Music for Pleasure (record label)

Music for Pleasure (or MFP) was a record label that issued budget-priced albums of popular and classical music, although the latter were marketed under the Classics for Pleasure (CFP) name. Albums were subsequently released under the MFP label in Australia (MFP-A) and South Africa.

The label was set up in 1965 as a joint venture between EMI, which provided the source material, and the publisher Paul Hamlyn, which handled distribution in so-called non-traditional outlets, such as W.H. Smith, the booksellers. The MFP catalogue consisted of both original material and reissues of existing EMI recordings, including records by "name" artists such as The Beach Boys, Blondie, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Animals and The Beatles.

Original material included studio recordings of successful West End musicals, the first of which were recorded secretly for EMI by the young independent producer David Gooch (later producing Alma Cogan and Vera Lynn) who was given carte blanche to select three productions: these were South Pacific, Carousel and The Sound of Music, the last of which sold 250,000 copies. These albums were also manufactured for the Regal label in Canada. Some years later, they were re-recorded by Norman Newell.

In 1995, the management team led by Roger Woodhouse was re-structured and Music For Pleasure became a sub label of the newly launched EMI Gold headed up by Paul Holland. The label continued to enjoy success with releases from classic artists such as Shirley Bassey, Nat King Cole, Cliff Richard, Dean Martin and even Classic Sing-A-Long Party CDs. In 1999 when Paul Holland left to join Granada, Steve Woof took over the running of the label which continues to be one of the major forces in low price music.

Fame was a sub-label of MFP in the '80s, which reissued albums from Queen, Paul McCartney, Marillion, and other successful EMI artists. The affiliated label Disky from Holland was also licenced to rerelease various EMI and King Biscuit Flower Hour releases in Europe.

The label has recently been revived by EMI as a budget reissue label in the UK. One release was of Frank Sinatra.

Contents

Public perception

Similar in business model to the American Pickwick Records it would often attract attention due to the sound-a-like records it produced.

Notable releases

See also

External links