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Julie, Kathy, Petula, Alma & More – Early Brit Girls Vol.4
Welcome to the fourth instalment of EARLY BRIT GIRLS, the series in which we explore the rise of UK girlies from the mid 50s to the newly emergent Brit Girl sound of the early 60s, at the dawn of the Beat era. Like its three predecessors, Bouffants, Beehives & Backcombing – Early Brit Girls Vol.1…
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Phantoms, Meteorites, Moonshots & Devil’s Herds – The UK Instro Scene Vol. 4
Long ago, before things started to get Twangy, Britain’s leading instrumentalists usually either honked, parped, or plinked. Dance bands filled the airwaves, and it was wall-to-wall waltzes and foxtrots. Turgidity ruled. The arrival of R’n’R and Skiffle livened things up, and so gradually and not to mention rather belatedly – Britain’s teenagers were dragged into…
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Our Favourite Melodies – The Embassy label
click sleeve to BUY The eternally uncool, unloved Embassy Records was one of the most successful and profitable UK record labels of the 50s & 60s, yet you won’t find any of their best sellers listed in the Official Charts book, and you never heard them on the wireless, either. Nor, generally, will you see…
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Joe Meek’s Triumph Record label
“Records with teenage appeal… …Records made for the Hit Parade” By far the most collectable label of its era, TRIUMPH RECORDS was in existence for less than a year – effectively, between February and November 1960 – during which they registered one major top 10 hit, a couple of more modest chart riders, and issued…
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Don’t Knock Upon My Door – Six Dozen Great British ‘B’ Sides
When I first became interested in Pop music, back in the late 50s, my pocket money wouldn’t stretch to records so I had to try and blag what I could from sundry uncles, aunts and cousins. The trouble was, their unwanted oldies were invariably either cracked old Embassy 78s or ancient, pre-R&R crooners/dancebands/novelty items, so my embryonic…
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The Axemen Cometh – The Genesis Of The Great British Guitar Hero
By the late 60s the British Guitar Hero was in the ascendency, and blokes like Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Alvin Lee were being deified. Rock Music was growing progressively louder, hair was flowing, trousers were tightening, and guitar solos were getting longer, flashier, more intricate and increasingly self-indulgent. The Axe…
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Richard Ames got one over that Noddy Holder
The games that were played by groups on the road to keep themselves amused through the boredom of touring in the Seventies – or then again just the fun of playing pranks on fellow musicians.
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Johnny Remember Me – Great British Record labels – Top Rank
In hindsight, the shortlived TOP RANK label would appear to have been a magnificent folly, perpetrated by the mighty Rank Organisation. Launched in 1959, at their peak they were pumping out a vast amount of material, clocking up hits with both licensed-in US repertoire and UK artists, The man whose initials prefixed the label’s catalogue…
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Teenager In Love – Great British Record labels – Philips
Launched under the proud slogan “The Records Of The Century”, their first UK releases appeared in January 1953, via a series of Popular 78rpm singles, with 331/3rpm LPs following in July ’54 and 45rpm EPs a year later. Surprisingly, perhaps, Philips would be the last major label to issue 45rpm singles in the UK,…
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A Picture Of You – Great British Record Labels: Piccadilly
As the next stage in Pye’s expansion programme in April 1961, they launched the evocative black and red Piccadilly label, with its yellow logo, having initially been conceived as an outlet for third party licensing. However, although Piccadilly would in time go on to register big hits and build a reputation for their vast, quirky…
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Come Outside – Great British Record Labels: Parlophone
Like several of the labels in the old EMI group, Parlophone Records has a long, convoluted history, incorporating various twists, turns and takeovers. In 1950, George Martin joined Parlophone, an appointment which proved to be the defining moment in the label’s history. By the early/mid 50s they were releasing increasingly more spoken word and novelty…
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That’ll Be The Day – Five Dozen Dodgy British Cover Versions
When deejay Kenny Everett started playing random dodgy oldies on Capital Radio back in 1977, in search of “The worst record ever made”, he struck a nerve. Every week he’d get a sack of mail from listeners, nominating increasingly bigger stinkers, and the whole shebang quickly mushroomed, taking on a life of its own. The…