Albert Productions
Encyclopedia
Albert Productions, a division of music publishing and recording company Albert Music
, is one of Australia's longest established independent Australia
n record label
to specialise in rock and roll music. The label was founded in 1964
by Ted Albert, whose family owned and operated the Australian music publishing house J. Albert & Son.
During the 1960s Albert Productions operated like other similar companies, such as those founded by producers Joe Meek
, Phil Spector
or Shel Talmy
. Typically, these companies discovered and signed new pop performers/groups, produced their recordings independently, then leased the finished product to established record labels, who handled their release, distribution and promotion.
Ted Albert
signed two of the most important Australian groups of the mid-1960s, Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs
and The Easybeats
. Their recordings—released through a deal with EMI's subsidiary label Parlophone
-- included some of the biggest Australian hits of the decade, most of which were produced by Ted Albert
himself and by Shel Talmy
.
The company curtailed its recording activities in the late 1960s but was revived in the early 1970s, when Albert Productions established its own record label and a state-of-the-art recording studio in central Sydney. Early Alberts acts included Alison MacCallum, Ted Mulry
, John Paul Young
and Bobbi Marchini, and many of these recordings were produced by visiting British pop svengali Simon Napier-Bell
. But the label's greatest success came in the mid-1970s, following the return to Australia of former Easybeats Harry Vanda
and George Young.
In the last years of The Easybeats the duo had become both a powerful songwriting team and highly skilled producers, and after returning to Australia in early 1973 the became the powerhouse of Albert Productions, which quickly became one of the most successful labels in Australian music. Usually working in collaboration with engineer Bruce Brown, Vanda & Young produced (and often also wrote) a string of hugely successful singles and albums for acts including former bandmate Stevie Wright, John Paul Young
, AC/DC
, The Angels
, Cheetah
, William Shakespeare
and many others.
In the late '70s and early '80s Vanda & Young also enjoyed their own successful career as Alberts recording artists, releasing a string of highly regarded albums and singles under the ironic pseudonym Flash and the Pan
. These included the Australian hits "Down Among The Dead Men" and "Hey St Peter" and "Walking In The Rain", which was famously covered by Grace Jones
.
The Albert Productions label is best known internationally through its association with world-famous hard rock band AC/DC
. This was very much a family connection—Vanda & Young produced all the albums they recorded in Australia between 1974 and 1977, and of course the two founding members of the band, Malcolm and Angus Young, were George's younger brothers. In 2003 Albert Productions established operations in the United Kingdom and more recently has added the Northern Ireland rock band The Answer
to its recording artist stable.
Albert Records does not only specialise in Rock & Roll music. Australian R&B singer, Paulini signed to Albert Records in 2009 and is still in the very present.
Albert Music
Albert Music, formerly J Albert and Son is an Australian company with an estimated worth in 2009 of more than A$209 million. The company has major interests in music publishing and production and it currently earns significant royalties through its subsidiary, Albert Productions which manages the...
, is one of Australia's longest established independent Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
to specialise in rock and roll music. The label was founded in 1964
1964 in music
-Events:*January 1 – Top of the Pops is broadcast for the first time, on BBC television.*January 3 – Footage of the Beatles performing a concert in Bournemouth, England is shown on The Jack Paar Show....
by Ted Albert, whose family owned and operated the Australian music publishing house J. Albert & Son.
During the 1960s Albert Productions operated like other similar companies, such as those founded by producers Joe Meek
Joe Meek
Robert George "Joe" Meek was a pioneering English record producer and songwriter....
, Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
or Shel Talmy
Shel Talmy
Shel Talmy is an American record producer, songwriter, arranger best known for his work in London with The Who and The Kinks in the 1960s, with a role in many other English bands including Cat Stevens and Pentangle...
. Typically, these companies discovered and signed new pop performers/groups, produced their recordings independently, then leased the finished product to established record labels, who handled their release, distribution and promotion.
Ted Albert
Ted Albert
Edward 'Ted' Albert was an early pioneer in Australian independent record production and founder of Albert Productions...
signed two of the most important Australian groups of the mid-1960s, Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs
Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs
Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs were an Australian pop and rock group dating from the mid-sixties. The group enjoyed huge success in the mid-1960s, but split in 1967. They re-emerged in the early seventies to become one of the most popular Australian hard-rock bands of the period...
and The Easybeats
The Easybeats
The Easybeats were an Australian rock and roll band. They formed in Sydney in late 1964 and broke up at the end of 1969. They are regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s, and were the first Australian rock and roll act to score an international pop hit with their 1966 single...
. Their recordings—released through a deal with EMI's subsidiary label Parlophone
Parlophone
Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...
-- included some of the biggest Australian hits of the decade, most of which were produced by Ted Albert
Ted Albert
Edward 'Ted' Albert was an early pioneer in Australian independent record production and founder of Albert Productions...
himself and by Shel Talmy
Shel Talmy
Shel Talmy is an American record producer, songwriter, arranger best known for his work in London with The Who and The Kinks in the 1960s, with a role in many other English bands including Cat Stevens and Pentangle...
.
The company curtailed its recording activities in the late 1960s but was revived in the early 1970s, when Albert Productions established its own record label and a state-of-the-art recording studio in central Sydney. Early Alberts acts included Alison MacCallum, Ted Mulry
Ted Mulry
Ted Mulry was a singer, songwriter, bass player and guitarist. He was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England but achieved his success in Australia, firstly as a solo performer, and then leading his own band Ted Mulry Gang, sometimes officially credited as just TMG.-Solo:Ted Mulry first came to the...
, John Paul Young
John Paul Young
John Paul Young is an Australian pop singer who had a 1978 worldwide hit with "Love Is in the Air"...
and Bobbi Marchini, and many of these recordings were produced by visiting British pop svengali Simon Napier-Bell
Simon Napier-Bell
Simon Napier-Bell has undertaken many jobs in the music industry, including bandboy, manager, producer, songwriter, journalist and author and gourmet...
. But the label's greatest success came in the mid-1970s, following the return to Australia of former Easybeats Harry Vanda
Harry Vanda
Harry Vanda , is a Dutch-born Australian popular music singer, guitarist, songwriter and record producer.-Career:...
and George Young.
In the last years of The Easybeats the duo had become both a powerful songwriting team and highly skilled producers, and after returning to Australia in early 1973 the became the powerhouse of Albert Productions, which quickly became one of the most successful labels in Australian music. Usually working in collaboration with engineer Bruce Brown, Vanda & Young produced (and often also wrote) a string of hugely successful singles and albums for acts including former bandmate Stevie Wright, John Paul Young
John Paul Young
John Paul Young is an Australian pop singer who had a 1978 worldwide hit with "Love Is in the Air"...
, AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
, The Angels
The Angels
The Angels may refer to:*The Angels , an American girl group who had hits in the 1960s*The Angels , an Australian hard rock band*The Angels is the English translation of Los Angeles, California in the U.S.A....
, Cheetah
Cheetah (band)
Cheetah were an Australian rock band active between 1977 and 1982. The main members and vocalists were sisters Chrissie Hammond and Lyndsay Hammond . They had been session vocalists for many Australian artists including Jo Jo Zep, Jon English, Marc Hunter, Flash and the Pan and as a vocal duo...
, William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (singer)
William Shakespeare was the stage name of Australian Glam rock singer John Stanley Cave, also known as John Cabe or Billy Shake. He had two Australian hit singles, "Can't Stop Myself from Loving You" which peaked at #2 on the Kent Music Report in 1974 and "My Little Angel" which peaked at #1 in 1975...
and many others.
In the late '70s and early '80s Vanda & Young also enjoyed their own successful career as Alberts recording artists, releasing a string of highly regarded albums and singles under the ironic pseudonym Flash and the Pan
Flash and the Pan
Flash and the Pan was an Australian New Wave musical group initiated during the late 1970s by Harry Vanda and George Young, both former members of The Easybeats...
. These included the Australian hits "Down Among The Dead Men" and "Hey St Peter" and "Walking In The Rain", which was famously covered by Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
.
The Albert Productions label is best known internationally through its association with world-famous hard rock band AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
. This was very much a family connection—Vanda & Young produced all the albums they recorded in Australia between 1974 and 1977, and of course the two founding members of the band, Malcolm and Angus Young, were George's younger brothers. In 2003 Albert Productions established operations in the United Kingdom and more recently has added the Northern Ireland rock band The Answer
The Answer (band)
The Answer are a Northern Irish hard rock and blues-rock band from Newcastle and Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland. They have achieved success with their debut album Rise selling in excess of 30,000 copies in the UK & Europe, 10,000 on day one in Japan and 100,000 worldwide.-Lineup:*Cormac...
to its recording artist stable.
Albert Records does not only specialise in Rock & Roll music. Australian R&B singer, Paulini signed to Albert Records in 2009 and is still in the very present.
Featured Artists
- AC/DCAC/DCAC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
- Paulini
- Megan WashingtonMegan Washington-Studio albums:-Extended plays:-Singles:-External links:* *...
- Minus The BearMinus the BearMinus the Bear is an American indie rock band from Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2001, the group features current and former members of Botch, Kill Sadie, and Sharks Keep Moving...
- The SeabelliesThe SeabelliesSeabellies are an Australian alternative rock band based in Sydney and Newcastle, New South Wales. Their live show is known for their variety of instrumentsation featuring electronica, strings, metallophone, melodica, horns and multi-percussive layering....
- The BasicsThe BasicsThe Basics are a three-piece band from Melbourne, Australia, formed by Wally De Backer and Kris Schroeder in 2002. Their style has been described as anything from 'indie-pop' to 'rock'n'roll' to 'pop-rock', though their records show they span a wide range of genres, including reggae, ska, country,...
- Shelley Harland
- EulogiesEulogies (band)Eulogies is an American rock band based in Los Angeles, California. The current line-up consists of Peter Walker on guitar and vocals, Garrett Deloian on bass, Chris Reynolds on drums, and Drew Phillips on guitar....
- Bad VeinsBad VeinsBad Veins is an indie rock duo from Cincinnati, Ohio, composed of Benjamin Davis and Sebastien Schultz. Davis primarily writes the music, plays guitar and keyboard, and sings, while also recording backtracking music on a reel-to-reel tape player, nicknamed Irene. Schultz plays the drums...
- The DearsThe Dears-History:The band formed in 1995 and released their first album, End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story, in 2000. Their orchestral, dark pop sound and dramatic live shows cemented The Dears at the foundation of the then-emerging Canadian indie renaissance...
- Darker My LoveDarker My LoveDarker My Love is an indie psychedelic rock band based in Los Angeles, California. The band consists of 5 members. Tim Presley, a former member of the band The Nerve Agents and also a visual artist responsible for much of the band's imagery, formed the band in 2004 and contributes vocals and guitar...
- Sea WolfSea Wolf (band)Sea Wolf is a band led by Alex Brown Church, an indie folk musician based in Los Angeles, California. Church attended film school at NYU and was a founding member of a group called Irving in 1998...
- Billy Thorpe & The AztecsBilly Thorpe & the AztecsBilly Thorpe and the Aztecs were an Australian pop and rock group dating from the mid-sixties. The group enjoyed huge success in the mid-1960s, but split in 1967. They re-emerged in the early seventies to become one of the most popular Australian hard-rock bands of the period...
- Breed 77Breed 77Breed 77 is a British band from the overseas territory of Gibraltar whose music is a fusion of alternative metal and flamenco.-Origin:Breed 77 comes from the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Old Gibraltarian school friends, Paul Isola, Danny Felice, and Stuart Cavilla met up in London and...
- Dallas CraneDallas CraneDallas Crane is an Australian alternative rock band from Melbourne, Australia.Dallas Crane was named after the father of a mate of the band.In January 2004, the band signed a recording and publishing deal with Albert Productions, the home of AC/DC. The band recorded an album with Wayne Connolly,...
- George Young
- Graham Lowndes
- happylife
- Harry VandaHarry VandaHarry Vanda , is a Dutch-born Australian popular music singer, guitarist, songwriter and record producer.-Career:...
- Aleesha RomeAleesha RomeAleesha Rome is an Australian pop singer best known for her single "Search My Heaven". Originally from Adelaide, she moved to Sydney at age 17, and got a recording contract through a "Singer Wanted" advertisement in a Sydney street press publication.Frustrated with the lack of control over her...
- John Paul YoungJohn Paul YoungJohn Paul Young is an Australian pop singer who had a 1978 worldwide hit with "Love Is in the Air"...
- ObliviaOblivia (band)Oblivia were an Australian band formed by Tony 'Juke' Jukic and Pete Banner. They were discovered by Harry Vanda who signed them to a publishing contract. They released one album, The Careless Ones, produced by Steve James...
- SkybombersSkybombersSkybombers is a rock band from Melbourne. They were formed as Collusion by Scotch College students Hugh Gurney, Ravi Sharma, Scott McMurtrie and Sam Bethune. They later changed to Skybombers, a name inspired by an icy-pole. Their placing a demo song "It Goes Off" on MySpace brought them their first...
- Stevie Wright
- Choirboys
- The AnswerThe Answer (band)The Answer are a Northern Irish hard rock and blues-rock band from Newcastle and Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland. They have achieved success with their debut album Rise selling in excess of 30,000 copies in the UK & Europe, 10,000 on day one in Japan and 100,000 worldwide.-Lineup:*Cormac...
- The EasybeatsThe EasybeatsThe Easybeats were an Australian rock and roll band. They formed in Sydney in late 1964 and broke up at the end of 1969. They are regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s, and were the first Australian rock and roll act to score an international pop hit with their 1966 single...
- The Marcus Hook Roll Band
- The Missing Links
- The Throb
- The AngelsThe AngelsThe Angels may refer to:*The Angels , an American girl group who had hits in the 1960s*The Angels , an Australian hard rock band*The Angels is the English translation of Los Angeles, California in the U.S.A....
- San CiscoSan CiscoSan Cisco is an Australian four-piece indie pop band, which formed in 2009 as King George in Fremantle, Western Australia. The band consists of Jordi Davieson , Josh Biondillo , Nick Gardner , and Scarlett Stevens . All members except Stevens share duties on keyboards...
Furthur reading
- Noel McGrath. Australian Encyclopaedia Of Rock. Published by Outback Press Australia. 1978. (ISBN 0727019090)
- Clinton Walker. Highway To Hell. Published by Pan Macmillan, Australia 1994, & Picador 2002. (ISBN 0 330 36377 8).
- Glenn Goldsmith. Hard Road. Published by Random House Australia, 2004. (ISBN 1 74051 261 8).
- Peter Wilmoth. The Countdown Years. 1974-1987. published by McPhee Grible, Australia, 1993 (ISBN 0 86914 293 3).
- Murray Engleheart. Blood Sweat & Beers. Published by Harper Collins, Australia, 2010. (ISBN 978 0 7322 8935 5).
- John Tait. Vanda & Young, Inside Australia's Hit Factory. Published by UNSW Press. Australia, 2010. (ISBN 978 1 74223 217 1).