The story of Zappa's intended 4-lp vinyl set for 1977
is about as convoluted as the range of songs on this
masterpiece but make no mistake this is one battle
between artist and record co where the artist won.
Below is the streaming actual radio broadcast on
KROQ where harshly Zappa brings a test copy
and before playing all 8 sides says "go ahead
and turn on your tape recorders." The Horror!!
Läther
The recordings for the album were originally delivered to Warner Bros. in 1977. Contractual obligations stipulated that Zappa deliver four albums for release on DiscReet Records, which eventually resulted in much of the material on Läther being released on four separate albums: Zappa in New York (1977), (1978), (1979), and Orchestral Favorites (1979), only the first of which was produced with Zappa's oversight.
Frank Zappa - "Läther" (1996)
Chris Federico's article on this classic unreleased-at-the-time meisterwork. Taken from his ongoing e-book, Zappology (which I believe was written in 2002 - not positive though)... In the spring of 1977, Frank delivered the master tapes for a four-record boxed set called Läther (pronounced "leather," due to the umlauts over the A) to Warner Bros.,...
The Sheer Horror!!
