An independent New Wave label from 1979-1982. Fresh's roots lay in Alex Howe's 'Wretched Records' stall, in Soho market. The stall developed to become first a mail-order business and later a record distributor; finally Howe started his own record label, Fresh. Fresh soon forged close links with Alan Hauser's 'Parole Records' (q.v.), which provided a boost to its roster of artists. It went on to issue around forty singles and a dozen LPs, which was good going for an independent in those days. The company used a FRESH-0 catalogue series for its singles, though those for which it and Parole were jointly responsible had dual FRESH-0 and PURL-0 numbers. According to the covers of FRESH-7 / PURL-5 and FRESH-11 / PURL-8 Fresh had licensed the tracks that were on those records and was also responsible for distribution. Prominent among Fresh's acts were the Cuddly Toys, Dark and UK Decay, all of whom recorded more than one single for the company.
In the '70s Fresh's own releases had a plain label design in white with a black logo (2), while ones issued in collaboration with Parole had white or orange-coloured labels with black horizontal stripes (1). In the '80s pressing tended to be done in France, which resulted in injection moulded labels. The final single under the arrangement with Parole, FRESH-20 / PURL-9, 'Astral Joe' b/w 'Slow Down' by Cuddly Toys, appears to have come out in the last quarter of 1980. Parole seems to have disappeared at that point, but Fresh continued under its own steam until the summer of 1982. The discography below only covers the 1970s. Thanks to Robert Bowes for the first scan and to T. P. McLoughlin for the second.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.