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John Peel Wiki
in: Record Labels, Compilations, Featured Articles

Liberty Records

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(This page covers both Liberty Records and United Artists Records, which merged in 1971, taking the UA name, before reverting to Liberty under EMI from 1980. For a decade from 1967, London office A&R man Andrew Lauder built the British artist roster at Liberty and then UA.)

Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.

Liberty recordings were distributed in the UK by the Decca group on London Records, then by EMI on Liberty. Liberty established a branch office in London, which signed the Bonzo Dog Band, Idle Race, and the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation. In 1967, Liberty issued the first single by Family. Ron Kass, onetime president of Liberty, became the head of Apple, the label of the Beatles. In 1967, Liberty signed Canned Heat, which had three hit singles for the label. In 1968, Liberty was bought for $24 million by Transamerica Corporation, an insurance company, and combined with United Artists.

In 1971, Liberty and its remaining labels were shifted to United Artists, and Liberty was no more. In 1980, EMI dropped the United Artists name and revived the Liberty name. EMI used Liberty to reissue the catalogs of United Artists, Liberty, and Imperial.

(Read more at Wikipedia (Liberty Records).)

United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. In 1969, United Artists merged with co-owned Liberty Records and its subsidiary, Imperial Records. In 1971, Liberty/UA Records dropped the Liberty name in favor of United Artists.

In England, Andrew Lauder, who had been head of A&R at the UK branch of Liberty Records, transferred to UA when Liberty was shut down in 1971. His signings included the Groundhogs, Aynsley Dunbar (only in the UK), Hawkwind, Bonzo Dog Band, Brinsley Schwarz, Man (all originally Liberty artists), High Tide, Help Yourself, Dr. Feelgood, the Buzzcocks, the Stranglers and 999. He also licensed UK releases for several influential German bands during the early 70s, the best known of which were Can, Neu! and Amon Düül II. Lauder left UA in late 1977 to help found Radar Records.

In 1978, UA executives Artie Mogull and Jerry Rubinstein bought the record company from Transamerica with a loan from EMI, which took over distribution of the label. Unable to generate enough income to cover the loan, Liberty/United Records was sold to EMI in 1979 for $3 million and assumed liabilities of $32 million.

(Read more at Wikipedia (United Artists Records.)

Links To Peel[]

”My first job with Liberty was radio promotion, getting records played on the radio and it coincided with the beginning of Radio 1 in September 1967. I used to speak to John Peel and his producer who were the only people that I could really talk about music to.”
(Andrew Lauder, London label head, Liberty (1967-71), United Artists (1971-77))[1]

Peel played numerous releases by Liberty in the early Top Gear years, until the label's merger with United Artists in 1971, when London A&R chief Andrew Lauder and major parts of its UK roster transferred across to the UA banner. Liberty, like Elektra and Island, was one of the independent labels which flourished in the late 1960s, outside the duopoly of EMI and Decca which had traditionally dominated the British record industry. Although as an established US label it had a broad catalogue covering easy listening, mainstream commercial pop and jazz, its London office seemed more attuned to the changes in pop music which were reflected in Peel's playlists.

As well as LPs by Bonzo Dog Band, Idle Race and other session artists, including 'Strictly Personal' by Captain Beefheart & Magic Band (licensed for UK release from Blue Thumb Records), Liberty had released 'Scene Through The Eye Of A Lens', the 1967 debut single of Family, who went on to be longstanding Peel favourites although their subsequent releases were issued by Reprise Records. After being dropped by CBS, another Peel favourite, Roy Harper, recorded an album for the label, Folkjokeopus, before moving on to Harvest Records. Liberty was quick to release the debut LP by Canned Heat in the UK after Peel had played it on the Perfumed Garden in summer 1967, whereas other albums he featured on the show had to wait months before British record companies decided to issue them.

Canned Heat had a surprise hit single with "On The Road Again", a track from their second album, in summer 1968. Perhaps inspired by this, at the end of that year Liberty issued a 1952 track by Papa Lightfoot, "Wine, Women, Whisky", as a single, after Peel had enthused over it on air and played it several times on Top Gear and Night Ride. It wasn't a hit, but was drawn from one of the reissue albums of blues and rock and roll which Liberty were releasing at the time, very much to Peel's tastes. The label also recorded some British blues (Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, Jo-Ann Kelly) and folk (Famous Jug Band, Wizz Jones) artists during the UK blues boom and released Creedence Clearwater Revival's records in the UK, under licence from Fantasy Records, the band's US label which otherwise specialised in jazz. In the late 1960s Liberty also released a number of LPs by Ravi Shankar in the UK.

Under Lauder, United Artists was able to respond quickly to new trends in the 1970s, especially those reflected in Peel's shows. In the early part of the decade, the label signed a number of London-based bands who were trying to establish a San Francisco-like "community" reputation (Hawkwind, Help Yourself, Cochise, Brinsley Schwarz) as well as some hippyish progressive bands (High Tide, Man). The label's Germany office signed some of the bands which interested Peel (in the genre soon identified as Krautrock) and Can and Amon Düül II did sessions for Top Gear. A couple of years later, the label's signings signalled the arrival of pub rock (Dr Feelgood, Ducks Deluxe) and subsequently punk (Stranglers, Buzzcocks, 999).

Meanwhile, away from UA's current roster, Peel was vocal in his praise for the label's 'Mersey Beat 1962-64' compilation (1974) and surprise Laurel And Hardy hit single 'Trail Of The Lonesome Pine' (1975) (originally included on a UA compilation LP of their work, where he may have discovered it). He also played other tracks and extracts from the same era from United Artists soundtrack compilations such as The Golden Age Of The Hollywood Stars (1977) and The Golden Age of the Hollywood Musical (1972). JP showed a particular liking for a track from the latter album, Winifred Shaw & Dick Powell performing "Lullaby Of Broadway" from the soundtrack of the film Gold Diggers Of 1935, playing it at least six times according to available playlists.

After Lauder's departure in 1977, the DJ appeared to take less interest in the label, which was bought by EMI and reverted to the Liberty name, used mainly for reissues of catalogue material.

Festive Fifty[]

(Festive Fifty entries released by Liberty or United Artists)

Sessions[]

(Peel sessions by artists released by Liberty and/or United Artists. Includes sessions when artists were on neither label.)

Compilations[]

(Peel plays of various artist (v/a) compilations released by Liberty or United Artists, as indicated. Show playlists on this site suggest the the DJ did not play tracks from the Gutbucket Liberty label sampler or the follow-up Son Of Gutbucket (both 1969), or the UA sampler All Good Clean Fun (1971). Peel is known to have played Jonathan Richman tracks from the Beserkley Chartbusters Vol. 1 collection, initially released in the UK by UA, although his copy may have been a US import on the Beserkley label).

(LP - Here We Go 'Round The Mulberry Bush (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)) United Artists

(LP - Revolution - Original Motion Picture Score) United Artists

(LP - Rural Blues Vol 2: Saturday Night Function) Liberty

(LP - Gutbucket (An Underworld Eruption)) Liberty LBX/3

(LP - I Asked For Water, She Gave Me ... Gasoline) Liberty LBS 83252

(LP - From The Bayou - Authentic Cajun Music Of Louisiana) Liberty

(LP - Greasy Truckers Party) United Artists

(2xLP - The Many Sides Of Rock'n'Roll) United Artists

(2xLP - The Many Sides Of Rock'n'Roll Volume II) United Artists

(2xLP – Mersey Beat 1962-1964) United Artists

(2xLP - The Beat Merchants - British Beat Groups 1963-1964

(LP - Street Music - No Heroes No Legends) United Artists (Japan)

(LP - Aladdin Magic) United Artists

(LP - Imperial Rockabillies - Volume Three) United Artists

(LP - The Golden Age Of The Hollywood Musical) United Artists

See Also[]

Links[]

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