
JOHN HASSELL RECORDINGS
One of many custom recording firms
that operated in the '60s
and '70s, John Hassell Recordings offered tape-to-disc, studio and mobile recording facilities. The
earliest record of theirs that I have
seen dated from 1962. I have only been able to trace a handful of 7" records
on the John Hassell label; they are listed below, along with whichever
of the company's albums surfaced during the search - albums are in
brackets. Up to c.1969 each side of a record had its own catalogue number. The
gold-on-light-blue design, as exemplified by the label of the
Wykeham Trio EP (3) seems to be the commonest one, though the few items I have
seen from the second half of the '70s have had plain labels with only the 'HAS' prefix
to identify their origin - John Hassell Recordings / JHR have been mentioned only
on the covers. At least some records made via the tape-to-disc service
appear to have had their own label design (4). Sometimes records made by
the company and bearing the company's catalogue numbers were issued on other labels
(7).
There
are no dates on the labels, but HAS LP-1107, the 'Penshurst Church 1970
Music Festival' LP, gives us one point of reference, and as the Marston
Singers' EP 'Tunes To Treasure Vol. 1' features 'Mull Of Kintyre' it must date
from after that song was a hit - say, 1978. The company's output seems
to have been most often in 12" or 10" format, and the few of
its products that I have seen have been by the likes of the Kent Police Band, the
Heathfield Junior School and the Orley Farm Choir - standard custom recording fare, in
fact. The label isn't seen often: doubtless John Hassell records were pressed in
small quantities, as is usual for such concerns. As can be
seen, the company's address was 21 Nassau Rd, London SW.13. The Marston Singers
were from Wolverhampton, and their 'Eye Level Carol' was the
'Van der Valk' theme Chistmasified. The style of the matrix numbers suggests that their
records were pressed by Pye. Thanks to Paul
Jones, Hugh Roberts, Bob Tame and John Timmis for their help with the discography;
Bob also supplied the second scan, and John
the third.


Copyright 2009 Robert
Lyons.