Topic started out in 1939 as the label of the left-wing Workers Music Association. It recorded many examples of British industrial and urban folksong, and in addition to making forays into what would eventually be known as World music it also introduced the music of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie to the British public. Topic went on to become the premier Folk label of these islands, with such stalwarts as The Watersons, Dick Gaughan, Martin Carthy and John Kirkpatrick on its books; it continues in that role today. Most of its output has been in LP and CD form, but there were 7" issues in the late '50s, the first half of the '60s (1, 2) and the mid '70s (3, 4). There were a number of different label designs, only a few of which are shown here; others can be seen at the 45cat site. Catalogue numbers started off at T-1 in 1955, the Ts being 8" 33 1/3 rpm records with several tracks on them. In 1957 the size shrank to 7"; this was reflected in the prefix, which became 7T. When the speed increased to 45 rpm, in 1958, the prefix changed to TOP. A solitary single, 'Black And White' by The Galliards, was issued in January 1961; it was given a STOP prefix and a discrete number, 101. The STOP prefix was retained for singles afterwards, they shared the main run of numbers with the EPs. Three years later those numbers had reached the one hundreds, which led to the appearance of a single numbered STOP-102: 'The Crow On The Cradle' by the Ian Campbell Folk Group. During the '70s the few singles which were issued were numbered in the STOP-7000s, which simplified matters. STOP-7004 was released in 1980; as far as 7" records are concerned that was it until 2012 Topic again started to put out an occasional single. The company seems to have distributed its own records until c.1976, when Selecta took over that function. The look of the run-off legend suggests that Decca did the pressings in the '70s. Thanks to Alistair Banfield for getting the various numbers and prefixes sorted out for me.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.