First released in 1979, one of three albums (with STUDIO TAN and ORCHESTRAL FAVORITES) made up of material originally intended for the unreleased box set LATHER. The box set would have completed his Warner Brothers' contract, but they let the albums trickle out separately with minimal packaging or promotion. Hence the original release was unauthorized by FZ and went out-of-print in a hurry; it's now here in fully Zappa-approved form. Material, recorded between 1974-1976, also includes some songs from the unstaged FZ science fiction musical HUNCHENTOOT. Track highlights: "Regyptian Strut" and "The Ocean Is The Ultimate Solution."
Sleep Dirt is an album by Frank Zappa, released in January 1979 on his own DiscReet Records label, distributed by Warner Bros. 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 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.
Musicians Frank Zappa – guitar (1, 3, 5, 7), keyboards (1), percussion (4), acoustic lead guitar (6), synthesizer (7) Dave Parlato – bass guitar (1) Terry Bozzio – drums (1, 7) George Duke – keyboards (2–5), synth bass (5) Patrick O'Hearn – string bass (2, 3, 7), electric bass (7) Chester Thompson – drums (2–5, replaced by drum overdubs on CD remixes as noted below) Ruth Underwood – percussion (2–5) Bruce Fowler – brass (4) James "Bird Legs" Youman – bass guitar (4), acoustic rhythm guitar (6) Thana Harris – vocals (2, 3, 5 on 1991/1995 CD remix) Chad Wackerman – drum overdubs (2, 3, 5 on 1991/1995 CD remix) and (4 on 1995 CD remix)
Production Bob Stone – mastering, remastering, equalization Stephen Marcussen – mastering, equalization Gary Panter – art director, cover art
