Wednesday, September 5, 2012

1967 EPs from Avenue / Disc-A-Fran

The other day we received the two fantastic EPs pictured below, both of which were released through the Avenue organisation in 1967. These EPs form part of a series of 7-inch discs which number at least 160 and probably closer to 200, on the Avenue, Disc-A-Fran, and (later) Forest labels.

Avenue's first EP, AVE 39, emerged in early 1967, and pictured below is the follow-up. It's been suggested that the guy on the front is none other than a young Elton John, who was known to be on the fringes of the Avenue label at the time, but personally I doubt it's him.

Check out the pretty decent cover version of "Waterloo Sunset", which leads off side 2: 
Waterloo Sunset Avenue EP.mp3





 
The other EP was issued on the Disc-A-Fran label, which for some reason was used for EP numbers 43 to 49 in the sequence. This one is quite unusual, in that the cover features a 16-year-old singer named Ray Bentley, whom Avenue obviously thought was a star in the making. He's billed as lead vocalist on the track, "For Your Love" on side 2, although all the other songs are standard soundalikes. What ever became of him? Please get in touch if you know!





Thanks to Declan for the records.

* For more details of the Avenue/Disc-A-Fran EPs, check out the website, Bargain Records.

4 comments:

  1. Disc-A-Fran was the label name for a while , as explained on the sleeve of Ave 43: "....another great cover version to come from AVENUE RECORDINGS LIMITED who, as you know, have supplied you with first class material. However, we are now distributing all our material in this country through DISC-A-FRAN, 303 Ballards Lane, Finchley N12"

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  2. Interesting... I presume Disc-A-Fran must have been a seperate organisation to Avenue. In any case, the arrangement didn't last long - I wonder what the full story is?

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  3. The full story about Disc-A-Fran.Well it was interesting reading in the Sunday newspapers in 1968 it said Get Rich Quick Firm ceased trading.And the man in charge of the company vanishes.O happy days

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    1. That's interesting. I guess it explains why the partnership between Avenue and Disc-A-Fran was so brief. After EP number 49, the next few EPs had Disc-A-Fran in the credits on the back, even though the discs themselves had reverted to the Avenue label - then Disc-A-Fran was gone. Literally so, it seems!

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