RADAR

 

Radar was a joint venture between the Cladhurst (later Radarscope) company, which was set up by ex United Artists men Andrew Lauder and Martin Davis, and WEA.  'Music Week' of the 26th of November 1977 said that the new label was to be autonomous but that it would be able to call on WEA's marketing and promotional strength.  According to Billboard of the 3rd of December 1977, Radar was primarily intended to be a satellite of WEA, developing that company's British talent roster.  There was a slight hiccup early on, in the form of a conflict over the label's name: 'MW' (17th December 1977) reported that a legal challenge had been made by Calum Kennedy, who had formed his Radar Records in 1976 and had registered the name in Edinburgh in February 1977.  The article quotes Martin Davis as saying that he had no knowledge of the other Radar and was very surprised to hear of its existence.  At that point the matter was in the hands of solicitors; it must have been resolved to the satisfaction of both sides, as they both continued to use the Radar name on their labels.  Cladhurst's name was changed to Radarscope Records in April / May, however, perhaps as the result of the legal challenge.  An early boost for this Radar came when, having left Stiff Records (q.v.), Jake Riviera brought Nick Lowe, The Yachts and Elvis Costello & The Attractions to the label under a licensing deal.  'MW' of the 21st of February revealed that Radar would be based at 60, Parker Street, London WC2, while that of the 11th of February carried an advert for the new label and for its first single.  A licensing agreement with the American company International Artists led to material by the likes of The Red Crayola and The 13th Floor Elevators appearing on Radar ('MW', 7th October 1978); they and other records originating in America were given a red label instead of the usual green one (2).
A major development came towards the end of 1979.  'Music Week' of the 3rd of November broke the news that the 50:50 partnership between Radarscope and WEA appeared to be floundering, and that 'comprehensive negotiations' about Radar's future were under way.  Just over a month later the issue of the 22nd of December revealed that WEA had bought out Davis and Lauder and had turned the licensed Radarscope company into a wholly-owned one.  The plan was for the artist roster to be retained and the style of the label continued, but the label would be administered by Elektra / Asylum manager Stuart Hornall.  In early 1980 Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe moved to Andrew Lauder's new 'F Beat' label, leaving Yachts, Bram Tchaikovsy and The Inmates as Radar's mainstays.  Later in the year the first two also moved on to pastures new.  After The Inmates' 'Heartbeat' single (ADA-63) in April 1981 that band was transferred to the WEA label and Radar was shelved.  It did however make a reasonably long comeback in 1995-97, as an independent.
Elvis Costello and his band proved to be Radar's most successful artists, though Nick Lowe got a trio of singles into the Chart in 1978-79, including the very first release, 'I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass' (ADA-1; 2/78).  The Inmates also registered once.  The label was generally green with a white wavy line, though, as mentioned above, some singles by American bands had red ones; the red wavy line on the Nick Lowe single shown above seems to have been a one-off (3).  The change of the company's name from Cladhurst to Radarscope in the Spring of 1978 was reflected immediately on the picture sleeves, but only later in the perimeter text.  The green labels kept the 'Cladhurst Ltd' reference at 8 o'clock (1, 3) until February 1979, when, with a couple of early exceptions, it was replaced by a 'Radarscope Records' one (4) - presumably a large quantity of already-printed labels was being used up.  Several records had label designs which were specific to them.  Manufacture was through WEA: CBS were responsible for most WEA pressings until the middle of 1979, when the contract ran out and WEA were able to make full use of their own pressing plants.  Occasionally some pressings of popular singles were contracted out - the single in the company sleeve, with the narrow push-out perforations, is an RCA product.  Just for once the discography below extends into the early 1980s.






Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.