C.M.P. (COUNTRY MUSIC
PRODUCTIONS)
A small independent
label, run by Liverpool-based Country music promoter Country Music
Productions. According to the notes on the rear of its sleeve the EP shown
above, 'Country Code 051' by Hartford West (CMP/GG-1011), was
supposed to be a sampler from a forthcoming LP. It was also intended to
be one of a series of records featuring well-known Country groups, but googling
only dredges up one other: Sandra Lynton & The Lyntones' six-track EP 'San Lyntone Country'
(GG/CMP-1012), which had a light-blue label of a similar design. Both EPs
were recorded at the G&G Electronics Studio in Garston. There are
no dates on either record, but the only reference online to the
company is from the 'Music Yearbook' for 1972-73, which gives its address
as being in Haslemere Road, Gateacre, Liverpool 25. The G&G Studio was active at that time,
so it seems reasonable to guess that the EPs date from 1972
or thereabouts. Run-off markings suggest that manufacture of the Hartford
West EP was through Deroy. There was another CMP label later in the decade
- see 'CMP (CMP prefix) - but there's no obvious connection between the two.
Copyright 2016 Robert Lyons.