A one-off label from Northern Ireland. The Andersonstown Civil Resistance Committee issued a single by Barley Corn, 'The Men Behind The Wire' b/w 'Freedom Walk' (CRC-71), on the C.R.C. label in 1971; as the titles suggest, it can be filed under 'Irish Republican Folk'. It proved to be a big hit in Ireland: 'Music Week' of the 14th of October 1972 said that it had been in the Irish Top 20 for the past ten months and that it held the record for the longest unbroken Chart run. Irish copies, which have no full stops in the label's name, came in several different colours including black-on-red, black-on-light-blue and white-on-black as well as the black-on-orange shown (2). English copies, which had the full stops and had 'Made in England' at the bottom of the labels, gave the band's name as The Barley Corn (1) and were distributed by Shannon. 'The Men Behind The Wire' received several mentions in 'Record Retailer'. The issue of the 12th of February 1972 reported that it was No.1 in Ireland, where it was being handled by Release and Outlet (q.v. both). A week later it was claimed that the BBC was not playing the record 'because it had no British distributor', to which it was pointed out that it was being distributed by Outlet in Northern Ireland and that Northern Ireland was part of the UK. Finally, on the 29th of February, Outlet's Billy McBurney confirmed that Shannon was handling the record in the mainland UK. Whether that made any difference to the amount of airplay it received or not is a matter for conjecture. Thanks to Robert Bowes for the second scan.
Copyright 2008 Robert Lyons.