VIKING
Something of a mystery. I suspect that this may have
been the label of the Viking Sound Studios (previously Tooting Music Centre) but
as yet I haven't been able to confirm that. As a result, all I know for
certain about Viking is that it was responsible for at least two 7"
records, one of which was a single by John Otway, 'Lousia On A Horse' b/w
'Beware Of The Flowers', which had a catalogue number of YRS-CF-01; the 'YRS'
prefix was used by the Yarmouth Recording Studio (q.v.). An example can be
seen on the 45cat
site. That site gives the date of issue as February 1976; the
John Otway fan site says 1975. There was also an EP by Secrets, which is
pictured above; as can be seen, it was numbered AP-IS-101 and it
too lacks a date on the label. Tracks on that record were
'Spanish Eyes', 'Sherry / Rag Doll', 'Sabre Dance', 'Good Vibrations' and
'Jig-a-Jig', which suggests a privately financed effort by a Club / Cabaret band
and and at least puts the year of release as after 1971, which was when
'Jig-A-Jig' was a hit for East of Eden. Thanks to Klepsie of 45cat for
bringing the label to my attention and to Stephen Small for alerting me to the
Secrets EP.
Copyright 2012 Robert Lyons.