Regular readers of this blog will know that I love advertising
records. I’ve featured a few over the years, including the wonderful Trimettes slimming aids disc back in January, and here’s another for you.
Issued in 1964 (I believe, although 45Cat has it listed as
1961), Butlin Holiday by the Trebletones
was either sold in gift shops or given away to visitors of Britain’s Butlin’s holiday
camps, founded by Billy Butlin in 1936 to provide affordable holidays for
ordinary British families. Labelled as “A Butlin Souvenir Disc”, both sides are
practically identical: the only difference being the “Good morning…” lyric of
the A-side changing to “Good evening…” on the reverse. The song was written by
veteran showtunes composer Vivian Ellis.
A band called the Trebletones issued a 45 on Oriole in 1963,
one of Britain’s first independent record labels, but to me, this looks like it
may have come from Pye's Tranco pressing plant, in Mitcham, Surrey. The big giveaway is the raised circle inside the centre, which you'll also see on Pye releases from 1964 onwards.
It's also possible that it came from another early independent pioneer, Ember, set up in 1960 by Jeffrey Kruger, one-time owner of Soho’s Flamingo Club. He sold the club to the Gunnell brothers to concentrate his efforts of his record company, converting his first record press from an old button making machine, and issued custom discs for a number of companies during the early 1960s. One of Ember’s earliest releases was a second pressing of the hit Angela Jones, originally issued by Joe Meek’s Triumph label. Meek gave Kruger the masters for the disc in the hope of making a few bucks while setting up his new operation, RGM Sound, at his fabled Holloway Road studios.
The thing that makes me doubt that the disc was pressed by Ember is that the vast majority of their pressings from this period have three-prong centres, not four-prong, so for now I'll stick with my assertion that Tranco/Pye pressed this and therefore it cannot have been released before 1964.
It's also possible that it came from another early independent pioneer, Ember, set up in 1960 by Jeffrey Kruger, one-time owner of Soho’s Flamingo Club. He sold the club to the Gunnell brothers to concentrate his efforts of his record company, converting his first record press from an old button making machine, and issued custom discs for a number of companies during the early 1960s. One of Ember’s earliest releases was a second pressing of the hit Angela Jones, originally issued by Joe Meek’s Triumph label. Meek gave Kruger the masters for the disc in the hope of making a few bucks while setting up his new operation, RGM Sound, at his fabled Holloway Road studios.
The thing that makes me doubt that the disc was pressed by Ember is that the vast majority of their pressings from this period have three-prong centres, not four-prong, so for now I'll stick with my assertion that Tranco/Pye pressed this and therefore it cannot have been released before 1964.
Any thoughts? Your comments, as always, are much
appreciated. But for now, here are both sides of Butlin Holiday.
Enjoy!
Download Morning HERE
Download Evening HERE
Thank you for all the great downloads! I really enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteYou're more than welcome, Andrew!
Delete"When you come to Tommy's, the holiday's forever..."
ReplyDelete