Gosport Sound Products was a disc-cutting service. It cut one-off acetates and also masters, and was run by sound-archivist Peter Copeland in parallel with his other jobs - he worked for the BBC and later for the National Sound Archive. GSP transferred private recordings onto vinyl, presumably often in tiny quantities; it also made limited pressings of items such as the White On Black Folk Group EP 'Our Kind Of Folk', shown above, which were intended for sale to the general public. The catalogue number, EPC-767, and the matrix number, GSP-90202, indicate that there should be lots of other records on the Gosport Sound Products label out there, but by their very nature they are hard to find. I have only managed to trace a 10" LP by Christian folk group The Gospelfolk, which came out in 1967, and a couple of 12" LPs by church choirs: those of Eldon Road Baptist Church (LPR-143) and St. Mary's, Shrewsbury (LPC-654; 1968). Given the lack of its products to examine, it is impossible to say with any accuracy when GSP started to make records and when it stopped; all I can say is that it was certainly in business between 1966 and 1970, and probably for several years before that period. Despite its name the company operated out of Anerley, London SE20, at first, then out of Bristol; Mr. Copeland called it 'Gosport' after the area in which he grew up.
Copyright 2008 Robert Lyons.