Ready Records was a small but influential

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

based out of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

that signed a number of new wave and

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

bands from the early to mid-1980s.About Ready Records
/ref> Focusing primarily on local Toronto-area talent, it released 7" and 12" singles, LPs, and cassettes. Founded in 1979 by Angus MacKay and Andy Crosbie, the label existed between

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, when it folded. Its best selling group was the

Spoons Spoons may refer to: * Spoon, a utensil commonly used with soup * Spoons (card game), the card game of Donkey, but using spoons Film and TV *Spoons (TV series), ''Spoons'' (TV series), a 2005 UK comedy sketch show *Spoons, a minor character fro ...

, but other acts that had minor hits or received national attention included

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Te ...

Colin Linden Colin Kendall Linden (born 16 April 1960) is a Canadian guitarist, songwriter and record producer. Linden plays acoustic and electric guitar, specializing in slide guitar, country blues, and ragtime fingerpicking. He frequently collaborates with ...

, and Manteca. As part of their 20th Century Masters series, Universal released two collections entitled ''Best of Ready Vol. 1'' and ''Best of Ready Vol. 2''.

Ready Records discography

The following partial discography is based upon information taken from existing Ready Records releases. Where two numbers appear in brackets beside a listing, the first denotes the LP release number, and the second the cassette release number. *

Demics The Demics were a Canadian punk rock band that formed in 1977 in London, Ontario. Biography Originally formed in London, Ontario in 1977, the band consisted of vocalist Keith Whittaker, guitarist Rob Brent, bassist Iain Atkinson-Staines and dr ...

– ''Talk's Cheap'' 5-song EP (RR 001) * Steve Blimkie and the Reason - ''I Got This Feeling'' 7" single (BR 002) * Regulators - ''That's Right Nothing's Left'' 7" single (BR 003) * 102.1 Band - ''Working On The Radio'' 7" single (BR 004) *

- ''Test Patterns for Living'' 7-song EP (RR 005) * Steve Blimkie and the Reason - ''Blimkie'' (BR 006) *

Battered Wives Battered Wives, aka The Wives was a Canadian punk rock band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada active during the late 1970s. History The group got together on Toronto's Queen Street West. It originally consisted of Toby Swann (guitar, vocals), Coli ...

- ''Live on Mother's Day'' (LPBR 007) *

- ''

Radio Silence In telecommunications, radio silence or Emissions Control (EMCON) is a status in which all fixed or mobile radio stations in an area are asked to stop transmitting for safety or security reasons. The term "radio station" may include anything ca ...

'' (LPBR 009) * The Extras - ''Bit Parts'' (LR 010) *

- ''Live'' (LR 011) *

- ''

Stick Figure Neighbourhood ''Stick Figure Neighbourhood'' is the debut studio album by Canadian new wave band Spoons, released 1981 by Ready Records. It received some airplay, and went to the top of the Canadian University radio charts (specifically with songs "Convention ...

'' (LR 012) * Santers - ''Shot Down in Flames'' (LR 014/LR4 014) * Steve Blimkie - ''Chasing Paper Tigers'' (LR 015/LR4 015) * Fergus Hambleton - ''She's on the Other Side'' 7" single (RR 016) * Manteca - ''Manteca'' (LR 017/LR4 017) *

Kevin Coyne Kevin Coyne (27 January 1944 – 2 December 2004) was an English musician, singer, composer, film-maker, and a writer of lyrics, stories and poems. The "anti-star" was born in Derby, Derbyshire, England, and died in his adopted home of Nurember ...

- ''Pointing the Finger'' (LR 019) * Spoons - ''Nova Heart/Symmetry'' 12" Single (SRB 020) * Spoons - ''Nova Heart'' 7" Single (SR 201) *

Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele composed of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts are in Ancient ...

- ''Hiding from Love'' 5-song EP (ER 012) * The Extras - ''Road to Zambando'' (LR 022/LR4 022) * Santers - ''Mayday'' 4-song EP (ER 023) * Fergus Hambleton - ''Steal This Girl'' 12" Single (SRB 024) *

- ''Up to You'' 6-song EP (ER 025) * Spoons - ''

Arias & Symphonies ''Arias & Symphonies'' is the second studio album by Canadian new wave band Spoons, released in October 1982 by Ready Records. It contains the highly successful singles " Nova Heart" and "Arias & Symphonies". It was first released on CD in 2000 ...

'' (LR 027/LR4 027) * Spoons - ''Arias & Symphonies'' 7" single (SR 271) * Santers - ''Racing Time'' (LR 028/LR4 028) * Spoons - ''Talkback'' 7" single (SR 393) *

- "Falling" (LR034) *

- "Don't Walk Past" 4-track 12" single *

- "Version" 4-song remix EP * Teenage Head - '' Teenage Head'' * Teenage Head - ''Top Down ivePicture My Face'' * Teenage Head - ''Endless Party (Live)'' (RR 046) * Spoons - ''Tell No Lies'' 12" Single (SRB 048) * Spoons - ''Romantic Traffic'' 7" Single (SR 482) *

Gordon Deppe Spoons is a Canadian new wave band, formed in Burlington, Ontario in 1979. They recorded several Canadian chart hits between 1982 and 1989, and in 1983, they were nominated for Most Promising Group of the Year at the Juno Awards. Their most ...

- ''Listen To The City OST'' (LR 053)

References

External links

* Sparks Music http://www.sparksmusic.com * Ready Records http://www.readyrecords.ca * Sparks Music on MySpace http://www.myspace.com/sparksmusiclabel * Ready Records discography https://web.archive.org/web/20061022124816/http://www.get-happy-records.com/labels-disco/labelsR.htm {{Authority control Canadian independent record labels Record labels established in 1980 Record labels disestablished in 1986 Indie rock record labels New wave record labels Defunct record labels of Canada

Ready Records discography

See also

References

External links