To call Zappa's music orchestral jazz is innacurate and misleading.The music on Studio Tan is much closer to Western 20th centuryclassical music than jazz. I would venture to call it post-jazz classical music (informed by jazz, while continuing to push the limits of classical music). The Adventures of Greggery Peccary is one of Zappa's greatest achievments. Although Greggery Peccary is often abstract, dissonant, and disjunct, it is quite pallatable. Studio tan is overflowing with the rhythmic energy and melodic inventiveness that Zappa is famous for. The melodies are a prime example of Zappa's post-atonal melodic style. Although only vaguely tonal (closer to the atonal side of the tonality continuum), the melodies sound catchy and somehow intuitively right (a description which calls to mind the melodic style of Thelonius Monk). ...For every famous band, there are 1,000 bands just as good playing in a garage somewhere that you will never hear ("product of the media" famous bands are obviously not chosen for musical talent, but for "more marketable" features such as sex appeal). There was, however, only 1 Frank Zappa. One more thing, the version of RDNZL on this release is OK, but I prefer the live versions of this one (such as can be heard on You Can't Do That On Stage [Vol. IV?]).

"The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" is a musical masterpiece; one of Zappa's most coherent, yet polygonal and well performed pieces considering its length (20+ minutes). The studio sound of the whole album is clear, and the stereophony is sharp - it is quite amazing that this material was recorded 1974-1976. Something I find exceptionally impressive is the variation and accuracy of sound-effects on "Greggery." Ensemble Modern has recently recorded a (very well performed) version of this piece, but the version on "Studio Tan" is certainly what will stay closer to heart to dedicated Zappa fans. On both "Greggery" and "Low-Budget Orchestra" five musicians perform; Zappa, George Duke, Chester Thompson, and Bruce and Tom Fowler, so especially on "Greggery" a lot of overdubs have been recorded, but it's not noticeable, the piece doesn't contain one note too many, everything makes perfect sense even if you might not understand it technically or theoretically, hence "musical masterpiece." "Low-Budget Orchestra" and "RDNZL" aren't far from masterpieces, either. Influences from Stravinsky clearly predominate "Low-Budget Orchestra," and the sped-up percussion (played by Zappa) towards the end of the piece reminds a lot of the percussion from the "Uncle Meat" days, which was actually when this piece was written. "Lemme Take You to the Beach" cracks me up - it's a very funny, short, and uplifting piece, needed to reveal even further aspects of Zappa's compositional vocabulary. Without this track the album wouldn't be the same. It's the only song where Chester Thompson and George Duke aren't featured; they're replaced by Paul Humphrey and Eddie Jobson (Davey Moire sings, Max Bennett plays the bass, and Don Brewer plays the bongos.) "RDNZL" is simply amazing - very much so from a compositional point of view. James Youman is featured on bass, and Ruth Underwood on percussion. "Studio Tan" is one of the discs you will need to some day be able to fully appreciate all sides of Frank Zappa, the Composer.

I completely disagree Andy Gills comments about Studio Tan not being humurous, I think it's one of Zappa's funniest. The Adventours of Greggary Peccary is my absolute favourite zappa song of all time.

But..... All of theese songs appear almost identically on the Lather album so if your willing to fork out a bit more get that instead.

'The Adventures of Greggerry Peccery' is probably Zappa's most mind blowing excursion into musical theatre. It is an endlessly creative panorama of soundscapes satirizing certain kinds of 'business tycoons.' In case you're wondering, all this stuff was composed and written down; this isn't some kind of off the cuff improvisation. It can be performed by any ensemble of musicians able to play it (though no one can replace Zappa's personality which is the main feature). Zappa's band is probably his greatest ever, featuring George Duke, Chester Thompson (later of Weather Report and Genesis), Eddie Jobson (of Roxy Music and U.K.) and Ruth Underwood among others.

The second 'side' features two of Zappa's most brilliant rock 'n' roll instrumentals and one of his most hilarious song parodies. There isn't anything self-indulgent in the solos Zappa takes here; everything is economically constructed and magnificent.

This, the first part of the infamous "Warner Brothers Trilogy" is the best out of all three. There's much lunacy to be found, especially in the opening track "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" - an enduring 20 minute surreal modern fairy tale, lovingly narrated by Zappa himself and backed by a wealth of inspired orchestrated instrumentation. This is followed on by a short vocal track, a catchy homage/parody of the 60's Avalon/Funicello beach movies. The album continues and concludes with two incredible instrumentals, "RDNZL" in my mind being truly one of Zappa's most endearing compositions, seamlessly blending jazz and rock into an immaculately constructed and convincingly executed number.

'Studio Tan' combines the best of what Zappa had to offer back then; off-the-wall humour, tight musicianship, a frivolent sense of storytelling, and a sound paralleled by few since. The album can only be described as "The Grand Wazoo" meets "Apostrophe", and it's hard to get much better than that.