Frank Zappa-Läther 3XCD (1996)

 

Artist: Frank Zappa 

Title: Läther

Label: Rykodisc

Format: 3XCD

Cat #: VACK-9003

Year of Release: 1996

Country and Year of Edition Issue: Japan 2004

Sold Price: $79.99

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 9/7/20

Discogs Last Sold: 5/8/20

Low: $15.00

Median: $80.57

High: $169.99

Current low price: $125.00 M/NM

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 4

Have/Want: 43/35

Where Sold: Ottawa, ON, Canada

Time it took to sell: 4 years

Where and When Bought: Consigned from 3rd Party

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A-

Sad To See It Go?: No

About 4 years of mine a friend gave me a box of records and CD's he wanted to sell.  Every half year or so I update the spreadsheet and every once in a blue moon we meet up to settle up.  This one will beef up his payout.  It had been up for over $100 for years and I recently cut the price.  A Zappa collector was eagerly waiting in the wings to snap it up about 6 hours after my weekly storage run to get orders.  A week later when I posted the tracking number to Canada, I received a terse "why so long?"  With the international postal situation post-COVID even Canada can expect a nice unpredictable delay as the order sits in Jamaica, Queens or sometimes even Chicago for a few weeks before it resurfaces in Canada.  

Anyway, I had Läther on my hard drive already and finally was motivated to give it a couple listens in it's 2 1/2 hour glory.  This has been a curio for me since I got a bootleg flyer in the early 80's of the 4-record box set.  Warner Bros. refused to issue the contractual obligation blowout as Zappa intended in 1977.  Zappa aired it on the radio and encouraged bootleggers to record it.  Tracks trickled out in the late 70's on Zappa In New York, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites.  Somehow, despite my hearty Zappa vinyl collection, I managed to totally ignore this era.  I did have Sheik Yerbouti and Tinsel Town Rebellion which a few tracks got on in the early 80's Barking Pumpkin era.

Funny how acerbic pornographic satire was once the bane of the religious right and now has shifted political poles.  I'm not going to get into a deep societal analysis, except to say Zappa would be frowned upon now more than ever.  We will no longer see the likes of "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes" or "Honey, Don't You Want A Man Like Me?" where a lone voice in 70's audience uttered a "Fuck You!" from a venomous tirade.  Zappa heroically responds in kind.  Would the innocuous "Titties 'n Beer" get past an "alternative" indie label censors stamp in today's climate?  The social critique of "Punky's Whips" is probably a better analysis of the band Angel than the bullet ("worthless") line list the first edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide pondered.  The hatred of glam posturing may, or may not, carry over from the grave long after Punky Meadows strikes his final pose.   Seems the old guard was aligned against Glam Rock long before Punk Rock came about, a historical fact that muddies the "hard divide." 

Zappa blends this with 60's tape vomit from the We're Only In It For The Money era (my favorite) as well as instrumental guitar workouts and classical influenced work.  It's a sprawling blend of the his first decade stylistically over 8 sides.  Ryko threw in bonus tracks and the radio intro and outro plus a "Whole Lotta Love" ("Leather Goods") nick for good measure.  I'm glad I put 5 hours into listening to this after decades of procrastination.