"[1] Läther integrates many aspects of Zappa's musical oeuvre — heavy rock, orchestral works, and complex jazz flavored instrumentals, along with Zappa's distinctive electric guitar solos and satirical lyrics, all edited together in a seemingly random way.

Most of the songs on Läther are linked together with bits of musical sound effects (musique concrète) and comic dialog from Zappa band members, Terry Bozzio, Patrick O'Hearn, and Davey Moire.

For The Young Sophisticate is a 1973 studio recording from Bolic Sound and is different from the later live version on Tinsel Town Rebellion.

More orchestral works come from a September 1975 session with the 37-piece Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra, which was recorded at Royce Hall with conductor Michael Zearott.

The last recordings are live tracks including Tryin' to Grow a Chin from a February 1977 London show at the Hammersmith Odeon.

This unreleased disc contains "Revised Music for Guitar and Low-Budget Orchestra", "200 Years Old" and "Re-Gyptian Strut".

[20] During the fall 1976 tour the Zappa band performed in front slide projector images, one of which said "Warner Bros.

[20] As early as December that year Zappa considered handing multiple individual albums over to Warner and had "more than four" currently in production.

[1] Upon delivery the label was required to pay an advance to Zappa of $60,000 per album ($240,000 total)[4][24] and release the recordings in the United States within six weeks.

[24][25][26][27] Zappa had paid in excess of $400,000 out of his own pocket to produce these tapes[4] and in response, he filed a multi-million dollar breach of contract lawsuit.

[23] Most of the material on Läther would be released during 1978 and 1979 on Zappa in New York, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt (previously titled Hot Rats III), and Orchestral Favorites.

A Warner Bros. Records advertisement in the June 30, 1977, issue of Rolling Stone magazine described the release of the album as "imminent".

[31] Final editing for the album was completed at the Los Angeles Record Plant and Zappa's handwriting on the tape boxes show either EMI or Arista as the intended client.

[2] Frank's wife Gail Zappa claimed that Warner, wary of a four-LP box, had declined to release the material in this format.

[26] Zappa announced Läther in a mid September 1977 interview, following a concert in San Diego, where he described it as his "current album".

Official documentation for the test pressing shows the project had a "Fixation Date" of 8/31/77 and a release scheduled for Halloween, October 31, 1977.

While he played tracks from Läther, the broadcast also included a pre-recorded concert advertisement with a clip of Big Leg Emma from Zappa in New York.

[41] In December 1977 Zappa appeared on the Pasadena, California, radio station KROQ-FM and played the entire test pressing of Läther.

The change of album title from "Hot Rats III" to "Sleep Dirt" and editing of the material were also done in violation of Zappa's contract.

Zappa chose to re-issue the four previously released individual albums on CD in 1991 along with the Panter artwork and added credits.

None of the four albums related to Läther were altered from the original CD issues, though new analog to digital transfers were made.

[2] While Zappa's notes from the tape boxes show a slightly different track listing, the 1996 CD version of Läther is musically identical to the 1977 test pressings.

Along with most of Zappa's material, a "mini-LP" CD edition was also released by Rykodisc in Japan, with the artwork reformatted to resemble the packaging of a vinyl album.

The official version of Läther was finally released with the authorization of Gail Zappa in September 1996, nearly three years after Frank's death.

[47] In the liner notes to the 1996 release, Gail states that "As originally conceived by Frank, Läther was always a 4-record box set.

[27][49][50] In a January 1978 Zappa interview the British publication New Musical Express said: "Since his (Warner) contract had allegedly been breached, Zappa took his copy tapes of the four albums, added some new material, subtracted some old, and prepared a four-record set called "Läther", but pronounced "Leather".