DiscReet Records

DiscReet Records

DiscReet Records was a company founded by Frank Zappa and his then business partner/manager Herb Cohen. It was created in 1973 when their previous companies Bizarre Records and Straight Records were discontinued. The name of the label was a pun derived from "disc" and the discrete (also known as "Compatible Discrete 4", "CD-4" or "Quadradisc") method of encoding quadraphonic sound into phonograph records. DiscReet was distributed by the Warner Bros. Records family of labels, which also included Reprise Records.

DiscReet issued many albums by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention between 1973 and 1979. Another notable act on the label was Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes, who recorded their final two albums for DiscReet. Soon after this Ted Nugent began his solo career.

Zappa's original intention was to release all albums on the label in conventional 2-channel stereo and 4-channel quadraphonic sound simultaneously. DiscReet issued two albums specially remixed for quadraphonic during 1973. These were Over-Nite Sensation by Frank Zappa and the Mothers and Apostrophe (') credited to Frank Zappa. But the quadraphonic policy had to be dropped after just two releases. Also advertised were quadraphonic versions of two other Zappa titles. These were the double live album from 1974, Roxy & Elsewhere, and the 1975 (mostly) studio album One Size Fits All. The four-channel master tapes for these albums probably still exist somewhere in the Zappa archives but the quadraphonic versions have never been released.

Herb Cohen also brought to the label recordings by other artists such as Tim Buckley. In 1976 the Zappa/Cohen business partnership turned sour and ended in litigation. At the same time Zappa also had disagreements with DiscReet's distributor Warner Bros. Records. DiscReet was shut down in 1979 following the decision by Warner Bros. to release three albums for which Zappa claimed Warner did not have proper authorization, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt, and Orchestral Favorites. The three disputed titles had no songwriting or production credits and used artwork by Gary Panter, which was not approved by Zappa.

Zappa later created Zappa Records in 1979 and Barking Pumpkin Records in 1981. These companies had no involvement with Cohen and are completely separate business entities from DiscReet.

In 1988 and 1989 DiscReet recordings by Tim Buckley and Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes were briefly re-issued on CD and cassette by the Enigma Retro label. Zappa's recordings for DiscReet were re-issued by Reprise Records in the late 1970s and deleted in 1982. Since the late 1980s Zappa's DiscReet catalog has been available on CD from Rykodisc.

List of DiscReet Records artists

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Discreet Records — war ein US amerikanisches Plattenlabel, das von dem Komponisten und Rockmusiker Frank Zappa und dessen Manager Herb Cohen im Jahr 1972 gegründet wurde. Unter dem Dach von Warner Bros. Records erschien bis zum Jahr 1979 neben sämtlichen… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • DiscReet Records — war ein US amerikanisches Plattenlabel, das von dem Komponisten und Rockmusiker Frank Zappa und dessen Manager Herb Cohen im Jahr 1972 gegründet wurde. Unter dem Dach von Warner Bros. Records erschien bis zum Jahr 1979 neben sämtlichen… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Discreet Music — EG Release Studio album by Brian Eno Released November 1975 …   Wikipedia

  • Enigma Records — was a popular rock and alternative record label in the 1980s. It was initially a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/distributor, from which it split off in 1985 to become its own company.Enigma was founded and run… …   Wikipedia

  • Bizarre Records — war ein US amerikanisches Plattenlabel, das der Komponist und Rockmusiker Frank Zappa und sein damaliger Manager Herb Cohen im Oktober 1968 gründeten. Auf dem Label erschienen vor allem Schallplatten von Frank Zappa und den Mothers of Invention,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Enigma Records — est un label discographique de rock et de musique alternative fondé au début des années 1980 par les frères William et Wesley Hein, rejoints en 1984 par Jim Martone. Enigma était au départ une sous filiale de Greenworld Distribution, un… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Straight Records — était un label discographique fondé en 1969 pour distribuer des productions et des artistes découverts par Frank Zappa et son partenaire Herb Cohen. Au même moment, les deux mêmes fondaient aussi le label Bizarre Records. C est Zappa lui même qui …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Straight Records — Владелец Фрэнк Заппа Основан 1969 Основатели Фрэнк Заппа Херб Коэн Жанр хард рок рок авангард Страна …   Википедия

  • Bizarre Records — was a record label formed for artists discovered by Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen.Bizarre was originally formed as a production company. Zappa s label, Verve Records, had missed the deadline to renew their option on… …   Wikipedia

  • Straight Records — was a record label formed in 1969 to distribute productions and discoveries of Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen. Straight was formed at the same time as a companion label, Bizarre Records. Frank Zappa himself chose most of… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”