An obscure but moderately long-lived concern, Phoenix started out as the full-price label of Avenue Records (q.v.), a specialist in budget-priced product. Between its launch in 1970 and its expiry in 1974 it issued around forty singles, none of which appear to have sold in any great quantity - if you happen upon one it's likely to be Weavers Green's 'A Little More Love'. 'Record Retailer' of the 17th of January 1970 said that the label was set to make its debut on the 23rd of February under managing director Gordon Melville, with an initial release of eight records including both albums and singles; there may have been some kind of a hiatus, however, as the first batch of Phoenix singles didn't appear until the 11th of December. Numbering was in a NIX-100 numerical series, which started at NIX-111; NIX-120 to 123 appear not have been used. Phoenix's products were manufactured and distributed by CBS. Initially they had a plain orange label (1) and a company sleeve which bore a strong resemblance to those of Avenue (7). Towards the end of 1971 there was a change of ownership (see below), and when the first records under the new management appeared they boasted new and rather psychedelic gold-on-dark-brown labels (2). The change happened between NIX-119 and NIX-124, at the time when there is that gap in the catalogue numbers. Unusually, the labels on the 'A' and 'B' sides of the new labels were different: the 'A' side featured a golden 'P' (2), the 'B' side a golden 'R' (3) - the actual name of the company didn't appear on either side, only on the new company sleeve (8). Initially the catalogue number was at the top and the title and artist's name appeared in the foot of the letter; the layout changed from NIX-126 onwards, presumably for reasons of space (4, 5). Stereo singles in the independent era often had an 'S' in front of the prefix, after the standard CBS practise at that time, but the absence of an 'S' doesn't necessarily mean that the record is mono - mono singles have 'MONO' at 9 o'clock (4).
An advert in 'Record & Tape Retailer' of the 27th of November said that following a recent take-over the reborn Phoenix Records was issuing its first two singles, by The Sad (on the 26th) and Al Saxon (on the 3rd of December). It seems likely that Saxon was the new owner of the company. Under his own name or the name of Allen Henry he was the producer and / or arranger on many of the subsequent Phoenix releases, and his Alsax Music company handled much of the publishing; he had previously worked with Avenue, which provides another link. During both the Avenue and the independent times Phoenix covered a wide range of musical genres: its records ranged from the Folky Pop of Weavers Green to the Soul of Lincoln Rogers, and from Carl Simmons's Revivalist Rock 'n' Roll to the Glam Rock of Spunky Spider, whose single 'You Won't Come' (S NIX-143; 10/73) is very collectable. In the company's first phase it operated out of premises at 203 Chingford Mount Road, London E4 ('RR', 28th Nov 1970), which were naturally shared with Avenue; latterly it moved to Woodford Green, Essex.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.