- Radar Records
Radar Records was the
record label formed byJake Riviera in late 1977 after he had previously foundedStiff Records . The label's first products were released in early1978 . Radar's co-founder was British music executiveAndrew Lauder , who had previously been head of A&R at the UK divisions ofLiberty Records andUnited Artists Records .Radar was distributed in most of the world by WEA Records (now known as
Warner Music Group ). In theUSA , three Radar artists (The Inmates ,Bram Tchaikovsky and Yachts) were signed toPolydor Records through a licensing deal.Nick Lowe released both the first Radar single ("(I Love the Sound of) Breaking Glass)"/"They Called It Rock", ADA 1) and its first album "(Jesus of Cool ", RAD 1). Lowe had previously worked withStiff Records , as had Yachts and Radar's major act,Elvis Costello .Other prominent Radar acts included
La Düsseldorf ,The Pop Group ,Loudon Wainwright III , Pere Ubu, Clive Langer and the Boxes, and Metal Urbain. Several of Radar's early releases (includingIggy Pop and James Williamson's "Kill City ", National Lampoon's "That's Not Funny, That's Sick!",The Good Rats ' "From Rats to Riches" andPezband 's "Laughing in the Dark") were licensed from independent American labels. Radar also released new recordings by original 1950sRockabilly singersRay Campi andMac Curtis through an arrangement withRollin Rock Records.Some Radar releases were reissues of
Garage rock andPsychedelic rock bands from the 1960s. Through its WEA connections, Radar was able to rerelease recordings by The Shadows of Knight andThe Electric Prunes . Radar also licensed theInternational Artists catalog, allowing them to reissue albums by The 13th Floor Elevators and The Red Crayola. Radar also released new recordings by The Red Crayola's late 1970s lineup.The original Radar label put out its last release in
1981 , but it was revived with a new roster between1995 and1998 . Notable bands signed to the second version of Radar included Midget, Prolapse, and Pure Morning, a precursor of Clinic.See also
*
List of record labels External links
* [http://www.get-happy-records.com/labels-disco/labelsR.htm Discography]
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