Dandelion Records was a British

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

started on 18 July 1969 by the British DJ

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

History

The label was started as a way to get the music Peel liked onto record. Peel was responsible for "artistic direction" and the commercial side was handled by Clive Selwood of

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

and his wife Shirley. Peel wrote: Dandelion and the sister publishing company Biscuit were named after Peel's hamsters at the suggestion of his then flatmate

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer-songwriter and poet. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex (band), T. Rex. Bolan strongly i ...

. Around twenty eight albums were released by the label. One album was by

Gene Vincent Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935 – October 12, 1971), known as Gene Vincent, was an American rock and roll musician who pioneered the style of rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his backing band the Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-a-Lula", is ...

, with a cast of musicians including members of

The Byrds The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...

and Steppenwolf. Others were by younger or non-commercial artists, including Beau,

Bridget St John Bridget St John (born Bridget Anne Hobbs; 4 October 1946 in East Molesey, Surrey, England) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for the three albums she recorded between 1969 and 1972 for John Peel's Dandelion record label ...

, Medicine Head, Clifford T. Ward,

David Bedford David Vickerman Bedford (4 August 1937 – 1 October 2011) was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music. He was the brother of the conductor Steuart Bedford, the grandson of the composer, painter ...

, Lol Coxhill,

Stack Waddy Stack Waddy were an English blues rock band from Timperley, Cheshire, who were active in the late 1960s and early 1970s and again in 2007. Signed to John Peel's Dandelion label, the original line-up of John Knail, Mick Stott (born 1945, Salford, ...

Tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

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. He was critically acclaimed for his unorthodox style of blues-influenced guitar composition, the ...

/Siren, and Denmark's Burnin' Red Ivanhoe. The only record ever to make the UK Singles Chart was " (And The) Pictures in the Sky" by Medicine Head, which reached #22 in 1971. Beau's "1917 Revolution" made #1 in the Lebanon in 1969. Dandelion Records were distributed by, successively, CBS Records,

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

and

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

. The label ran until late

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

when it started to try to place its artists with other labels as its distribution via Polydor had ceased. It had issued about a dozen singles and two dozen albums. Several releases attracted a cult audience but never quite crossed into the mainstream, although one of the last singles, Clifford T. Ward's 'Coathanger', from his debut album 'Singer Songwriter', attracted a certain amount of airplay on Radio 1. Both Tractor and Medicine Head appeared fairly high in various album charts- Medicine Head would go on to appear on Top of the Pops and Tractor would get heavily involved in the hippy festival circuit which they still make rare appearances on to this day. As Peel himself told ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine focussing on rare and collectable records, and the bands who recorded them. It was founded in September 1979 and distributes worldwide. It is promoted as "the world’s leading authority o ...

'' in 1994, 'when you can't afford full-page ads in the music press, artists become very resentful...there's no faster way of losing friends.' One of the most curious albums issued by the label was a sampler, '' There is Some Fun Going Forward''. Most Dandelion recordings have been reissued on vinyl and/or CD. A batch of half a dozen came out on CD on Repertoire Records in the early 1990s, followed by the whole catalogue as two-on-one CDs by See For Miles Records in the mid-1990s. Individual albums have been licensed around the world, with major catalogue releases since 2005 on

Cherry Red Records Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything but the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as w ...

in the UK and Airmail Archive Recordings in Japan. Cherry Red acquired the entire catalogue of original Dandelion Records recordings (excluding Tractor / The Way We Live) in September 2009. The UK trade mark Dandelion Records and its Dandelion flower logo are the intellectual property of Ozit Morpheus Records who have released new recordings under the Dandelion Records brand. The Dandelion Records by Tractor and The Way We Live were reissued in the 2000s by Ozit Morpheus Records, as was a six-hour DVD about John Peel and some of the artists on Dandelion Records. This was released as a tribute to John in November 2008. It includes a contribution from his wife Sheila Ravenscroft.

Discography

Albums

*63750:

– ''Ask Me No Questions'' *S63751: Beau – ''Beau'' *63752: Principal Edwards Magic Theatre – ''Soundtrack'' *63753: Occasional Word Ensemble – ''The Year of the Great Leap Sideways'' *63754:

– ''I'm Back and I'm Proud'' *63755: Siren – ''Siren'' *63756: Mike Hart – ''Mike Hart Bleeds'' *63757: Medicine Head – ''New Bottles Old Medicine'' *DAN8001/K49001: Siren – ''Strange Locomotion'' *DAN8002/K49002: Principal Edwards Magic Theatre – ''The Asomoto Running Band'' *DAN8003/K49003:

– ''

'' *DAN8004/K49004: The Way We Live – ''A Candle for Judith'' *DAN8005/K49005: Medicine Head – ''Heavy on the Drum'' *DAN8006/K49006: Beau – ''Creation (With The Way We Live)'' *DAN8007/K49007: Bridget St John – ''Songs for the Gentle Man'' *DSD8008/K69001: Lol Coxhill – ''Ear of Beholder'' *2310145: Burnin' Red Ivanhoe – ''WWW'' *2310146: Supersister – ''To the Highest Bidder'' *2310165:

– '' Nurses Song with Elephants'' *2310166: Medicine Head – ''Dark Side of the Moon'' *2310193: Bridget St John – ''Thank You For'' *2310211: Mike Hart – ''Basher Chalky Pongo and Me'' (as Mike Hart & the Comrades) *2310216: Clifford T. Ward – ''Singer Songwriter'' *2310217:

– ''Tractor'' *2310228:

– '' Case History'' (1972) *2310231:

– '' Bugger Off!'' *2485021: Various artists – '' There is Some Fun Going Forward'' (

sampler album A sampler or promotional compilation is a type of compilation album generally offered at a reduced price to showcase an artist or a selection of artists signed to a particular record label. The format became popular in the late 1960s as record labe ...

)

Singles

*4403: Beau – "1917 Revolution" / "Sleeping Town" *4404: Bridget St John – "To B Without A Hitch" / "Autumn Lullaby" *4405: Principal Edwards Magic Theatre – "Ballad of the Big Girl Now" / "Lament for Earth" *4493: Clague - "Mandy Lee" / "Bottle Up and Go" (With Kevin Coyne) *4494: Coyne-Clague – "The Stride" / "I Wonder Where" *S 4596: Gene Vincent – "Be-Bop-A-Lula '69" / " Ruby Baby" *4661: Medicine Head – "His Guiding Hand" / "This Love of Old" *4781: Mike Hart – "Yawney Morning Song" / "Almost Liverpool 8" *4786:

Bill Oddie William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English actor, artist, birder, comedian, conservationist, musician, songwriter, television presenter and writer. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies. A birder since his childhood in Quinton ...

– "

On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at "On Ilkla Mooar Baht 'at" (Standard English: ''On Ilkley Moor without a hat'') is a folk song from Yorkshire, England. It is sung in the Yorkshire dialect, and is considered the official anthem of Yorkshire. It is sung to the hymn tune " Cranb ...

" / "Harry Krishna" *S 4974: Gene Vincent – " White Lightning" / "

Scarlet Ribbons (For Her Hair) "Scarlet Ribbons (For Her Hair)" is a popular folk style ballad. The music was written by Evelyn Danzig and the lyrics by Jack Segal. The song has become a standard with many recorded versions and has appeared on several Christmas albums. B ...

" *S 5075: Medicine Head – "Coast to Coast" / "All for Tomorrow" *S 5119: Stack Waddy – "Roadrunner" / "Kentucky" *DAN7002/K19004: Siren – "Strange Locomotion" / "I'm All Aching" *DAN7003/K19002: Medicine Head – " (And The) Pictures in the Sky" / "Natural Sight" *DAN7004/K19003: Yamasukis – "Yamasuki" / "Aieaoa" *2001276: Medicine Head – "Kum On" / "On the Land" *2001282: Tractor – "Stoney Glory" / "Marie" / "As You Say" *2001325: Medicine Head – "Only To Do What Is True" / "Sittin' in the Sun" *2001327: Clifford T. Ward – "Carrie" / "Sidetrack" *2001331: Stack Waddy – "You Really Got Me" / "Willie the Pimp" *2001357: Kevin Coyne – "Cheat Me" / "Flowering Cherry" *2001382: Clifford T Ward – "Coathanger" / "Rayne" *2001383: Medicine Head – "How Does It Feel" / "Morning Light" *2058214: Coxhill Bedford Duo – "Mood" / " Sonny Boy" / " Oh Mein Papa" (

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

by Will Dandy & the Dandylettes)

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Dandelion
label site
Dandelion Records
detail site * {{Authority control British record labels Record labels established in 1969 Record labels disestablished in 1972 Alternative rock record labels John Peel