Following on from Derek's topic how about records labels with really strange basis for their names - we all know about Shrine and JFK - how about Denise Lasalle's local label for 'A Love Reputation'? Tarpon... A legendary 'big game' fishing target which is a kind of giant Herring (up to 200lbs).

Dx

As mentioned in the earlier thread, lots of backward names (Revilot, Nosnibor, etc) which must have initially seemed strange to the folk buying 45's on those labels.

What were label names such as Tank (Black Nasty), Boola Boola, Delvaliant, Toi, Saluda, U-nek, Besche (a person's name ?), Cloverlay all about ? ....  AND ... Brown Duck always struck me as a stupid name for a label. 

Lonely could seem a bit of a strange name for a record label but would be a good outlet for 'wrist-slashing' deep soul outings I suppose. 

Others were derived from place names (towns, states) of course -- Penntowne, Sounds of Memphis, Memphis, Hub City, Map City (I presume), Steel Town,  Windy C,   Philly Groove, DC International, CapCity, Rubbertown, etc. 

PLUS .... Knockout should ideally have been the label that Joe Frazier, Cassius Clay, Ernie Terrell & the like were on.

Tac-Ful (e.g. "Full of Tackles) was founded by US Footballers, Roosevelt Grier and a couple of his New York Giant or L.A. Rams teammates.  Jim Brown started a label in Cleveland.

2 minutes ago, RobbK said:

Tac-Ful (e.g. "Full of Tackles) was founded by US Footballers, Roosevelt Grier and a couple of his New York Giant or L.A. Rams teammates.  Jim Brown started a label in Cleveland.

Jim Brown's label (via Way Out) was Big Jim.

I always thought "The Label" was a strange name for a label (Singing Swinging Counts)

Any ideas on this one?

1 hour ago, Mick Holdsworth said:

I always thought "The Label" was a strange name for a label (Singing Swinging Counts)

Yes it's as if they just couldn't be bothered to come up with a name although they could have meant it in a premier sense.

There's also the Crystal Clear record I still love you released on A Major Label.

Not so much the name, but the tag line – "Our bombs are direct hits" – is pretty bizarre and in rather poor taste considering the lasting damage the attack on Pearl Harbour did to the national psyche of the US.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Steve Lane said:

Any ideas on this one?

That is a bit strange isn't it? So I thought I would listen to it on YouTube just to see what it was like  - but the copy shown there is on 'Whirlin disc'.... do you think they thought better of it?

58 minutes ago, Rich B said:

That is a bit strange isn't it? So I thought I would listen to it on YouTube just to see what it was like  - but the copy shown there is on 'Whirlin disc'.... do you think they thought better of it?

No it's right as they also issued  45's by  The Infatuators  and Wayne Kelly & the El Caminos

I've always wondered what the owners were thinking when they chose this name-

4 hours ago, Steve Lane said:

I could never get my mouth 'round that word......

Dx

Took me a while before I figured this one out (smile).

Thought to be out of Washington DC sometime 1971. Flip side is decent sweet soul.

Dx

 

One that really confused me in the old days was Phil L.A. Of Soul. I used to pronounce it Phil EL AY, and assumed (quite wrongly) that it sort of meant from Philadalphia to the coast, covering everything in between.

If anyone did pronounce it "fillet of sole", it must have gone over my head, as did the logo with the fishbone

Cheers
Mick

That one has always bothered me too!

7 hours ago, Steve Lane said:

Any ideas on this one?

I seem to remember this was some kind of US bootleg label.

I don't think it was a bootleg label. If you look at the label, this version of "Fine Fine Frame" is "Acapella" where the original version wasn't.

I don't know if they remade the original versions or released Acapella versions of the originals.

 

I believe that they released A Capella versions of the originals.

2 hours ago, the yank said:

I don't think it was a bootleg label. If you look at the label, this version of "Fine Fine Frame" is "Acapella" where the original version wasn't.

I don't know if they remade the original versions or released Acapella versions of the originals.

 

Perhaps ' Groovin' with Mr. BLOW' should have come out on this label ?!?

https://www.45cat.com/record/44s

Willie McCovey's label, named for his nickname as a long-armed San Francisco Giants first baseman.

From hardballtimes.com: At 6-foot-4, McCovey was a very tall first baseman, particularly for his era. He also had exceptionally long arms, with the reach of a heavyweight boxer. When McCovey stretched to catch balls at first, he reduced the length of his infielders’ throws by six or seven feet. He also became adept at stretching both to his left and his right, allowing him to corral throws that might have been errant with another first baseman. Given his skill in reaching such throws, the nickname of “Stretch” became an obvious and fitting moniker.