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Sleep Dirt is an album by Frank Zappa, released in January 1979 on his own DiscReet Records label, distributed by Warner Records. It reached No. 175 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States.
Zappa's original title for the album was Hot Rats III. As the original title implies, Zappa saw this as a sort of follow up to his earlier jazz-influenced Rock music albums such as Hot Rats (1969) and Waka/Jawaka (1972).
Though it was on his own label, Zappa did not authorize the original 1979 release of this album. Warner did no promotion and it was largely overlooked by fans upon release. At the same time Zappa gave interviews which described his legal problems with Warner and former manager Herb Cohen. The 1991 CD re-release was the first time the album was issued with Zappa's authorization.
Some of the songs on this album were originally written in 1972 for a Zappa stage musical called Hunchentoot. A complete script exists, but the recordings for this project were never completed.
In 1982, Zappa asked singer Thana Harris to add her vocals to three songs from this album: "Flambay", "Spider of Destiny", and "Time is Money". Harris sings the part of a character named "Drakma: Queen of Cosmic Greed". Zappa stated in a 1992 interview that the vocal versions were the way that he originally intended to record them, but he could not find a female vocalist who could sing them at the time of the original recording.
At about the same time Chad Wackerman also overdubbed new drum tracks on "Flambay", "Spider of Destiny" and "Regyptian Strut", which replaced the original drum parts. Wackerman did not overdub drums on "Time is Money" even though he is credited for this in the CD notes.
This was one of four albums Zappa delivered to Warner in March 1977 for release on DiscReet to complete the contract. Zappa did not receive payment from Warner upon delivery of the tapes, which was a contract violation. The change of album title from Hot Rats III to Sleep Dirt was also done by Warner in violation of Zappa's contract.
During a long legal battle the four individual albums were eventually released during 1978 and 1979 as: Zappa In New York (a two LP set), Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites.
Much of the material from these four albums was also edited by Zappa into a four-LP box set called Läther. Zappa announced this album in a mid September 1977 interview where he described it as his "current album".John D'Agostino, "Zäppa (pronounced Zappa)", San Diego Reader, 15 September 1977, p26 Zappa negotiated a distribution deal with Phonogram Inc. to release Läther as the first release on the Zappa Records label. The album was originally scheduled for a Halloween 1977 release, but Warner claimed ownership of the material and threatened legal action, therefore preventing Zappa from releasing Läther.
Five of the album's seven tracks were included on the shelved Läther album. "Flambay" and "The Ocean Is the Ultimate Solution" appeared on that album in edited versions.
As Zappa had delivered only the tapes for Sleep Dirt to Warner Bros. the album was released in January 1979 with no musician or songwriting credits. FZ vs. Warner Brs. Story or Lather/Laether/Leather, Zappa in New York, Arf.ru Warner also commissioned sleeve art by cartoonist Gary Panter, which was not approved by Zappa. The creature shown on the cover is Hedorah from the 1971 Toho film Godzilla vs. Hedorah.
All of Zappa's DiscReet recordings were deleted when the Warner distribution agreement ended in 1982.
Panter would later provide additional art for the album when it was reissued by Rykodisc in 1995. Läther was finally officially released posthumously in 1996. Both versions of "Regyptian Strut" can also be heard on the 1996 edition of the Läther CD. A 2012 CD re-issue of Läther deletes four bonus tracks including the overdubbed version of "Regyptian Strut".
The 2012 remastered CD by Universal Music reverts to the original instrumental 1979 vinyl version of the album.
| US Top LPs & Tape ( Billboard) | 175 |
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