American; based in Los Angeles and owned by Artie Mogull, who had previously been vice president of A&R at Capitol. Signpost had a fairly brief life, coming and going more or less in 1972. 'Billboard' of the 8th of January of that year revealed that Mogull, who had resigned from Capitol some three months previously, had signed a publishing and distribution deal for Signpost with Atlantic; its first release was to be 'Softly Whispering I Love You' by the English Congregation, which had been a hit in Britain. 'Softly Whispering' duly came out, but for some reason it did so on Atlantic's Atco label rather than on Signpost. Signpost made its debut as a label in March with another single licensed from a UK company, Gerry Rafferty's 'Make You, Break You' b/w 'Mary Skeffington'. 'Softly Whispering I Love You' broke into the Hot 100 and provoked a lawsuit from Mike Curb's Congregation Productions over the use of the 'Congregation' name. Mogull counter-sued over the Mike Curb Congregation's use of 'Softly Whispering' for an album title ('BB', 29th April).
'BB' of the 27th of May observed that since its launch on the 1st of January Signpost had enjoyed a Top 50 hit with 'Softly Whispering I Love You' - according to Mogull it had sold 500,000 copies - and had signed a total of seven artists; the company's first albums were due out in June. Elsewhere, 'Music Week' of the 16th of September reported that Signpost was to make its debut in Britain that month, through EMI rather than Atlantic. The launch took place, but sadly the label didn't hang around for long enough to make an impression. 'BB' of the 9th of December broke the news that Mogull had accepted the post of vice president for creative services at MCA and that he would be taking Signpost with him. Subsequently a couple of Signpost artists had records released on MCA in the States, but there were no records on the Signpost label there after March 1973. The UK had the honour of putting out the final Signpost single, a reissue of Danny O'Keefe's 'Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues' b/w 'The Valentine Pieces' (SGP-757, previously SGP-751) in May 1974 - it had been a hit in America since its first release, in September 1972.
In Britain, Signpost issued some seven singles and seven albums, none of which troubled the Chart compilers. They included records by a couple of British acts, Uncle Dog and Kajanus / Pickett, which fared no better than the American ones, though their albums are modestly collectable nowadays - Kajanus / Pickett went on to enjoy considerable success as the nucleus of hitmakers Sailor. Manufacture, marketing and distribution were by EMI, and one design served throughout the label's brief life. Demo copies were marked after the usual EMI fashion (2) and there was a company sleeve (3). Signpost singles were numbered in an SGP-750 series.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.