American; thus the - to British eyes - odd spelling. Neighborhood started out in October 1971 in the States, with producer Peter Schekeryk as its president. It received its first mention in the UK Trade press in 'Music Week' of the 15th of April 1972, which reported that EMI had obtained worldwide rights to handle the label, with the exclusion of the USA, Canada and Japan. According to the article Neighborhood was run by Schekeryk and was part of the Famous Music group; it would be launched here in the summer. There must have been a slight delay, as 'MW' of the 9th of September carried news of a proposed October launch. That launch took place. Neighborhood's product was mainly American in origin, and Melanie - Schekeryk's wife - was the mainstay of its catalogue, but it established a foothold in the UK and recorded some UK artists. 'MW' of the 20th of July 1974 noted that it had established itself here as a small independent management / publishing / record company rather than just a straightforward EMI-distributed label; the UK operation had Schekeryk and Phil Symes - formerly EMI's label manager for Tamla Motown - as joint directors, and was operating out of premises in the Fulham Road. Symes was to represent Neighborhood in the UK and Europe; the company's intention was to concentrate on LPs, and it was on the point of signing 'a well-known UK band'. Presumably that band was Mike Heron's Reputation, an outfit put together by the Incredible String Band man, which made an eponymous album (NBH-80367) for Neighborhood in 1975. 'Billboard' of the 27th of July gave the name of the British arm of the company as the 'Neighborhood Record Company', and said that a couple of British acts had signed to the label.
The Famous Music group was acquired by ABC Records (q.v.) in August 1974. After a few months spent under the wing of ABC and its British arm, Anchor (q.v.), Neighborhood changed its arrangements, linking up with Bell in the USA and Canada and moving to CBS here. Under the deal Anchor continued to handle Melanie's back catalogue ('MW', 11th January 1975). Sadly, the agreement with CBS lasted for only twelve months or so, and the final Neighborhood single came out in November 1975. The label enjoyed a minor revival in 1983, albeit with a UK spelling, 'Neighbourhood', for an album and a couple of singles by Melanie. As the company's focus was on albums its lack of singles success isn't surprising, but it did manage to tickle the Top 40 in 1974 with Melanie's version of 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow' b/w 'Here I Am (NBH-9; 1973).
Initially Neighborhood records were manufactured and distributed by EMI, and its singles were numbered in the 'NBH-0's. Following the move to CBS the original colourful label design (1) changed completely but remained eye-catching (2). The NBH prefix stayed the same, but the new four-figure numerical series following it was shared with the other CBS labels. For the final two releases the label got paler, for some reason (3). EMI demos were marked after the EMI fashion of the time (4) - thanks to Juke Jules of the 45cat site for use of that scan. Most of the CBS-era demos had a small hollow black 'A' in the centre (5) as well as a release date and the appropriate text; the final one had a large hollow red 'A' (6), and had the 'Promotion Copy' text on the 'B' side.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.