El records
Encyclopedia
él Records is an independent record label
from the UK founded by Mike Alway. Alway, who cut his teeth in the late seventies working with The Soft Boys
and promoting clubs and concerts in Richmond, south-west London, joined Cherry Red Records in 1980 to work alongside the company's founder, Iain McNay.
Over the next few years he signed many of the artists who would become most closely associated with the label - The Monochrome Set
, Felt
, Everything But The Girl
, Marine Girls
, Fantastic Something, Eyeless In Gaza
etc. This was widely recognised as a golden period for the label, culminating in the release of 'Pillows & Prayers'
, the budget priced compilation that encapsulated the label's emerging style. It dominated the then prestigious UK independent charts
in 1983.
Alway then misguidedly (by his own subsequent admission) formed the Warner Brothers-backed Blanco Y Negro
with Geoff Travis
of Rough Trade
, taking several Cherry Red artists with him, notably Monochrome Set and Everything But The Girl. The relationship with Warners did not gel, however, leading to a return to the Cherry Red family and the high concept él Records, which he had founded as a subsidiary outlet while at Blanco, became his new focus. él combined the technicolor exoticism of Powell and Pressburger
with the escapist fantasy of The Avengers
. The stylised visual aesthetic of The Prisoner
with the dry-witted late seventies British television comedies The Good Life and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
. Richard Briers
and Leonard Rossiter
were, to Mike Alway, what Malcolm McLaren
was to Alan McGee
.
él's playful humour and highly visual aesthetic spoke to the Japanese and was a significant influence on the J-Pop
phenomenon that involved Cornelius
, Pizzicato Five
and Kahimi Karie
. Indeed, él and Alway were immortalised in Kahimi Karie's domestic top ten hit, ‘Mike Alway's Diary’, that was written by the high-priest of ‘J-Pop’, Keigo Oyamada.
Although Alway had recruited a cast of performers he would describe as the best English pop writers of their generation - Vic Godard
, Bid (Monochrome Set), Karl Blake
(Shock Headed Peters), Jessica Griffin (Would-Be-Goods
), Nick Currie (Momus
), Philippe Auclair (Louis Philippe
) and former Jonathan King
teen prodigy Simon Turner (The King of Luxembourg), critical acclaim was not matched by sales and in 1988 the project was abandoned.
In 2005, él reinvented itself (again under the Cherry Red flag) with Alway applying his eclectic taste to the restoration of historic editions; film soundtracks, jazz
and flamenco guitar
, Brazilian and Indian recordings, vocal and Modern Classical music
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
from the UK founded by Mike Alway. Alway, who cut his teeth in the late seventies working with The Soft Boys
The Soft Boys
The Soft Boys were a pop band during the punk era led by Robyn Hitchcock, whose initially old fashioned music style of psychedelic/folk-rock became part of the neo-psychedelia scene with the release of Underwater Moonlight...
and promoting clubs and concerts in Richmond, south-west London, joined Cherry Red Records in 1980 to work alongside the company's founder, Iain McNay.
Over the next few years he signed many of the artists who would become most closely associated with the label - The Monochrome Set
The Monochrome Set
The Monochrome Set are an English post-punk band originally formed in 1978 from the remnants of a college group called The B-Sides...
, Felt
Felt (band)
Felt were a 1980s British alternative rock band led by Lawrence, whose surname was never listed in any credits or press; the band's name was inspired by Tom Verlaine's emphasis of the word "felt" in the Television song "Venus"...
, Everything But The Girl
Everything but the Girl
Everything but the Girl was a two-person English band, formed in Hull during 1981, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, and singer Ben Watt . They are currently inactive although vocalist Tracey Thorn hinted that they may reform someday...
, Marine Girls
Marine Girls
Marine Girls were a post-punk group from Hatfield, Hertfordshire. The group was formed in 1980, by two sixth form school friends: Tracey Thorn and Gina Hartman. Originally, Thorn just played guitar and Hartman was the lead vocalist and percussionist. Thorn overcame her shyness and started singing...
, Fantastic Something, Eyeless In Gaza
Eyeless in Gaza
Eyeless in Gaza is a bestselling novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1936. The title originates from a phrase in John Milton's Samson Agonistes:The chapters of the book are not ordered chronologically...
etc. This was widely recognised as a golden period for the label, culminating in the release of 'Pillows & Prayers'
Pillows & Prayers
Pillows & Prayers is compilation album released Christmas 1982 featuring artists on the Cherry Red record label at the suggestion of A&R head Mike Alway...
, the budget priced compilation that encapsulated the label's emerging style. It dominated the then prestigious UK independent charts
UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...
in 1983.
Alway then misguidedly (by his own subsequent admission) formed the Warner Brothers-backed Blanco Y Negro
Blanco y Negro
Blanco y Negro can refer to* Blanco y Negro in Spain.* Blanco y Negro Music, a record label in Spain.* Blanco y Negro Records, a record label in the U.K....
with Geoff Travis
Geoff Travis
Geoff Travis is the founder of both Rough Trade Records and the Rough Trade chain of record shops. A former drama teacher and owner of a punk record shop, Travis founded the Rough Trade label in 1978.-Biography:...
of Rough Trade
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
, taking several Cherry Red artists with him, notably Monochrome Set and Everything But The Girl. The relationship with Warners did not gel, however, leading to a return to the Cherry Red family and the high concept él Records, which he had founded as a subsidiary outlet while at Blanco, became his new focus. él combined the technicolor exoticism of Powell and Pressburger
Powell and Pressburger
The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers, made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1981 they were recognized for their contributions to British cinema with the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the most prestigious...
with the escapist fantasy of The Avengers
The Avengers (band)
The Avengers are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in San Francisco, California. Penelope Houston, who has also been a folk musician, is their singer.-Original history:...
. The stylised visual aesthetic of The Prisoner
The Prisoner
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
with the dry-witted late seventies British television comedies The Good Life and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is a series of novels which developed into a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role...
. Richard Briers
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
and Leonard Rossiter
Leonard Rossiter
Leonard Rossiter was an English actor known for his roles as Rupert Rigsby, in the British comedy television series Rising Damp , and Reginald Iolanthe Perrin, in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin...
were, to Mike Alway, what Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
was to Alan McGee
Alan McGee
Alan McGee has been a record label owner, musician, manager, and music blogger for The Guardian.McGee is best-known for co-forming and running the independent Creation Records label from 1983–1999, and then Poptones from 1999-2007...
.
él's playful humour and highly visual aesthetic spoke to the Japanese and was a significant influence on the J-Pop
J-pop
, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music, such as The Beatles, and replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene...
phenomenon that involved Cornelius
Cornelius
Cornelius is a Roman family name and a masculine given name. It could be derived from Latin cornu "horn". People, places and things named Cornelius include:-Surname:...
, Pizzicato Five
Pizzicato Five
Pizzicato Five was a Japanese pop group best known to audiences in the West in their later incarnation as a duo of Maki Nomiya and Yasuharu Konishi...
and Kahimi Karie
Kahimi Karie
Kahimi sings in English, French, and Japanese with whisper-like vocals.-Albums:* 1997 - Larme de crocodile * July 15, 1998 - K.K.K.K.K. * May 24, 2000 - Tilt...
. Indeed, él and Alway were immortalised in Kahimi Karie's domestic top ten hit, ‘Mike Alway's Diary’, that was written by the high-priest of ‘J-Pop’, Keigo Oyamada.
Although Alway had recruited a cast of performers he would describe as the best English pop writers of their generation - Vic Godard
Vic Godard
Vic Godard is a British singer-songwriter formerly of the punk group Subway Sect. He is now a solo performer.-Biography:Born Vic Knapper in Mortlake c.1959, Godard was raised in Barnes....
, Bid (Monochrome Set), Karl Blake
Karl Blake
Karl Blake is a vocalist, bassist, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. Most of his own music can be described as progressive-experimental and sometimes psychedelic.-Musical career:...
(Shock Headed Peters), Jessica Griffin (Would-Be-Goods
Would-be-goods
Would-be-goods are a British indie pop band fronted by singer Jessica Griffin, noted for her precise received pronunciation accent when singing . Their name was inspired by the 1899 adventure story by children's author E...
), Nick Currie (Momus
Momus (artist)
Nick Currie , more popularly known under the artist name Momus , is a songwriter, blogger and former journalist for Wired...
), Philippe Auclair (Louis Philippe
Louis Philippe (musician)
Louis Philippe is a London-based French singer, songwriter, arranger and producer who has been active from the mid-1980s onwards...
) and former Jonathan King
Jonathan King
Jonathan King is an English singer, songwriter, impresario and record producer. He is also the author of three novels, Bible Two and The Booker Prize Winner , and Beware the Monkey Man , and an autobiography, 65 My Life So Far .King first came to prominence as an...
teen prodigy Simon Turner (The King of Luxembourg), critical acclaim was not matched by sales and in 1988 the project was abandoned.
In 2005, él reinvented itself (again under the Cherry Red flag) with Alway applying his eclectic taste to the restoration of historic editions; film soundtracks, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and flamenco guitar
Flamenco guitar
A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar. Flamenco guitar also refers to toque, the guitar-playing part of the art of Flamenco.-Brief history:...
, Brazilian and Indian recordings, vocal and Modern Classical music
Original label
- Shock Headed Peters
- The Monochrome SetThe Monochrome SetThe Monochrome Set are an English post-punk band originally formed in 1978 from the remnants of a college group called The B-Sides...
(Bid) - Vic GodardVic GodardVic Godard is a British singer-songwriter formerly of the punk group Subway Sect. He is now a solo performer.-Biography:Born Vic Knapper in Mortlake c.1959, Godard was raised in Barnes....
- MomusMomus (artist)Nick Currie , more popularly known under the artist name Momus , is a songwriter, blogger and former journalist for Wired...
- Would-Be-GoodsWould-be-goodsWould-be-goods are a British indie pop band fronted by singer Jessica Griffin, noted for her precise received pronunciation accent when singing . Their name was inspired by the 1899 adventure story by children's author E...
- James Dean Driving Experience
- Marden Hill
- The King Of Luxembourg
- Bad Dream Fancy Dress
- Louis PhilippeLouis Philippe (musician)Louis Philippe is a London-based French singer, songwriter, arranger and producer who has been active from the mid-1980s onwards...
- Anthony AdverseAnthony AdverseAnthony Adverse is a 1936 American drama film directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay by Sheridan Gibney is based on the sprawling 1,224-page novel of the same title by Hervey Allen.-Plot:...
Historical label
- Andres SegoviaAndrés SegoviaAndrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquis of Salobreña , known as Andrés Segovia, was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist from Linares, Jaén, Andalucia, Spain...
- Antonio Carlos JobimAntônio Carlos JobimAntônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim , also known as Tom Jobim , was a Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist. He was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists within...
- Baden Powell/Vinicius de MoraesVinicius de MoraesMarcus Vinicius de Moraes , known as Vinicius de Moraes and nicknamed O Poetinho , was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Son of Lydia Cruz de Moraes and Clodoaldo Pereira da Silva Moraes, he was a seminal figure in contemporary Brazilian music...
- Brigitte BardotBrigitte BardotBrigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is a French former fashion model, actress, singer and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer...
- David AxelrodDavid Axelrod (musician)David Axelrod is an American composer, arranger and producer, working in several musical genres.-Biography:...
- Edda Dell'OrsoEdda Dell'OrsoEdda Dell'Orso is an Italian singer, especially known for her collaboration with composer Ennio Morricone for which she provided wordless vocals to a large number of his film scores...
- Edgard VarèseEdgard VarèseEdgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, , whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
- Elis ReginaElis ReginaElis Regina Carvalho Costa, known simply as Elis Regina was an important singer of Brazilian popular music. She became nationally renowned in 1965, after singing Arrastão in the first edition of TV Excelsior festival song contest, and soon joined O Fino da Bossa, a television program on TV Record...
- Ennio MorriconeEnnio MorriconeEnnio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
- Erik SatieErik SatieÉric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
- Four Freshmen
- Gábor SzabóGábor SzabóGábor Szabó was a Hungarian jazz guitarist, famous for mixing jazz, pop-rock and his native Hungarian music.-Biography:...
- Gary McFarlandGary McFarlandGary McFarland was an influential composer, arranger, vibraphonist and vocalist, prominent on Verve and Impulse! Records during the 1960s, when he made "one of the more significant contributors to orchestral jazz"...
- Gilberto GilGilberto GilGilberto Passos Gil Moreira , better known as Gilberto Gil or , is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, known for both his musical innovation and political commitment...
- Henry ManciniHenry ManciniHenry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
- Jacques BrelJacques BrelJacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
- Juan Garcia EsquivelJuan García EsquivelJuan García Esquivel often simply known as Esquivel!, was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisticated style of largely instrumental music that combines elements of lounge music and jazz with Latin...
- Nino RotaNino RotaNino Rota was an Italian composer and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti...
- Orson WellesOrson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
- Quarteto em CyQuarteto em CyQuarteto em Cy is a Brazilian girl group originally composed of four sisters hailing from Ibirataia, a town located in the Brazilian state of Bahia: Cybele, Cylene, Cynara and Cyva - their real first names. They started performing in 1959, appearing on local television in that year...
- Ravi ShankarRavi ShankarRavi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
- Roy BuddRoy BuddRoy Frederick Budd , was a British jazz musician and composer, known for his film scores.Born in Mitcham, Surrey, Budd became interested in music from an early age and had built up a vast musical repertoire by the age of eight...
- SabicasSabicasSabicas was a Flamenco guitarist, of Romani origin, who was born in 1912 in Pamplona, Spain and died in 14 April 1990 in New York....
- Ustad Ali Akbar Khan