| Zoo Records | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Coca-Cola Communications |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Founder | David Balfe Bill Drummond |
| Distributor(s) | ABC-Paramount Records |
| Genre | Alternative rock |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Location | Liverpool, England |
Zoo Records was a British independent record label formed by Bill Drummond and David Balfe in 1978. Zoo was launched in order to release the work of the perennially struggling Liverpool band, Big in Japan (the label's first release being the From Y To Z and Never Again EP). The label also released two singles by Lori and the Chameleons, Balfe and Drummond's band formed after Big in Japan folded.[1] Zoo Records went on to release early work from The Teardrop Explodes and Echo & the Bunnymen. The label also released the first single "Iggy Pop's Jacket" by the Liverpool band Those Naughty Lumps.
Only two albums were released on the label: a Scott Walker compilation put together by Julian Cope, called Fire Escape in the Sky, and a label compilation called To the Shores of Lake Placid, which was re-released in 1995 with extra tracks and called The Zoo Uncaged 1978-1982. Intriguingly, Fire Escape in the Sky had the catalogue number Zoo Two, while To the Shores of Lake Placid had Zoo Four. Zoo One was scheduled to be the Teardrop Explodes album Kilimanjaro (later released on Mercury Records) while Zoo Three was to be the same band's album Wilder (or perhaps their 'never released' album Everyone Wants to Shag the Teardrop Explodes).
Contents |
| To the Shores of Lake Placid | |
|---|---|
| Compilation album by Various | |
| Released | 1982 |
| Recorded | 1967 - 1970 |
| Genre | Post-Punk |
| Label | Zoo Records (ZOO 4) |
To the Shores of Lake Placid was released in 1982 and was compiled by Bill Drummond and Mick Houghton.
| Side one | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist | Length | |||||
| 1. | "Society For Cutting Up Men" | Big In Japan | Big in Japan | ||||||
| 2. | "Iggy Pop's Jacket" | Peter Hart | Those Naughty Lumps | ||||||
| 3. | "When I Dream" | Julian Cope | The Teardrop Explodes | ||||||
| 4. | "The Pictures on My Wall" | Leslie Pattinson, Ian McCulloch, Will Sergeant | Echo & the Bunnymen | ||||||
| 5. | "Read It In Books" | Julian Cope, Ian McCulloch | Echo & the Bunnymen | ||||||
| 6. | "Lonely Spy" | David Balfe, Bill Drummond | Lori and the Chameleons | ||||||
| 7. | "The Winds" | David Balfe | The Turquoise Swimming Pools | ||||||
| Side two | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist | Length | |||||
| 8. | "Kwalo Klobinsky's Lullaby" | Milk, Kevin Stapleton | Whopper | ||||||
| 9. | "A Suicide" | Alan Gill, Dave Hughes | Dalek (I Love You) | ||||||
| 10. | "Burst Balloons" | David Balfe | The Turquoise Swimming Pools | ||||||
| 11. | "Camera, Camera" | Julian Cope, Gary Dwyer, Mick Finkler, Paul Simpson | The Teardrop Explodes | ||||||
| 12. | "Suicide A Go Go" | Big In Japan | Big In Japan | ||||||
| 13. | "Villiers Terrace" | Leslie Pattinson, Ian McCulloch, Will Sergeant | Echo & the Bunnymen | ||||||
| 14. | "Take A Chance" | Julian Cope, Gary Dwyer, Mick Finkler | The Teardrop Explodes | ||||||
Lori and the Chameleons was a short-lived New Wave band that existed during 1979 and 1980. Formed in Liverpool by ex-Big In Japan's Bill Drummond (guitar) and David Balfe (bass, keyboards), and the singer Lori Lartey, they combined synthpop, and post-punk styles in their songs.
Lori and the Chameleons only released two singles in 1979 and 1980. The first, "Touch", was written over the course of a year by Balfe and Drummond, based on Lartey's holiday in Tokyo two years earlier.[2] "Touch" spent one week in the UK Singles Chart in December 1979, at #70.[3] Lartey went to art school, while Balfe and Drummond began to work with The Teardrop Explodes, as keyboardist and manager, respectively.