ALBUM OF THE MONTH

#42: Läther by Frank Zappa (1996).

The cow picture was probably not intended to be the artwork for the Läther album when it was first ready for release in 1977. The cow has a frankoid moustache and goatee and has a spot on its hide in the shape of Italy.

The album was initially meant to be a 4 LP set, but problems between Zappa and record company Warner Brothers stopped the release and it wasn't released in its original form (although as a 3 CD set) until 1996.

The cow cover made several fans wonder "why?" and "is that a map of Italy upside down on the cow's skin?" Only Dweezil Zappa knows the answer since he made the choice of artwork.

The music is revealed from mid 70's live and studio recordings. You may recognize some of the tracks since they have in several cases been released on other albums (and in some cases presented in a bad way with bad artwork and no liner notes which gave the impression of low budget releases).
It's kind of sad that the Läther album was not released back in '77 since it was also the peak of Zappa's musical career (my opinion). Let's see if you agree on that, listeners.

S.H.

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