Sundazed Records

Last updated
Sundazed Music
Sundazed Records logo.svg
Founded1989 (1989)
FounderBob Irwin, Mary Irwin
Distributor(s) Redeye Distribution [1]
Genre Garage rock, surf music, psychedelic rock
Country of originU.S.
Location Hillsborough, North Carolina
Official website www.sundazed.com

Sundazed Music is an American independent record label founded in Coxsackie, New York and currently based in Hillsborough, North Carolina. It was initially known as a '60s-centric surf, garage, and psych label. Over time with the additions of imprints such as Modern Harmonic, Americana Anthropology, Beat Rocket, Dot Matrix Recordings, and Liberty Spike Recordings, their reach spans most genres and many decades while still firmly rooted as an archival label. [2]

Contents

History

Label founders Bob Irwin and his wife Mary started the label in 1989. Irwin's skill at restoring old vinyl records for the (then new) CD format attracted the attention of major labels, who increasingly solicited him to help them re-issue material from their back catalogs. He helped Sony Music release their archival Legacy Records label. Later, his restoration work included early material by the likes of Bob Dylan, Nancy Sinatra, and the Byrds. Irwin also worked at Arista for a time.

The first Sundazed releases were The Great Lost Knickerbockers Album! by The Knickerbockers and Western Union by the Five Americans, and reflected Irwin's personal preference for garage rock and surf music. Later releases included the albums of the Turtles, the Challengers, Liverpool Five, and Jan and Dean's long-lost album Save for a Rainy Day. The company reissued the complete catalog of LPs by New Orleans funk pioneers the Meters on vinyl and CD. The label later ventured into country music, including extensive reissues of Capitol Records albums by Buck Owens and other acts including Jimmy Bryant. Sundazed also issued vintage jazz guitar albums through their Euphoria label.

Reissues

While Sundazed does license many of their releases from labels including Universal Music Group, Sony, and Rhino, they do a large amount of licenses direct with the artists or the artists' estates.

Additionally, Sundazed Music has purchased catalogs over the years. These catalog purchases include the 1995 purchase of the 1966 Jan And Dean concept album Save For A Rainy Day from Dean Torrence, the 1996 purchase of The Golden State Recorders studio masters, the 2000 acquisition of both the Edison International label (home to The Music Emporium and the recordings of Abnak Records, the home to The Five Americans, Bobby Patterson and Jon and Robin. In 2002, they purchased the Best Records, United International, Cedwicke and Wickwire catalogs, including the recordings of The Pyramids and The Daisy Chain. In 2019, they purchased Salem, Oregon-based Garland Records. In 2021, they acquired the exclusive rights to the Shiloh Records ( Safe At Home by The International Submarine Band, The Kentucky Colonels) catalog. In 2021, they also purchased an extensive tape archive of the Kay Bank Studios to strengthen their partnership with The Trashmen.

In 1995, Sundazed released a 20-track CD by The Pyramids, Penetration! The Best of the Pyramids. Bob Irwin worked closely with John Hodge, the manager and producer for the Pyramids. Hodge owned the masters for the original recordings, which included the unissued music. Hodge also had a strong love of the music. Irwin was also planning a second release of their work. It was to be a "Lost Pyramids" album of unreleased material. [3] He also did the same for The Revels, the Impact Records recording artists who had a hit with "Church Key." [4] [3] [5] Working with The Revels' original music director Tony Hilder and band members Sam Eddy and Norman Knowles, he had their work which was recorded years before re-released. [3]

They reissued Oar by Skip Spence in 1999. [6]

Sundazed reissued the Columbia Moby Grape albums, but were immediately forced to withdraw the first three albums due to legal disputes involving the band's ex-manager Matthew Katz. [7] In 2009, they signed Morly Grey to reissue The Only Truth ,[ citation needed ] which came out on Sundazed SC 11216. [8] [9] Also that year, they released the long-lost Columbia sessions by the group Love. [10]

On June 24, 2018, it was reported that Sundazed Records would be reissuing Mike Nesmith's recordings with First National Band, originally released after The Monkees' television series was canceled in 1969. The band's three albums, Magnetic South , Loose Salute , and Nevada Fighter , were originally recorded and released on RCA Victor between 1970 and 1971 featuring Nesmith on guitar and vocals, with John Ware on drums, John London on bass, and O.J. "Red" Rhodes on pedal steel guitar. [11]

New releases

In 2015, after a conversation with former Kentucky Headhunters guitarist Greg Martin about "Groovy Grubworm", an old instrumental record of which both were fond, Bob Irwin created subsidiary label Sundazed RFD, a label exclusively for instrumental 45 RPM recordings. "Groovy Grubworm" by Harlow Wilcox And The Oakies, "Shark Country" by the SloBeats (a band composed of Kenny Vaughan, Dave Roe and Maxwell Schauf) and "The Lonely Bull" by The East Nashville Teens were among the first records to be released by the new label. [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moby Grape</span> American rock group

Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966. Part of San Francisco's psychedelic music scene, the band merged elements of rock and roll, folk music, pop, blues, and country. They were one of the few groups of which all members were lead vocalists and songwriters. The group's first incarnation ended in 1969, in part due to members Bob Mosley and Skip Spence suffering from mental illness. The group has reformed many times afterwards and continues to perform occasionally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shelter Records</span> American record label

Shelter Records was a U.S. record label started by Leon Russell and Denny Cordell that operated from 1969 to 1981. The company established offices in both Los Angeles and Tulsa, Russell's home town, where the label sought to promote a "workshop atmosphere" with a recording studio in a converted church, adjoining houses for artists working at the studio, and other facilities. The Tulsa recording studio was housed in the historic The Church Studio. Russell remained with Shelter until 1976, when he and Cordell fell out. In a settlement, Cordell then became sole owner of the label, while Russell left to start his own label, Paradise Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Knickerbockers</span> American rock band

The Knickerbockers were an American garage rock band formed in Bergenfield, New Jersey in 1964. They released the 1965 hit "Lies", which was known for its resemblance to the Beatles. The band was formed in 1964 by the brothers Beau Charles and John Charles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Brogues</span> American garage rock band

The Brogues were an American garage rock band formed in Merced, California, in 1964. Much of the group's brief recording career was marked by distorted-guitar melodies and R&B-influenced vocals. They released two regionally successful singles in their brief existence, most notably the Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz-penned "I Ain't No Miracle Worker", which is now considered a classic of the garage rock genre. The song has also appeared on several compilation albums and has been covered by other music artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wind-up Records</span> US record label

Wind-up Records, LLC was an American independent record label founded by Alan and Diana Meltzer in 1997. It was based in New York City and was distributed by BMG Distribution. Wind-up's best-selling artists worldwide were Creed and Evanescence.

<i>Oar</i> (album) 1969 studio album by Alexander Spence

Oar is the only studio album by American singer-songwriter Alexander "Skip" Spence, released on May 19, 1969, by Columbia Records. It was recorded over seven days in December 1968 in Nashville, and features Spence on all of the instruments.

<i>Feelin Groovy</i> 1967 studio album by Harpers Bizarre

Feelin' Groovy is the debut album by the American sunshine pop band Harpers Bizarre, released in 1967.

<i>East-West</i> (The Butterfield Blues Band album) 1966 studio album by the Butterfield Blues Band

East-West is the second album by the American blues rock band the Butterfield Blues Band, released in 1966 on the Elektra label. It peaked at #65 on the Billboard pop albums chart, and is regarded as highly influential by rock and blues music historians.

The Ugly Ducklings were a Canadian five-piece garage rock group based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, most notable during the mid-1960s.

<i>Volume 3: A Childs Guide to Good and Evil</i> 1968 studio album by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

Volume 3: A Child's Guide to Good and Evil is the fourth album by the American psychedelic rock band The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (WCPAEB), and was released on Reprise Records in May 1968. By the time the group commenced recording Volume 3, guitarist Danny Harris had excused himself from the WCPAEB, reducing their numbers to a trio. As with the WCPAEB's earlier work, the album saw the band continue to blend psychedelic influences and complex studio techniques, and was marked by a bizarre fusion of innocence and malice in the band's lyrics. Volume 3 featured the WCPAEB's most ambitious music to date, and the striking cover art of John Van Hamersveld, yet it failed to sell in sufficient copies to chart nationally. In more recent times, the album has been considered the band's most accomplished work and a masterpiece of the psychedelic genre.

The Pyramids were a surf group from Long Beach, California, United States, who formed in 1961. In early 1964, they made the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 with their instrumental "Penetration". It proved to be the final major instrumental surf hit.

Morly Grey is an American psychedelic rock band that formed in the late 1960s.

Speed Label is the record company of Morly Grey. Started in 1969 by Paul Cassidy, Randy Byron and Mark and Tim Roller. Their first release was "Sleepy Softness" and "Yas" on 45rpm. In 1972 they released their first album but later changed to "The Only Truth" on the (unpublished) Starshine Records. After thirty years of modest success through bootlegs of the album by various labels in several countries, Morly Grey resurrected the original Speed Label in 2005. In 2009 the label negotiated with Sundazed Records to remaster and reissue The Only Truth with previously unreleased bonus tracks.

The Revels were an American rock band from California, associated with the 1960s surf music craze. They had hits with "Six Pak", and "Church Key" which was their most famous single.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windham Hill Records</span> New-age music record label

Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Original Surfaris</span> American band

The (Original) Surfaris were a surf music band from California. They were active from the early to mid 1960s and had singles released on various labels which included Del-Fi, Northridge, and Reprise.

Impact Records was a California based record label run by CT Records creator, Tony Hilder in the 1960s. This label released some surf records by The Crestwoods, Dave Myers and The Surftones, The Ramblers and The New Breed and The Revels. The Revels were known for the hits "Comanche" and "Intoxica".

<i>The Guitar Genius</i> 1963 studio album by Chet Atkins

The Guitar Genius is the twenty-second studio album by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 1963. It was reissued on CD in 1999. It was also reissued on CD along with And His Guitar in 2004. Five vocal tracks by Atkins' brother Jim were from an unreleased 1958 album to be titled My Brother Sings. That album was later released by Sundazed Records with the original RCA Victor cover art and label in 2015.

<i>Surfs Up! At Banzai Pipeline</i> 1963 compilation album by Various

Surf's Up! At Banzai Pipeline was a 1963 various artist record album compilation that featured recordings by The Surfaris, Dave Myers and The Surftones, The Soul Kings, Coast Continentals and Jim Waller & The Deltas. It has been re-released a couple of times since.

Norman Knowles is a surf musician, band leader, and record producer from California. He is the composer of several classic surf songs, including as co-writer of the surf classic "Church Key", which was a hit for The Revels. He also has been involved in band management, managing another surf band, The Sentinals. Knowles has made a significant contribution to the surf genre.

References

  1. Redeye Worldwide - Redeye WORLDWIDE, All Labels (Retrieved 2018-06-30)
  2. Discogs - Sundazed Music
  3. 1 2 3 Billboard, August 10, 1995 - Page 87 REVERSE TAKEOFF: SURF'N'ROD MUSIC REVIVALS INTENSIFIES
  4. Real Life Rock: The Complete Top Ten Columns, 1986-2014, By Greil Marcus - Page 403
  5. Becoming the Beach Boys, 1961-1963, By James B. Murphy - Page 260
  6. Observer.com, July 19, 1999 - Bonus Tracks Can't Sink Oar – Beck, Tom Waits Sing in Praise By David Bowman
  7. NPR, December 21, 2007 - MUSIC INTERVIEWS, Moby Grape Just Can't Catch a Break, Legal Woes
  8. Internet Archive Wayback Machine - MORLY GREY®, "THE ONLY TRUTH"©
  9. Record Collector , Issue #385 - Morley Grey - The Only Truth, Unholy Rollers - Reviewed by Marco Rossi
  10. The Second Disc, August 7, 2013 - NEWS, From “Love Lost” to “Found Love”: New Digital Compilation Showcases Arthur Lee's Rarities - Mike Duquette
  11. Ultimate Classic Rock, January 24, 2018 - Michael Nesmith's First National Band Albums Set for Reissue By Dave Swanson
  12. Fox, Randy (25 June 2015). "Instrumental music label Sundazed RFD brings the beat of Music City". Nashvillescene.com. Retrieved 29 August 2023.