CHARNWOOD
RECORDS
Independent
label: Charnwood Records was a record
label of Lecester-based publishing company Charnwood Music. Charnwood
Music was set up by professional accordionist Francis Wright in 1958; he
established the Leicester School of Music some six years later. The
company specialized in accordion music, and in fact still does so today.
Its printed output appears to have far outweighed its vinyl, which seems to have
been sporadic. The earliest record was a 10" LP from 1969, 'Springtime
Symphony' by the New British College of Accordionists Orchestra, which was
numbered CH-01. The record that qualifies the label for this site,
however, is the one shown above, Robert Walker's 'Selected Guitar Studies'
EP. That was numbered CH-04, and it came out in 1979, which suggests that
there were two other Charnwood releases, CH-02 and CH-03, over the intervening
ten years. The EP was made through the Leicester Recording Company, of
Thurcaston Road, Leicester. Its labels are big enough to cover the
anti-slip ridges but the perimeter text at the top has still been cropped, which
is slightly odd. Just for once I've included scans of both sides, in case
anyone is desperate to know the track listing. Two albums by local artists
were issued in or around 1983 on a Charnwood label, but the catalogue numbers
were in a different series and the logo was different; either this company was
dipping its toe in the Pop music market or another company was using the
name. Just out of interest the albums were a self-titled LP by Graham
Cooper (CWS-100) and the Dallas Boys' 'Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing'
(CWS-101; 1983). If anyone can confirm a connection - or a disconnection -
between the two concerns, or can supply details of any missing releases, I'd be
interested to hear from them. Distributed By Charnwood Records.
Thanks to Robert Lyons For The Info.
69
New British College of
Accordionists Orchestra
Springtime Symphony
(Album)
CHARNWOOD
CH
01
79
Not Traced
CHARNWOOD
CH
02
79
Not Traced
CHARNWOOD
CH
03
79
Robert Walker
Selected Guitar Studies EP
CHARNWOOD
CH
04