BUSY BEE

 

A small independent label, based in Leicester.  Catalogue numbers suggest that Busy Bee put out at least three records; there was a four year gap between the first and the last, which strongly suggests that the company wasn't a full-time concern.  Two of those records were singles by Martin Harvey.  'The Leicester Festival Song' b/w 'Town Crier' (BBOS-001) saw the light of day in 1979, while 'Maggie Will Always Be Around' b/w 'Vote Conservative' (BBOS-003) was from 1983.  Presumably there was a BBOS-002 - or perhaps even an album with a different prefix - between them, but googling doesn't show any trace of it.  M.P. Greg Knight produced both of the singles and co-wrote a couple of the tracks, so it seems reasonable to assume that he was involved with the label.  He certainly seems to have been deeply involved with Lord Bug Music, the pubishers of the 'Leicester Festival Song' - at the time of my writing this (May 2016) the company has a website undergoing renewal from which both the song and an e-book by him can be downloaded.  In addition, 'lordbug.com' was previously the website of his local conservative association.  Previous to his Busy Bee singles Martin Harvey had released a self-financed album, 'This Is Me', on SRT Records (SRTX/CUS-77095; 1977).  The label on the next page, Butterfly (1970) also features a record with a politician on it, which - given that such things aren't common - is a mildly interesting coincidence.  The coincidence extends a little further: that label is named after an insect, too.  Thanks to Dr. Doom of the 45cat site for permission to use his scan here, and to Klepsie of the same site for drawing Busy Bee to my attention.




Copyright 2016 Robert Lyons.