Barking Pumpkin Records
Barking Pumpkin Records is a record label of the composer and rock musician Frank Zappa . It was founded on January 1, 1981 in Los Angeles. The label has so far released records by Frank Zappa, the London Symphony Orchestra and Ensemble Modern with orchestral works by Zappa, as well as two albums by Zappa's son Dweezil .
history
The name "Barking Pumpkin" (German: barking pumpkin) goes back on the one hand to the nickname that Zappa gave his wife Gail Zappa ; The cover of the mother's album Absolutely Free shows a photo of Frank and Gail on the inside, with the words "my pumpkin" printed on Gail's face. The name also alludes to Gails' piercing smoker's cough. The logo shows the dialogue between a Halloween pumpkin barking “Arf!” And a cat, who then hunched over and - in Japanese characters - shouts “Oh, shit!” (P. 329)
CBS Records was initially used as a distribution channel . After disputes with CBS over the accounting, MCA Records were responsible for deliveries in the United States and Capitol / EMI for sales outside the USA from 1984 onwards . (P. 381) From 1993 the American label Rhino Records was responsible for distribution in North America , while the British label "Music for Nations" sold the productions in the rest of the world.
Zappa mainly used this label to release their own albums on it. The first released on May 11, 1981 was the double LP Tinsel Town Rebellion , which was also the first album that Zappa had produced in his own recording studio Utility Muffin Research Kitchen . With the exception of the album Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger , Barking Pumpkin Records brought out all other vinyl LPs released by Zappa. The first Zappa albums, which were only published on compact discs , were also released on this label. Exceptions are the six-part series You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore and Zappa's first album, Does Humor Belong In Music? The last release of the label was the album Civilization Phaze III , which Zappa finished during his lifetime, but only released after his death .
A prominent role in Barking Pumpkin -Catalog occupy three albums with orchestral works of Frank Zappa: two albums of the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Kent Nagano ( London Symphony Orchestra, Vol 1 and Vol. 2 ) and the album The Yellow Shark of the ensemble Modern under conducted by Peter Rundel . On the other hand, the record debut of his son Dweezil appeared on the label in December 1982 with the single and maxi single "My Mother Is A Space Cadet" (back: "Crunchy Water"), his first album three and a half years later with Havin 'A Bad Day followed. The penultimate release was the album Shampoo Horn by the group "Z", the band of Ahmet and Dweezil Zappa, which was recorded with the participation of Zappa musicians Scott Thunes , Mike Keneally and Terry Bozzio .
The label's greatest successes were the orchestral work The Yellow Shark , which climbed to second place in the "Top Classical Crossover" charts in 1993, and the album The Perfect Stranger , which reached number 7 on the same hit list. From Zappa's rock albums, Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch made it to number 23 on the pop album charts, not least because of the single "Valley Girl" that was released from it, which made it to 32nd place among pop singles in the USA Hit parade and made it to # 12 on the mainstream rock charts.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Barry Miles: Zappa . German edition. Rogner & Bernhard at two thousand and one. 2005. ISBN 3-8077-1010-8 .
- ↑ Chart information The Yellow Shark (as of April 2007)
- ↑ Chart information The Perfect Stranger ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (As of April 2007)
literature
- Frank Zappa, Peter Occhiogrosso: I am the American Dream . Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, Munich, 1991. ISBN 3-442-32536-6
- Barry Miles: Zappa . German edition. Rogner & Bernhard at two thousand and one. 2005. ISBN 3-8077-1010-8 .
- Carl-Ludwig Reichert: Frank Zappa . DTV, Munich, 2000. ISBN 3-423-31039-1