'IC' wasn't actually the name of this label as such, it was just the prefix to the catalogue numbers, but as there was no other means of identification on the label I'm driven to call it that. The IC-100 numbers were used by Inter-City Studios of Stockport, which started out in 1967 and quickly evolved into Strawberry Studios, famous among other things for their '10 c.c' association. The few 7" records that I have seen on 'IC' were from groups that were based in the Greater Manchester area, naturally enough. The earliest was an EP by The Dollies, celebrating Manchester United's victory over Benfica in the 1968 European Cup final: it had a catalogue number of IC-107 and came out on the 'Paddy Disc' label. The Urmiston Grammar School For Girls Folk Group 1972-3 recorded an EP featuring 'Bless The Lord / Godspell' among other tracks (IC-269); there were other EPs by St. Winifred's School Choir (IC-291) and the Music Makers Of Beaver Road Junior School, Manchester (IC-297). As far as singles are concerned, a band called Nobodies did a version of the 'Warsaw Concerto' (IC-276), which came on the 'Lightnin' label (q.v.), but the pick of the bunch was an anonymous single on the Blinkers label from 1969 which featured pre-fame Lol Creme and Kevin Godley - offering 'Goodnight Blinkers' on one side and 'Hello Blinkers' on the other, it is highly sought-after by 10cc fans and is described on Discogs as 'virtually unobtainable'. Three albums by Folk Dance band The Ranchers were numbered in that same series, 'Ranchers Regale' (IC-296; 1974), 'Rags To Rituals' (IC-297; 1978), and 'Shaw To Shaw' (IC-298; 1979). As IC-307, an LP entitled 'Introducing The Million Airs' by The Million Airs Orchestra, came out in 1975, the dates of the last two Ranchers albums need explaining. The Ranchers and Million Airs records had distinctive labels on them, which were presumably specially designed by either the studio or the bands, so there may well be other 'IC's on different labels out there. See also the 'Loop' label, where numbers appear to have been mainly in the IC-1000s, though one was IC-290. The difference in the two sets of numbers also needs explaining - it looks as though the IC-1000 series may have been an early one and the IC-200 a later, but that's a guess based on very little evidence. The few ICs that I've managed to track down are listed below, albums included.
Copyright 2012 Robert Lyons.