EROICA

        

Eroica was the label of Eroica Recording Services Ltd, of Altrincham, Cheshire.  According to the reverse of the sleeve the company was established in 1949, and its studio director was William Thurlow Smith.  It was still in business in 1973.  Eroica was one of those concerns which was paid to make records, rather than a 'proper' record company.  Catalogue numbers usually had an 'ERO' prefix, in part at least, though on some records that could be interchangeable with an 'M' (2); they reached at least ERO-694, which indicates that Erocia must have made a lot of records, even though both sides of a record were numbered separately.  As is the way with custom recording concerns, however, pressings would have been small.  Not only did Eroica record original material, it also made pressings from tapes that were sent to it; these were marked accordingly (4).  Just how many recordings there were, and how the catalogue numbers of albums, EPs and singles varied, remains to be discovered, but the few that I have managed to track down are listed below.  Those that I have seen in the vinyl have been British Homophone pressings.  The earliest label design was a rather old-fashioned-looking one; an example can be seen on the 45cat site.  From around 1968 the more contemporary design shown above was used, though the portrait of Beethoven and the stave of music were retained.  The front of the sleeve seems to have remained unchanged during the late '60s and '70s (5), but the rear underwent a modest alteration.  At least one recording made by Eroica appeared on another label: see 'Sarnia'.  The discography below lists the few Eroica records that I have managed to trace.  Thanks to John Timmis, who made a demo at Eroica in 1969 and has been kind enough not only to send in scans 2, 4, 5 and 9 but also to give this account of his experience: -

In August 1969 I made a record at the 'Eroica' studios in Altrincham.  I had a 1-hour slot.  In that time I recorded both sides (double-tracked guitar and vocal).  I had ten records pressed.  In all it cost me £25 for the session and the pressings.  An additional studio hour would have cost (I think), an extra £10 - so I didn't bother - perhaps I should have!  The records were demos (so no catalogue number).  I still have two of them [a friend has another].  The rest were sent to record companies (and presumably binned!).

Copyright 2007 Robert Lyons.