An independent label from Cambridge, one of many labels which flourished and died in the Punk / New Wave era. Raw was started in 1977 by record-shop owner Lee Wood and his wife Liz, initially to make a single with local Punk band The Users, 'Sick Of You' b/w 'In Love With Today' (RAW-1; 5/77). The success of that record prompted them to put more bands on vinyl, with the emphasis mainly on Punk and New Wave; there were however some Rockabilly records and a couple of licensed 'oldies' - the Hammersmith Gorillas single pictured above (1) was a licensed reissue, which explains the '1974' on the label. The label never made money but it had plenty of ambition: the Zig Zag 'Small Labels Catalogue '78' gives a generous list of releases that were planned for late 1978 and early 1979 but most of them never saw the light of the day. According to the list 1979 was also intended to see several 12" singles and a set of 'deluxe EPs', but they, too, failed to appear. A few sporadic singles from the list did make it to the shops; the last of them, The Now's 'Into The '80s' b/w 'Nine O'Clock' (RAW-31), was issued in November 1979 after being scheduled for a release in March of that year. The later releases in particular appear to have sold in low numbers, and as Raw is now a collectable label they are worth picking up if you stumble across them.
'Music Week' of the 1st of October 1977 noted that Raw, which it described as 'a specialist in New Wave and collectors' items', had signed a three-year licensing deal with Creole Records. According to the article, distribution had previously been either directly by the 'Remember Those Oldies' shop, which was run by Wood and his wife Liz, or by Lightning; Creole's manufacture and distribution were both handled by CBS, which would do the same for Raw in future. The article stated that Raw was to retain its own label identity but that there was to be an additional 'Rock 'n' Roll' series as well as a '77' series for records that didn't come under the 'Rock 'n' Roll' or 'New Wave' categories. As mentioned above, the 'Rock 'n' Roll' series got under way, but all the other releases turned out to be New Wave ones. In the event, the agreement with Creole lasted for a mere six months. 'MW' of the 27th of May 1978 announced that the deal had ended and that Raw was looking for a replacement pressing and distribution deal. The search didn't last long: 'MW' of the 10th of June broke the news that a two-year deal had been signed with Selecta, effective immediately. RAWs 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 14 were to be deleted, with remaining stocks being available from the shop; RAW-1 was to be reissued as a 12" single. This arrangement seems to have been fleeting at best, if it bore any fruit at all, and the spring of 1979 found Raw joining the Plastic Fantastic family of labels for marketing, at which point Pye took over manufacture and distribution.
A number of back-catalogue singles were reissued, or re-promoted, after the various moves, as a result of which some can be found with more than one kind of label design. The original pink label (1) was rather short-lived; around the time of the move to Creole, with RAW-6, the logo shrank and the text 'New Wave Series' was added (2). A separate black label (3) was used for the intermittent Rockabilly Rock 'n' Roll 'Fifties' series, while the label with '78' on it (5) appears to have been used on non-Rockabilly issues in 1978 - later issues of both types, presumably those made through Selecta, lost the reference to Creole Records after the split (4, 6). The plain white label (7) only appears on a trio of singles, RAWs 21, 35 and a reissue of RAW-3. Finally the green label featuring a safety razor, the words 'Lee Wood's Raw Records' and a marketing credit to Plastic Fantastic (8) appeared on only a trio of records, RAWs 26 and 31 along with another reissue of RAW-3; it seems to have been the last to be used. Thanks to James Denholm for the second scan, to Nicholas Hough for the fourth, to Simon Hughes for the sixth and eighth, and to Robert Bowes for the seventh. Thanks also to Abraham King for help with the order of the labels.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.