This is one of those sad - but all too frequent - occasions when I can do little more than point to a label's existence. A studio called Hampshire Sound Services seem to have operated from the early 1970s into at least the early '80s. A 1973 self-titled LP by a band called 'Just Us' was recorded there and issued on the Deroy label (ADM-829), but, presumably after that point, the company appears to have started offering a custom recording service using its own label and catalogue series. I have only managed to track down three 7" Hampshire Sound records, all of them EPs. The earliest was a four-tracker by Steve Perry, which came out in 1976, had a catalogue number of HS-30, and had the company's name on the label (1). HS-42 was a 1979 EP called 'Bottled Rags' by a duo from Reading called Quart. There was no company name on its labels (2), but the credits on the picture sleeve said that the tracks were recorded at Hampshire Sound Services by a chap named Len Graham, who may well have been in charge of the studio. Finally 1980 saw an EP by a band called Cheandus, featuring 'I Will Survive' and three other tracks (HS-51). The gaps between the numbers of those records suggest that there are a lot of other Hampshire Sound records out there somewhere. In addition a 1977 Hampshire Sound album by Zebedee, 'Well Sprung', has the number HSS-1097 on its cover, which again leaves lots of numbers unaccounted for; however, there is one reference online to that album being numbered HS-33, which would fit in with the other releases. Information about any more of the company's records would be welcome.
Copyright 2009 Robert Lyons.