TOP
DECK
Top Deck was a
management / agency / publishing company, operating out of London. It was set
up in 1975 by Peter Hippolyte - who was also known as 'Sir Washington' - to
handle his family group and other acts. As a record label it seems to
have been short-lived, issuing just three singles, all of them in
1977. Catalogue numbers were in a TD-000 numerical series. Two
of those singles were by the Hep-O-Lytes / Hippolytes themselves; their
singles both tend to appear in Reggae lists but the second is in fact
in Soulful Pop territory. The group had been signed to EMI, Pye, CBS
and Ember in the past, but while some tracks had been laid down no releases had
been forthcoming; so perhaps a 'DIY' approach was the logical
next step. Top Deck distributed the first record themselves;
'Music Week' of the 5th
of November 1977 said that the third was being handled by independent
distributor Relay Records. There were two pressings of 'Voodoo Magic': the second had a
label
of the same design but it came in the same yellow colour
as that of 'Don't Make Promises'. 'Don't Make Promises' was pressed by Damont (2). Googling reveals no
trace of the album of the same name which was 'forthcoming' according to the label of that
single; there was however a German single, in 7" and
12" form, on Steyrer Disco records in 1980, 'Party People' (SD-10.216). According
to the 'Music Week' article several other artists were in
the process of being signed to the agency: Earling Bentley (presumably the Earlene Bentley who
had recorded for Surrey International, q.v., and who went on
to record for a couple of other companies in the
1980s), Punk band Southern Riders, and female singers Zane Winn
and 'Diane'. However, they don't seem to have made any records for Top Deck -
in fact the latter three don't appear to have made any records at
all. Thanks to Charlie Chalk of the 45cat site for permission to
use the first scan here.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.