Manticore Records is a

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, ...

launched by the Manticore production company in 1973. These companies were owned by the members of the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

group

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of The Nice, Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitars, producer) ...

(commonly known as ELP) and their manager, Stewart Young. The

manticore The manticore or mantichore (Latin: ''mantichorās''; reconstructed Old Persian: ; Modern ) is a legendary creature from ancient Persian mythology, similar to the Egyptian sphinx that proliferated in Western European medieval art as well. It ha ...

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.

History

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 Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

, 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 the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

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

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

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 An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, and the

Hawklords Hawklords were an English music group active between 1978 and 1979. Members were from Hawkwind, who were inactive during that period, (Robert Calvert – vocals, Dave Brock – guitar and Simon King (musician), Simon King – drums) and a loca ...

Artists

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

Keith Emerson Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 194411 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, composer 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 be ...

, solo *

, British prog-rock supergroup, also known as ELP * John Greaves, British bass guitarist, a member of

Henry Cow Henry Cow were an English experimental rock group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler, b ...

* 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 singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Ar ...

* Premiata Forneria Marconi, also known as PFM *

Pete Sinfield Peter John Sinfield (27 December 1943 – 14 November 2024) was an English poet and songwriter. He was best known as a co-founder and lyricist of King Crimson. Their debut album ''In the Court of the Crimson King'' is considered one of the fir ...

* Stray Dog

References

External links

Manticore official website

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

History

Artists

See also

References

External links