Frank Zappa: Studio Tan

I'm reviewing this record for one reason, and for this reason alone you probably ought to pick it up, even for 20 bucks. Certainly, you ought to happily snatch it up if you ever see it used and cheap.

Reason: Let Me Take You to the Beach is one of the 10 best pop tunes ever recorded. It is simultaneously a winking Zappa parody and the epitome of what it's laughing at: the teen pop rock song, all excitement and promise and manic, horny, stupid energy.

It is synth-sequencer insane, bongos and tambourines and "la la la" background vocals, and structurally and technically perfect - on speed. The vocal is all falsetto doubled up, and there's a superfine synth solo that Zappa can't resist taking into dischord for a couple of bars. The subject matter? Oh, beauty.

	Let me take you to the beach
	La la la la la la la la 
	Bring the weinies 
	I'll bring the soft drinks 
	And the cookies 
	Everybody's in love...

Here's fair warning: I think it sounds better on vinyl than on the Ryko CD issue. Have a look for it. For the rest of the record, I think you have to dig Zappa. For "Let Me Take You to the Beach," you just have to love songs.

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Frank Zappa: Studio Tan. Vinyl: Discreet Records/WEA, 1978. CD: Rykodisc, 1978, 1991.
Review by Jeff Clayton, Bad MonkeyX. 5th issue, March 2002.

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