Owned by popular Scottish entertainer Calum Kennedy, and apparently a precursor to his 'Radar Records' label. Ceilidh / Radar was based in Glenpatrick, Johnstone, Renfrewshire. It seems to have issued two records, an album and a single, under the 'Ceilidh' name. The single was Kennedy's own 'World Cup Crazy' b/w 'Parliamo Allylooyah' (CKS-01), and was part of the World Cup fever that swept Scotland in 1978. According to the Glasgow Herald of the 8th of July of that year he had to record it in Dublin because of illegal interference by the Musicians' Union - he was in dispute with the Union over payments made for the recording of a concert at the Pavilion Theatre in 1977, a dispute which the Union eventually won in court. The album had both sides of the single on it and was called 'Scottish Favourite Hit Songs' (MPL-01 / DEROY-1403; 1978). Radar - needless to say, it wasn't the one that featured Elvis Costello - continued to use the 'CK' prefix for its records, adding 'LP' for albums and 'S' for singles. 7" and 12" records shared the same '1000' numbers. 'Music Week' of the 17th of December 1977 claimed that Radar had released four albums and two singles by that point, but that seems very unlikely - the earliest single that I have managed to trace, Fiona Kennedy's 'Father Christmas' b/w 'The Cherry Tree Carol' (CKS-1004), was from December 1981. Like the Ceilidh single, that too ran into legal difficulties: according to the Herald of the 24th of August 1983, publishers Mews Music had been awarded a court order preventing its making, distribution, selling or advertising. The report also states that Radar had said that the records had been destroyed in a fire previous to November 1982. Thanks to Stephen Small for bringing Ceilidh to my attention and to Jimboo of the 45cat site for supplying the scan.
Copyright 2015 Robert Lyons.