F-Beat Records
F-Beat Records was a record label set up by Jake Riviera in 1979. The label's first release, "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down" by Elvis Costello & the Attractions, reached number 4 in the UK charts, the highest singles chart position the label attained.[1] The first album released on the label was Costello's Get Happy!!, which peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart.[2]
As well as releases from Costello, whom Riviera managed, he sought bands for the label via an advert in NME, one of the bands who applied (and were given an audition - ultimately unsuccessfully) being Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke's band White Dice.[3] The roster was built up to include Nick Lowe, Carlene Carter, The Blasters, Blanket of Secrecy and Clive Langer and the Boxes.
F-Beat was distributed in the mid-1980s by RCA Records.[4]
Costello notched up another fifteen hits for F-Beat before leaving for Warner Bros. Records.
The original F-Beat label was closed down in 1986, but it was briefly reactivated in the early 1990s with a new roster including Blab Happy, Nicola Hitchcock, Phil Burdett and The Gutter Brothers.
The F-Beat label had associated offshoot labels in Demon Records and Edsel Records, the latter concentrating on reissues.[5] F-Beat and its sub-labels were acquired by MCI Records and then in 1998 by Kingfisher plc for £2 million.[6]
Roster
- Elvis Costello & the Attractions
- Nick Lowe
- Rockpile
- Steve Nieve
- Clive Langer & the Boxes
- The Coward Brothers
- The Costello Show
- Carlene Carter
- Blanket of Secrecy
- The Blasters
- Blab Happy
- Nicola Hitchcock
- The Gutter Brothers
See also
References
- ↑ Freeth, Nick (2002) The Guitar & rock equipment, Salamander, ISBN 978-1840653953, p. 230
- ↑ Buckley, Peter (ed.) (2003) The Rough Guide to Rock, Rough Guides, ISBN 978-1843531050, p. 231
- ↑ Rogan, Johnny (1993) Morrissey and Marr: The Severed Alliance, Omnibus Press, ISBN 978-0711930001, p. 124
- ↑ Ellis, Lucy & Sutherland, Bryony (2002) Annie Lennox: the Biography, Omnibus Press, ISBN 978-0711991927, p. 136
- ↑ Hoffman, F (2004) Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415938358, pp. 285-6
- ↑ Solomons, Mark & Ferguson, Tom (1998) "British Retailer Kingfisher Picks Up Demon Label", Billboard, 18 April 1998, pp. 6, 85. Retrieved 17 November 2012