Reset Records was a British record company founded in 1983 by

Vince Clarke Vincent John Martin (born 3 July 1960), known professionally as Vince Clarke, is an English synth-pop musician and songwriter. Clarke has been the main composer and musician of the band Erasure since its inception in 1985, and was previously ...

(

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...

, Yazoo,

the Assembly The Assembly were a British synth-pop project formed in 1983 in Basildon, England, by Vince Clarke (songwriting, keyboards, backing vocals) and Eric Radcliffe (songwriting, production). Feargal Sharkey was hired as a guest vocalist for the ...

Erasure Erasure may refer to: Arts and media * Erasure (duo), an English pop group * ''Erasure'' (album), 1995, by the British group Erasure * Erasure poetry, a form of found poetry created by erasing words from an existing text * ''Erasure'' (novel), ...

) and Eric Radcliffe. The four singles by

Robert Marlow Robert Marlow (born Robert Allen, 21 October 1961 – 22 September 2022) was an English synth-pop singer, songwriter and musician. Biography Robert Marlow grew up in Basildon with future Depeche Mode members Vince Clarke, Martin Gore and A ...

were released on this label. Peter Hewson, Absolute and Hardware also released some singles on the label.

History

Beginnings

Some time after Vince Clarke left

, in 1982 while working with Yazoo, his friend

approached him. Marlow tried to convince Clarke to give him some time in the studio, which he first refused due to high costs it required. However, after the insistence of Marlow, he offered him one day to work at

Blackwing Studios Blackwing Studios was an English recording studio in South East (London sub region), south-east London most notable for early 1980s recording by Depeche Mode and Yazoo (band), Yazoo. Background The Blackwing Studios complex was housed inside a d ...

, along with Eric Radcliffe, which eventually turned into weeks. This led to work on several tracks Marlow had written on his own and during his time in Film Noir, and in those sessions " The Face of Dorian Gray" was demoed.

Early years and deal with RCA

After the recording of "The Face of Dorian Gray", Clarke decided to give it a proper release, getting attention from

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

. "The Face of Dorian Gray" was released on 11 July 1983, peaking at number 93 on the UK Singles Chart.

Peter Hewson and "I Just Want to Dance"

Absolute

Sometime in late 1984, Absolute—a young group from London formed by Colin "Taf" Taaffe on vocals, Paul Johnson and John Thomas on synth—contacted Radcliffe.

References

Record labels established in 1983 {{UK-record-label-stub