had recorded a four record set on the magnitude and scope of `Uncle Meat' to be released on his own newly formed record label, Zappa Records. The rumors were true and you probably know that because of a contractual snafu with Warner Brothers/Reprise he lost the rights to the material in a lawsuit. The material from that album, which was to have been called 'Lather', was repackaged by WBR into the four albums; Live in New York, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt, and Orchestral Favorites. There exists some promo test pressings of the original Lather which sell for exorbitant amounts at record collector conventions and so I was glad that the record was finally released on CD. Even with four bonus tracks though, this is still not the complete Lather album. Disk one has the original lp sides one, two, and three, intact. Disk two has sides four, five and six and it starts with the intact side four, however on the rest of the CD the track order becomes jumbled, and a 3:07 version of Baby Snakes from the original side six was, for some reason, dropped from this release! (a 1:50 version appears on the Sheik Yerbouti album). The liner notes make no mention of this fact. Nor do the notes tell us if the final track on the original Lather album's side seven, "One More Time for the World" is the same as the track that was put in that position on the CD, "The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution" In fact, the notes seem to be written by someone who isn't that familiar with Zappa. For example, for the track 3 disk 2, Big Leg Emma ("I'm in a big dilemma about my big leg Emma...she used to knock me out until her face broke out) is a number Frank played on stage long before their first record, but the notes say, "A song that celebrates as it ridicules... The fickle finger of fate is pointing firmly at the guys on this one..." say what? The four bonus tracks kind of compensate for this sloppy package. The first one is Frank introducing the Lather album on the radio and talking over the first track, Re-gyptian Strut. The second bonus track, `The Leather Goods' is typical Zappa guitar solo that breaks into Led Zeppelin's `Whole Lotta Love' at the end. `Revenge of the Knick Knack People' could easily have fit on the Lumpy Gravy album. It opens with a demented voice asking, "hey, you got an upset stomach? I'll give you a Pepto-Dismal" and continues with munchkin giggles and rolling, tapping percussion. `Time is Money' is a slightly different version than the one on the `Sleep Dirt' album.Free Music Review: Excellent
Hit: 4 Stars
We all know the story of Lather. Zappa had planned this as a six album set in the late-70s, but was in court with Warner Brothers, who chopped the major work into Sleep Dirt, Studio Tan and Zappa in New York. Lather finally emerged as a three CD set in 1996, three years after Zappa's death.
So, how is it? Well, this sure is massive to assimilate: there is classical, jazz, hard rock, and lots and lots of sub-genres of each. "Bogus Pomp," the opener, is so rich, it is filling enough to be an album. "Spider Of Destiny," "Navel Aviation In Art," "Punky's Whips." have this same density.
Zappa had of course harnessed ambition before: 200 Motels], Uncle Meat, but never with the tickness or diversity of Lather. Even if you know the 70s fragments, Lather can take months to chew.
Also remember this was attended for vynal. One to five cuts per side, a break, then on to the next. At seventy plus minutes per CD, this is a major undertaking for the listener. Pacing is important for a multi-disc, and Lather mskes the Beatles White Album seem like an EP.
Still, this set does, to a huge degree, encompass the massive musical reach of Zappa, and taken piece by piece will provide revlelations about many corners of his approach.
This monolith may not be essential to understanding Zappa, but may be one of the best single works to do so.
Free Music Review: Unsurpassed
Hit: 4 Stars
Zappa the composer! Zappa the improviser! Zappa the humorist! Zappa the experimentalist! Zappa the guitarist! Zappa the provoker! Zappa the bandleader! Zappa the inventor! Zappa the ironic! Zappa the arena rocker! Zappa the conseptualist! Zappa the parodic! Zappa the romatic!More than any of his albums, "Lather" reveals every aspect of Zappa's genius. The record company's veto of releasing it as it was back in 1977, and it's fate as a series of conceptually much less interesting "genre albums", is one of rock history's true tragedies. After such an illtreat, most artists would have given up even the thought of making more music.
But not Zappa. The reason, I think, is that Zappa didn't just make music. He WAS music. Like Picasso, Fassbinder and Miles Davis, Zappa is one of the very few artists who's art is impossible to separate from the man and vice versa. Nothing in this world could ever stop this man from making music. If he had been blown out to outer space or separated from the world on a desolated island, he would still have been making music. Should you have any doubt about that, listen to the "Lather" album. It's creative waterfall of inventiveness, ecclectism and stunning performances stands unsurpassed in the history of rock music.
You then may wonder why I don't rate "Lather" a five star album. Maybe I should, but in my opinion (don't shoot me!) Zappa never made a five star album. For that, his music is simply too diverse. I don't even think he ever sat out to make a masterpiece as such, his music is just one continuous, unstoppable flow of creativity. And even how much I will recommend this fabulous recording, I can't think there is anyone, no matter how ecclecting and accepting in musical taste, who can possibly like everything here.
Still, this momentous masterpiece belongs in every representative rock album collection.