An label from the Punk era, set up by Miles Copeland and basically an outlet for records by artists who were managed by Myles Palmer and Danny Wright. 4 Play's first single, 'Teenage Treats' b/w 'She Made Magic' by The Wasps (FOUR-001), came out in November 1977 after Copeland made the offer of a one-off single on a new label. It seems to have been well received and was re-pressed on Copeland's 'Illegal' label (q.v.) with a slightly altered version of its old catalogue number (FOUR-001-A) - the band split with Palmer and Wright after the initial release, so it may perhaps have been this split which prompted the change of labels. The next 4 Play records didn't appear until 1979. Both of them were by The Favourites: they were 'S.O.S.' b/w 'Favourite Shoes' (FOUR-002; 6/79), and 'Angelica' b/w 'Cold' (FOUR-003). 1980 saw 'Fireball' b/w 'Misirlou' by the XL5's (FOUR-004) and a split single featuring Flak's 'When The Gold Runs Dry' and 'Dedication' by Alexei Sayle (FOUR-005), but that seems to have been the lot. The scan comes by courtesy of Robert Bowes; thanks to Jon Hendrix for the information about 4-Play's origins.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.