Custom Records

Last updated
Custom Records
Parent company Modern Records
Statusdefunct
GenreVarious
Country of originUnited States
LocationLos Angeles California

Custom Records was a budget record label owned by the Bihari Brothers.

Contents

Background

The label was a subsidiary of Modern Records. [1] It was formed some time prior to March 1965 and according to an article in Billboard , it was a new label that already had 31 LPs in its catalogue. The records were to sell at $1.98 as opposed to the other budget LPs that retailed at 98 cents and 99 cents. [2] Saul Bihari recognized the value of the rack jobber for these types of records. [3]

Some of the records were re-releases of previous Crown releases and the covers often featured a female in some pose designed to attract attention. [4]

Covering artists

One artist that was covered by Custom was Hank Williams. The album Your Cheatin' Heart and other Hank Williams Favorites Custom CM 1023, CS 1023 featured a singer called Johnny Williams who was really Curley Williams. [5] Later the It's Happening album by The Dave Clark Five And The Playbacks was released on Custom CS 1098. The album only had 2 tracks by the Dave Clark Five with The Playbacks covering the remainder. It was also released on Crown CST 473 in 1964. [6] [7] The Playbacks appear to be just studio musicians. [8]

Exploiting the Psychedelic trend

In 1967, the label released More Psychedellic Guitars CS-1096 (with 2 LLs), an album that featured the tracks "Another Trip", "Really Got It Bad", "Out Of Touch", The Letdown" "Psychedelic A-Go-Go" Flower Power", "Flower Power/Can You Dig It", "Sit- In", "Lost In Space", and "Psychedelic Venture". [1] [9] This like the earlier release Psychedellic Guitars CM 2078, [10] appears to be reissues of earlier Jerry Cole albums with the titles changed. This music however wasn't quite Psychedelic. [11] One Exploito album that was a bit more in the psych mode was Are You Experienced by T. Swift & The Electric Bag. [12] [13] This also featured Cole. [14]

Later years

In 1978, the company appeared to be still in operation with a large section of the page in the January 7 issue of Billboard magazine, offering congratulations to fellow Los Angeles label Laff Records for their ten-year anniversary. [15]

List of artists

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References

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