Gold Star was a product of Rediffusion International Music. Rediffusion were prolific releasers of budget-priced LPs, first on the RIM label and then on Rediffusion (q.v. both). Most of its records were albums, frequently of the kind of music which helps keep charity shops busy these days, but it also put out a number of singles. In April 1974 the Gold Star label was introduced ('Music Week', 7th April), apparently as a replacement for the Rediffusion label (q.v.). Its singles continued to use that label's LML-200 numerical series, though for what turned out to be the final single the '2' was replaced by a '0'. It's quite an attractive-looking label, for a budget company. Gold Star was replaced by the revived and revamped RIM label in 1979, but by then Rediffusion's time in the record business was running short. 'Music Week' of the 19th of January 1980 reported that the company was phasing out its record labels and would not be producing any more repertoire. Rediffusion had its own pressing plant in Caerphilly from the middle of 1974, but it seems to have produced mainly (solely?) albums. The single shown above has run-off markings suggestive of RCA mastering but the pressing marks indicate that Linguaphone did the actual manufacture, while several of the others were made by Orlake. See also Fusion, Classical Pops and Supraphon.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.