Manticore Records is a record label launched by the Manticore production company in 1973. These companies were owned by the members of the progressive rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer (commonly known as ELP.) and their manager, Stewart Young. The

manticore The manticore or mantichore (Latin: ''mantichōra''; reconstructed Old Persian: ; Modern fa, مردخوار ) is a Persian legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx that proliferated in western European medieval art as well. It has the ...

was first featured in the artwork for the second ELP album '' Tarkus'', as one of the eponymous creature's adversaries (the only one able to inflict damage on the Tarkus creature, according to the sleeve illustrations). Manticore was initially the name given to ELP's music publishers, credits first appearing in the credits on ''Trilogy'', released on Island in 1972. Initially, the label was manufactured and distributed by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

, distributed by Island/EMI, but ELP were unhappy with Island's overseas licensing of their previous records via Cotillion, and looked to RCA for interim distribution before choosing WEA for a manufacturing and distribution deal. The label was then distributed by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

(part of WEA) in the UK. (In the US, Atlantic Records distributed the label from 1973 until 1975.

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...

took over US distribution until the label shut down in 1977.) Although inactive in the UK for new releases (ELP had signed to Atlantic in 1977), the label remained active for back catalogue sales. Although Manticore was inactive for many years most of its recordings have been re-issued by other labels. The label was relaunched in 2017 under authorization from the

Greg Lake Gregory Stuart Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP). Born and b ...

estate, stating one of his last wishes was to bring the label back. ''Live in Piacenza'' is the first release on the new incarnation of Manticore, released on 7 December 2017. The second was the last album Greg Lake produced before his death, ''Moonchild'' by Annie Barbazza and Max Repetti. The third one was John Greaves', ''Life Size''. One artist considered by the label, but subsequently not signed, was Steve Swindells, whose first LP,
Messages
', was released instead by RCA. Swindells later joined Pilot, and the Hawklords.

Artists

* Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Italian prog-rock band, also known as Banco * Keith Christmas *

Keith Emerson Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 1944 – 11 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He became ...

, solo * Emerson, Lake & Palmer, British prog-rock supergroup, also known as ELP * John Greaves, British bass guitarist, a member of Henry Cow * Hanson, British rock band (not the US pop trio) *

, solo *

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

* Premiata Forneria Marconi, also known as PFM *

Pete Sinfield Peter John Sinfield (born 27 December 1943) is an English poet and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder and former lyricist of King Crimson, whose debut album '' In the Court of the Crimson King'' is considered one of the first and m ...

Stray Dog A free-ranging dog is a dog that is not confined to a yard or house. Free-ranging dogs include street dogs, village dogs, stray dogs, feral dogs, etc., and may be owned or unowned. The global dog population is estimated to be 900 million, of w ...

References

External links

Manticore official website

British record labels Vanity record labels Progressive rock record labels {{UK-record-label-stub

Artists

See also

References

External links