Another of those odd little concerns which pop into existence and almost as rapidly pop out again. Fire was one of two labels owned by leisure group Scotia Investments, the other, appropriately, being Smoke (q.v.). 'Record Retailer' of the 20th of March 1971 broke the news that Scotia was forming a new company, Scotia Music, and that it intended to launch its own label. 'RR' of the 17th of April reported developments: Scotia had bought publishers Mother Mistro Music, and there were to be three labels rather than one. Two of them, Smoke for 'Contemporary' music and Fire for 'Pop', would release their first records 'within the next few weeks', and an as-yet unnamed outlet for MOR material would follow them. Shel Talmy had been appointed managing director of Scotia's music division. At first things went according to plan: Fire's debut was announced in 'RR' of the 15th of May 1971, which said that a single by Simba was due out on the 14th, with distribution by Transatlantic. The article added that former Transatlantic executive John Whitehead was in charge of both Fire and its stable-mate.
The Simba single, an Afro Rock version of the Kingsmen's hit 'Louie Louie' b/w 'Movin'', duly emerged, with a catalogue number of FIR-100, but then there was trouble. On the 26th of June 'RR' broke the news that Scotia was undergoing a 'revamp': no records would be issued on the company's labels 'for the time being' and any new product would be licensed out. The first Smoke single came out a week later - presumably they were already pressed - but, like the Fire single, it turned out to be the last, as 'for the time being' ended up as a permanent state. That wasn't the end of Scotia's involvement in the music business, however: it was responsible for another label later in the decade - see 'Scotia (1979)'.
Simba consisted of members of Jade Warrior and Assagai, and the single was produced by Dave Watson for Shel Talmy Productions, so there was some experience behind it. The British version can be found in one-sided as well as two-sided form; the French release, on the AZ label (SG-322; 1971), seems to be commoner, and the single also came out in the Netherlands and Sweden. In addition, both tracks surfaced on a Various Artists budget album from Contour Records, 'Afro Rock Festival' (2870-311; 1973). Thanks to Alan from the excellent 45cat site for bringing the Fire label to my attention, and to Robert Bowes for supplying the scan.
Copyright 2009 Robert Lyons.