Studio Tan is one of four albums culled from the ill-fated 1976 box set Läther and released by Warner Bros.
without Frank Zappa having a word to say about the final product (including the horrible artwork).
The 21-minute opener, "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary," is the culmination of Zappa's art of storytelling.
A complex piece painstakingly assembled in the studio over three years, it allies the comedy rock of the Flo & Eddie era with the jazzy feel of The Grand Wazoo and the twisted prog rock of the 1973-1974 band.
Yet, it is greater than the sum of its parts, proposing an unmatched musical narrative that makes "Billy the Mountain" the work of a child and amounts to a stunning synthesis of the man's influences, stylistic range, and studio techniques.
Side two features an intentionally stupid pop song, "Lemme Take You to the Beach," and two instrumental pieces written a few years earlier.
The personnel is for the most part the same as on Roxy & Elsewhere.
If you like cartoon music and silly stories, it is worth your money for "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" alone.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Adventures of Greggery PeccaryFrank Zappa | Frank Zappa | Play | 20:33 | 47 MB | 118 MB |
| 2 | Lemme Take You to the BeachFrank Zappa | Frank Zappa | Play | 02:44 | 6 MB | 18 MB |
| 3 | RdnzlFrank Zappa | Frank Zappa | Play | 08:14 | 18 MB | 50 MB |
| 4 | Revised Music For Guitar And Low Budget Orchestra | Frank Zappa | Play | 07:37 | 17 MB | 43 MB |
| 39 mins | 89 MB | |||||
| 39 mins | 230 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Bennett | Bass |
| 2 | Don Brewer | Bongos |
| 3 | George Duke | Guest Artist, Keyboards, Vocals |
| 4 | Bruce Fowler | Trombone |
| 5 | Tom Fowler | Bass |
| 6 | Robert Hadley | Mastering |
| 7 | Paul Humphrey | Drums |
| 8 | Eddie Jobson | Keyboards, Yodeling |
| 9 | Michael Mesker | Digital Layout |
| 10 | Davey Moire | Vocals |
| 11 | Sanwook "Sunny" Nam | Mastering |
| 12 | Gary Panter | Illustrations |
| 13 | Doug Sax | Mastering |
| 14 | Melanie Starks | Production Manager |
| 15 | Chester Thompson | Drums |
| 16 | Joe Travers | Transfers |
| 17 | Ruth Underwood | Percussion, Synthesizer |
| 18 | Edgard Varèse | Quotation Author |
| 19 | James "Bird Legs" Youman | Bass |
| 20 | Frank Zappa | Arranger, Composer, Guitar, Percussion, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |