Silvertone Records (Selfridges)

Silvertone Records was a short-lived British department store record label, which was one of the house labels of Selfridges in the 1930s.[1]

History

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After 1935[2] Silvertone Records issued 8-inch discs made by British Homophone Co. Ltd. for sale in Selfridges department stores using masters from their Plaza label.[citation needed] While the discs were only 8 inches in diameter, as the grooves were close, it had a long playing time equivalent to standard records.[3] The quality of Plaza recordings was considered good.[2] British Homophone discontinued production of its own records in April 1935,[4] and was sold jointly to EMI and Decca Records in May 1935,[5] but continued to press discs for other companies.[6] Silvertone releases were selected from the Plaza catalogue by Britain's first disc jockey Christopher Stone.[7][8] To keep production costs lower, public domain works were recorded,[2] and artists contracted to other labels were given pseudonyms on Silvertone releases.

Discography

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The records had a catalogue number series starting at S-1, but the series was fairly short-lived. Only three releases have been discovered.[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Frank W. Hoffmann, "Department Store Labels", Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Vol. 1, 2nd ed. (CRC Press, 2004):287.
  2. ^ a b c "Plaza", "LabelindexN-P". Archived from the original on 2010-09-14. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
  3. ^ "Plaza (Label)", Hoffman, 844.
  4. ^ Frank W. Hoffmann, "British Homophone Co., Ltd.", in Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Vol. 1. 2nd ed. (CRC Press, 2004):131; "Plaza", "LabelindexN-P". Archived from the original on 2010-09-14. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
  5. ^ "Decca Record Co., Ltd.", Hoffman 278.
  6. ^ Frank W. Hoffmann, "British Homophone Co., Ltd.", in Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Vol. 1. 2nd ed. (CRC Press, 2004):131
  7. ^ "LabelindexQ-S". Archived from the original on 2010-07-21. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
  8. ^ "Archived copy". mgthomas.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 September 2002. Retrieved 6 June 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ a b c d "Label Index: Q-S", "LabelindexQ-S". Archived from the original on 2010-07-21. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
  10. ^ "British Big Bands Database - 'L' Band Listings". nfo.net. Archived from the original on 23 September 2003. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  11. ^ a b c "Plaza". Mgthomas.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2011-03-16.
  12. ^ "Tolchard Evans (1901–78)". Fredgodfreysongs.ca. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
  13. ^ "Mrs. Mills And Geoff Love - Glad With Love (Vinyl, LP, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2011-03-16.
  14. ^ "jabw_vintage/78rpm nat star". Jabw.demon.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-05-02.

Further reading

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  • Taylor, Don. The English 78 Picture Book: Vintage Sound Recordings From the 1890s to the 1970s. Artemis, 1999.