"Studio Tan" is an album by Frank Zappa, released in September 1978 on his DiscReet Records label, with distribution by Warner Bros Records. It peaked at No. 147 on the Billboard 200. Although it was issued under Zappa’s label, the original release was unauthorized by him and received minimal promotion, leading to it being largely ignored. Zappa’s legal disputes with Warner and his former manager Herb Cohen were highlighted during this period. The album was re-released on CD in 1991, marking the first authorized release.
"Let Me Take You to the Beach" features basic tracks recorded during a 1969 session for Frank Zappa's album Hot Rats. Additional material for the track was recorded between 1974 and 1976. The primary recording locations were the Record Plant in Los Angeles and Caribou Ranch in Colorado.
In April 1975, Frank Zappa had a one-sided demo acetate disc cut at Kendun Recorders in Burbank, California, featuring "Revised Music for Guitar and Low-Budget Orchestra," a nearly 8-minute version of "200 Years Old," and "Regyptian Strut." Although Zappa mentioned a planned studio album in the notes to the June 1975 album One Size Fits All, which many fans believed would include The Adventures of Greggery Peccary and the April acetate's material, he chose to release a mostly live album, Bongo Fury, in October 1975. This album included a 4-minute edit of "200 Years Old."
In May 1976, Zappa's relationship with manager Herb Cohen ended in litigation. Zappa had hoped to advance his projects by reassigning his contract from DiscReet Records (distributed by Warner Bros.) directly to Warner. Despite an agreement initially allowing this, Warner later retracted and required Zappa to deliver four more albums to Warner under DiscReet, which he did in March 1977. However, Warner failed to pay Zappa, violating their contract.
Following a lengthy legal battle, the material was released between 1978 and 1979 on four individual albums: Zappa In New York, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt, and Orchestral Favorites. Zappa had intended to release a four-LP box set called Läther, which included much of the material from these albums, but Warner's claim of ownership and legal threats led to its shelving. Läther was eventually released posthumously in 1996.
Studio Tan was initially released with no musician or songwriting credits and unauthorized sleeve art by Gary Panter. Zappa publicly criticized the release, calling it a bootleg and suing Warner for the lack of advance and royalties. An alternate version of "Revised Music for Guitar and Low-Budget Orchestra" appeared on the 1987 compilation The Guitar World According to Frank Zappa, featuring drum overdubs by Chad Wackerman.
