Phydeaux Records

Phydeaux Records was a record label established by Larry Norman in 1980 to distribute his own music. It was one of the very first independent Christian record labels to distribute through mail order.

History

After the demise of his Solid Rock Records, and "two more years of musical censorship and unreleased albums with Word, Phydeaux Records (as in 'Fido') was stated in 1980 by Larry Norman and his father, Joe Hendrex Norman, who had just retired from teaching after a heart attack.[1] Norman joked that "if Christian music was going to the dogs, then he wanted to remain on the cutting edge."[2] Phydeaux was started in order to compete with a market of bootlegs of his own music.[3] Norman reported that some his vinyl albums had sold for up to $400(USD) among collectors.[4] According to Norman's liner notes,

"Phydeaux was not a counter-measure to, but a step-in-sync with, all the bootleg tapes of his material that had been circulating. In response to illegal bootlegs like Leyton's (sic) Live At The Mac,[5] Larry decided if collectors wanted "bad-sounding" live recordings he would pick some rarities from his own archives. He chose Roll Away The Stone - And Listen To The Rock[6] and The Israel Tapes.[7] He had many better sounding live recordings but thought kids wanted something more rough for their bootleg collections. He also released several high quality studio compilations but was unwilling to release a "proper record" to the stores. He was standing as far away from the industry as possible and was also enjoying the distance. Basically, he was ignoring the American distributors who had for many years ignored him. Phydeaux helped distribute Street Level Records on behalf of Street Level Prod., Inc. to stores in Europe and America and also by direct mail. Through the mail he found that he could go directly to the people who well and truly understood music and his ministry.[8]

About 1992 Norman's father, Joe Hendrex Norman, retired and sold Phydeaux to the family of Bill Ayers, a friend of Joe Norman, who was previously employed to facilitate the distribution of both Phydeaux and Street Level Records.[9]

References and notes

  1. ^ Larry Norman, "The Germans", (18 June 2007).
  2. ^ "Larry Norman (Part 2)", http://www.onlyvisiting.com/larry/about/story2.html
  3. ^ http://www.meetjesushere.com/The_Israel_Tapes.htm; "VOG Interview 1995", http://dagsrule.com/stuff/larry/intvw95.html
  4. ^ Larry Norman: The Gospel Music Hall of Fame Biography, reproduced by KNET radio. "Later, even Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Black Francis of The Pixies nee Frank Black, the group U2, and Van Morrison have called themselves fans."
  5. ^ Live At The Mac was a famous bootleg of a concert at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon on August 18, 1979. See "The Solid Rock Newsletter" (1999), http://www.danielamos.net/srnews.html; and Robert Termorshuizen and Randy Layton, "Live At The Mac (1998)", http://www.meetjesushere.com/Live_At_The_Mac.htm
  6. ^ Robert Termorshuizen, "Roll Away The Stone (1980)", http://www.meetjesushere.com/Roll_Away_The_Stone.htm
  7. ^ Robert Termorshuizen, "The Israel Tapes (1980)", http://www.meetjesushere.com/The_Israel_Tapes.htm
  8. ^ "Larry Norman (Part 2)", http://www.onlyvisiting.com/larry/about/story2.html
  9. ^ Liner notes, Down Under (But Not Out) (1996 CD):5; "Larry Norman (Part 2)", http://www.onlyvisiting.com/larry/about/story2.html.
Larry Norman
Studio albums
Bootleg (1972)  · Home at Last (1989)  · Something New Under the Son (1981)  · Stranded in Babylon (1991)  · Streams of White Light (1977)  · Tourniquet (2001)  · Upon This Rock (1969)
Live albums
Trilogy
Record labels
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