NEPTUNE
No relation to the
American company owned by Gamble and Huff. This particular Neptune
label was Scottish; it was introduced as an all-purpose label
by Glasgow-based Lismor Records (q.v.) in the Summer of 1977.
Scottish material was to continue to be put out on the main Lismor label,
with everything else - including Classical music - emerging on Neptune
('Music Week', 9th July 1977). In the event Neptune seems to have ended up
with a slight Country slant to its catalogue, but it issued one item of wider
interest in the form of the first LP by Runrig, 'Play Gaelic' (NA-105;
1978). There were many more albums than 7" records on Neptune,
but it managed at least seven of the latter. Singles and
EPs shared the same numerical series but EPs had an
'NM' prefix as opposed to the 'NS' of the singles. NM-3 was an
EP, 'Country Love', by Sheena Easton's one-time husband, Sandi. 'MW' of the 4th
of February 1978 reported that distribution was by
the BIRD group , which included Clyde Factors north of the border and Lugton
and H.R. Taylor south of it. Manufacture was by Phonodisc,
hence the injection moulded labels; they came in silver as
well as red. Lismore appears to have discontinued its Neptune series in or around
1980.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.