Before the Beatles George Martin's Parlophone Label had been called the "eccentric arm" of EMI, which obtained an erroneous reputation for comedy records which were primarily songs as opposed to comedy routines. That list includes: Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan - both from the Goons..... There were other artists he produced whose work was not easily categorised ranging from Cleo Laine, to Johnny Dankworth, Ron Goodwin, to Humphrey Lyttleton, etc. It was not a..... (more)

DUFFY POWER

Duffy Power never quite achieved the success he deserved, either as a straight pop star or in his later guise as a respected exponent of the British Blues and R&B scene in the late 60's. Power started off his career as an early British Rock 'n' Roller in the closing years of the 1950's under the management of Larry Parnes. In 1959 he was signed to Fontana for whom he recorded three singles that year which also appeared on..... (more)

RECORDING METHODS

Although mono was still King in the UK in the late 1950's (and would remain so for some years yet) the Abbey Road studios staff were well versed in recording large orchestras "live" onto a twin-track stereo machine for a virtually immediate stereo mastered product..... For a raw rock band consisting of four instruments plus singer a similar but economical "live" method would be employed where a few microphones were set up. Sometimes it was even more basic..... (more)