TARTAN
A small independent company from Scotland; Adam
Buggy produced several of its records, so it seems reasonable to guess
that he was closely associated with it. I have only been able to
trace a handful of singles on Tartan, but given the small pressings and
localized distribution that such records received there may be
more out there. There are no dates on the majority of the labels, but
in many cases the final two digits of the catalogue numbers appear to show the
year of release; the number before that may well indicate the month, as is
strongly suggested by the catalogue number of 'Peace In The Valley' by Carol
Anders & Lightfoot, 'RE 1/10/78'. The prefixes varied; I have a
theory that they referred to the studio in which the recording was done - Pat
Hill's LP 'My Native Land' was recorded at the Radio Clyde studios, and its
catalogue number was 1RC-1077. If the theory is correct 'C' might be
'Craighall', 'BG' BGS of Strathaven, and 'RE' Radio Edinburgh (q.v.
all). For much of the label's life there was a number before the prefix; it
may perhaps be that this number showed how many of
Tartan's recordings had been made at that studio. If that is the
case the '5BG-11174' of Pat Hill's 'I Don't Know How To
Love Him' would break down
as the fifth recording made for Tartan
at BGS studios, released in November 1974. That leaves the initial '1' of the '11174'
unaccounted for; a similar '1'
is present in all the singles' catalogue numbers. I suppose
it could have been meant to show that the single was
the first one released in that particular month
- if it was part of
a 'day/month/year' set all of the records would have had to come out on the
1st of the month, which seems unlikely - but that is only a
wild guess. It has to be admitted that if the numbers given
online for William St.Leonard's 'Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart'
(LJ-167) and 'Fraulein' by Frater & Gunn (6BG-1274) are correct
they don't fit into my theory easily, and I'm left speculating as to whether
they may be misprints - I need the former to be LJ-1678 and the latter
6BG-11274. Be that as it may. Carol Anders's version of 'The White Rose
Of Athens' (8BG-1576; 1976) was pressed by Phonodisc; according to its
sleeve it was distributed by the Black Hill Record Co. of Shotts,
Lanarkshire. The run-off markings on the few other Tartans that I've
seen in the vinyl haven't offered any clue to
the manufacturer - not a clue that I can use, at least.
Thanks to Robert Bowes for the scan of the injection moulded
label, and to Stephen Small for adding to the discography.
Copyright 2009 Robert
Lyons.