DiscReet Records |
DiscReet Records was an organization started
by Frank Zappa together with his then business partner/manager Herb Cohen. It
was developed in 1973 while their earlier companies Bizarre Records and
Straight Records were ended. The name of the label was a pun taken from
"disc" along with the discrete (also called as "Compatible
Discrete 4", "CD-4" and also "Quadradisc") way of
encoding quadraphonic sound into phonograph records. DiscReet was dispersed by
the Warner Bros. Records family of labels, which additionally integrated
Reprise Records.
DiscReet distributed quite a few albums by
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention between 1973 and 1979. DiscReet
distributed also for Christopher Bond, TimBuckley, Denis Bryant (aka Bryant Sterling), KathyDalton, Growl, Keith, Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes, Brenda Patterson and Whiz Kids.
Zappa's original motive was to release all
albums on the label in traditional 2-channel stereo and 4-channel quadraphonic
sound all together. DiscReet issued two albums specially remixed for
quadraphonic throughout 1973. These were Over-Nite Sensation by Frank Zappa and
the Mothers and Apostrophe (') credited to Frank Zappa. But the quadraphonic
policy needed to be dropped after just two releases. Also promoted were
quadraphonic variations of two other Zappa titles. These were the double live
album from 1974, Roxy & Elsewhere, and the 1975 (generally) studio album
One Size Fits All. The four-channel master tapes for these albums possibly even
now can be found someplace in the Zappa archives but the quadraphonic variants
have never been introduced.
In 1976 the Zappa/Cohen business partnership
turned bad and led to litigation. Simultaneously Zappa also had tantrums with
DiscReet's distributor Warner Bros. Records. DiscReet was close down in 1979
following the decision by Warner Bros. to produce three albums for which Zappa
stated Warner did not have appropriate authorization, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt,
and Orchestral Favorites. The three disputed titles had no songwriting or
production credits and applied visuals by Gary Panter, which was unwarranted by
Zappa.
Zappa later generated Zappa Records in 1979
and Barking Pumpkin Records in 1981. These companies had no involvement with
Cohen and are totally standalone business entities from DiscReet.
In 1988 and 1989 DiscReet recordings by Tim
Buckley and Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes were quickly 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 collection has been offered on CD from Rykodisc.
DiscReet Records
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