A Reggae label, and a popular, prolific one. Burning Sounds was initially run by Clive Stanhope from his record shop in Harrow Road, London W9. It issued its first singles in 1976, using a BS-000s numbering series; the numbers reached BS-050 in 1979. In addition the company put out dozens of albums and 12" singles. It had on its catalogue popular artists such as Owen Grey and Gregory Isaacs, among others. In common with most Reggae independents it received little attention from the mainstream Music Trade press. 'Music Week' of the 10th of June 1978 mentioned it as being run by Irshad Rana with his wife Eileen handling the mail-order side of the business; Martin Trenchfield was acting as general manager, and the company had just signed a distribution agreement with Lugton. Sadly a couple of years later 'MW' of the 10th of May 1980 reported that Burning Sounds was in receivership. The label appears to have been salvaged, however, as Burning Sounds records began to reappear in 1981; the labels now stated that the company was now a division of Longwillow Ltd. The Longwillow revival lasted into 1985, and there were other revivals after that.
The discography below lists all the 7" singles I have been able to track down; the missing numbers may not have been used. The year of release wasn't given on the labels of the vast majority of the records, so I've gone with those given on 45Cat. 'Music Master' says that distribution was by Mojo and Daddy Kool in 1977, and that the catalogue was handled by non-specialist firm Lugton from May 1978, which agrees with the report in 'MW' quoted above. Thanks to Robert Bowes for the second and third scans, and to Mark Griffiths for the management information.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.