Album Review

Francois Couture [allmusic.com]

Studio Tan is one of four albums culled from the ill-fated 1976 box set Lather 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.