'Britain and Europe's Finest Post-War Blues Label', is the claim made on the label of the first scan shown above; it is as clear a statement of policy as anyone could wish for. Red Lightnin' sprouted from Islington-based production company Underground Recording Enterprises, which was established in 1968 by Peter Shertser and Ian Sippen. 'Billboard' of the 12th of May 1969 mentioned that URE was recording a group called Sam Apple Pie for American outfit Sire Records, and referred to it as a new company with an offshoot called Blue Lightnin' Records. The following month 'BB' of the 24th of May added that URE had signed a production deal with Sire's boss Seymour Stein in February, and that in addition to Sam Apple Pie it was set to record Clark-Hutchinson and Ashkan. Worldwide distribution outside America for the products had been arranged with Decca. The record label seems to have undergone a change of name as there's no sign of any Blue Lightnin' records, but Red Lightnin' issued its first three albums - compilations of tracks by Buddy Guy, Little Walter and John Lee Hooker - in that same year, 1969. It went on to put out a steady stream of albums in a similar vein and is still going today, nowadays operating out of premises in North Lopham, Diss, Norfolk.
Albums were always Red Lightnin's priority, and it appears to have put out just five 7" records. Fortunately for the purposes of this site, one of those, an EP called 'Superharps', which was shared between Billy Boy Arnold and Little Walter (RL EP-0027), dates from the '70s, having come out in July 1979. Oddly some copies of that record came with a variant of the Lightning (q.v.) label (2) - presumably these were re-pressings from the early '80s. Manufacture of the first version was by Orlake. The other four 7" records were all singles and they all date from 1980.
In the years that concern this site Red Lightnin' LPs, EPs and singles shared a common numerical series for the most part, with each type of record using a different prefix: 'RL EP' for EPs, 'RL 45' for singles, and just plain 'RL' for LPs. Distribution varied over the decade. Early on, records were mailed direct to specialist shops or were supplied by mail order; 'Music Week' of the 18th of July 1970 carried an advert for RLs 004 and 005, which had been released the previous day. 'MW' of the 29th of August of that year was able to state that more comprehensive arrangements had been made and that Red Lightnin' records would be handled by independent distributors Keith Prowse, H.R. Taylor and Clyde Factors from the 1st of September. By 1978 Red Lightnin' had moved to Ilford and its records were being distributed by Swift, Lightning and Rough Trade; by that point catalogue numbers had reached RL-019 ('MW', 12th August).
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.