Dandelion

WORK ONGOING

Dandelion Records was a British record label started in 1969 by John Peel as a way to get the music he liked onto record. The record label Dandelion and its sister publishing company Biscuit were named after Peel's hamsters at the suggestion of his then flatmate Marc Bolan.

Around 28 albums were released by the label. One album was by the ageing Gene Vincent, with a cast of musicians including members of The Byrds and Steppenwolf. Others were by younger or non-commercial artists, including Beau, Bridget St John, Medicine Head, Clifford T. Ward, David Bedford, Lol Coxhill, Stackwaddy, Tractor, Kevin Coyne/Siren, and Denmark's Burnin' Red Ivanhoe.

The only record ever to make the UK charts was the single "(And the) Pictures in the Sky" by Medicine Head, which reached no. 22 in 1971. Beau's "1917 Revolution" made No. 1 in the Lebanon in 1969. Had Dandelion not turned down Roxy Music that same year, the story might well have been different.

Dandelion Records were distributed by, successively, CBS Records, Warner Bros. Records and Polydor. The label ran until 1973 when it started to try and place its artists with other labels as its distribution via Polydor had ceased. It had issued about a dozen singles and two dozen albums. Several releases attracted a cult audience but never quite crossed into the mainstream, although one of the last singles, Clifford T. Ward's 'Coathanger', from his debut album 'Singer Songwriter', attracted a certain amount of airplay on Radio 1. Both Tractor and Medicine Head appeared fairly high in various album charts- Medicine Head would go on to appear on Top of the Pops and Tractor would get heavily involved in the hippy festival circuit which they still make rare appearances on to this day. As Peel himself told Record Collector in 1994, 'when you can't afford full-page ads in the music press, artists become very resentful...there's no faster way of losing friends.'

One of the most curious albums issued by the label was a sampler, There is Some Fun Going Forward.

Most Dandelion album recordings have been reissued on vinyl and/or CD, initially a batch of half a dozen came out on CD on Repertoire in the early 1990s, followed by the whole catalogue as two on one CDs by See For Miles Records in the mid 1990s. The Dandelion Records by Tractor and The Way We Live were reissued in the 2000s by Ozit Morpheus Records. As well as the Tractor CDs in current circulation on Ozit Morpheus, some of the Dandelion catalogue has now started to appear on Cherry Red Records. A six hour DVD about John Peel and some of the artists on Dandelion Records was released as a tribute to John in November 2008. It includes a contribution from his wife Sheila Ravenscroft

Albums

 * 63750	Bridget St John: Ask Me No Questions
 * S63751 Beau: Beau
 * 63752	Principal Edwards Magic Theatre: Soundtrack
 * 63753	Occasional Word Ensemble: The Year of the Great Leap Sideways
 * 63754	Gene Vincent: I'm Back and I'm Proud
 * 63755	Siren: Siren
 * 63756	Mike Hart: Mike Hart Bleeds
 * 63757	Medicine Head: New Bottles Old Medicine
 * DAN8001/K49001 Siren: Strange Locomotion
 * DAN8002/K49002 Principal Edwards Magic Theatre: The Asomoto Running Band
 * DAN8003/K49003 Stackwaddy: Stack Waddy
 * DAN8004/K49004 The Way We Live: A Candle for Judith
 * DAN8005/K49005 Medicine Head Heavy on the Drum
 * DAN8006/K49006 Beau: Creation (with The Way We Live)
 * DAN8007/K49007 Bridget St John: Songs for the Gentle Man
 * DSD8008/K69001 Lol Coxhill: Ear of the Beholder
 * 2310145 Burnin' Red Ivanhoe: WWW
 * 2310146 Supersister: To the Highest Bidder
 * 2310165 David Bedford: Nurse's Song with Elephants
 * 2310166 Medicine Head:	Dark Side of the Moon
 * 2310193 Bridget St John: Thank You For
 * 2310211 [[Mike Hart]: Basher Chalky Pongo and Me (as Mike Hart & the Comrades)
 * 2310216 Clifford T. Ward: Singer Songwriter
 * 2310217 Tractor: Tractor
 * 2310228 Kevin Coyne: Case History
 * 2310231 Stackwaddy - Bugger Off!
 * 2485021 Various Artists - There Is Some Fun Going Forward (sampler)

Singles

 * S4596 Gene Vincent: Be-Bop-A-Lula '69 / Ruby Baby
 * S4661 Medicine Head: His Guiding Hand / This Love of Old
 * S4781 Mike Hart: Yawney Morning Song / Almost Liverpool 8
 * 4786 Bill Oddie - On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at / Harry Krishna
 * S4974 Gene Vincent: White Lightning / Scarlet Ribbons
 * S5075 Medicine Head: Coast to Coast / All For Tomorrow
 * S5119 Stackwaddy: Roadrunner / Kentucky
 * S4403 Beau: 1917 Revolution / Sleeping Town
 * K4404 Bridget St John: To B Without A Hitch / Autumn Lullaby
 * S4405 Principal Edwards Magic Theatre: Ballad of the Big Girl Now / Lament for Earth
 * S4493 Clague: Mandy Lee / Bottle Up and Go (with Kevin Coyne)
 * S4494 Coyne-Clague - The Stride / I Wonder Where
 * DAN7002/K19004 Siren - Strange Locomotion / I'm All Aching
 * DAN7003/K19002 Medicine Head: (And the) Pictures in the Sky / Natural Sight
 * DAN7004/K19003 Yamasukis: Yamasuki / Aieaoa
 * 2001276 Medicine Head: Kum On / On the Land
 * 2001282 Tractor: Stoney Glory / Marie / As You Say
 * 2001325 Medicine Head: Only To Do What Is True / Sittin' in the Sun
 * 2001327 Clifford T Ward: Carrie / Sidetrack
 * 2001331 Stackwaddy: You Really Got Me / Willie the Pimp
 * 2001357 Kevin Coyne: Cheat Me / Flowering Cherry
 * 2001382 Clifford T Ward: Coathanger / Rayne
 * 2001383 Medicine Head: How Does It Feel / Morning Light
 * 2058214 Coxhill Bedford Duo: Mood / Sonny Boy/ Oh My Pa-Pa (O Mein Papa) (B side by Will Dandy & the Dandylettes)