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 Posted By: Jim Liddane on: 05/10/2010 20:20:10 EDTSubject: RE: The Who - I Can't Explain - 1965 |
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Buddy Holly had two releases on Decca before they dropped him. One of them - "Blue Days Black Nights" actually sold around 25,000 copies which was not too bad considering, but Decca were looking for somebody to take on Elvis, but recorded him as though they had signed another Hank Williams, and he failed with Decca. John also wrote... Rolling Stones? London Records? Maybe only in the US! Jim replied Well of course Decca is a truly English label set up in London around 1929. They bought the pressing plant off Brunswick around 1934 which gave them an American outlet, and then went on to either buy or set up several other American labels including Coral etc. To release their UK product in the US, they set up London Records, and to release the US product in the UK, rhey set up London-American Records. At one stage, they distributed a lot of smaller US labels in the UK on the London-American label, such as Liberty (Bobby Vee, Eddie Cochran), Imperial (Ricky Nelson, Fats Domino etc). To those of us who loved American music in the 50's and early 60's, London-American was where it was at, and at one stage, EMI meant nothing in comparison. Decca had Elvis (through RCA which they distributed), Roy Orbison (through Monument), Little Richard (through Specialty), Bill Haley,, The Crickets (Brunswick), Buddy Holly, Jackie Wilson (Coral), Bobby Vee, The Ventures, Eddie Cochran, Johnny Burnette (Liberty), Ricky Nelson, Fats Domino (Imperial) etc. In fact, at one stage,Decca were able to produce a weekly "US Top Ten" radio show, and they had nearly all of the Top 10! But then, they turned down the Beatles and most of the otherr Liverpool acts, while EMI's various labels which had nurtured most of the UK singers such as Cliff Richard and Adam Faith, took on the Mersey sound with enthusiasm. In fact in the UK during the 60's, about the only thing Decca got right was signing the Rolling Stones. By the end of the 60's, Decca were a spent force in comparison with EMI. But that is how it goes.... |
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