American based; owned by Artie Mogull, ex A&R boss of Capitol. Signpost had a fairly brief life in Britain. Its only mention in 'Music Week' came in the issue of the 16th of September 1972, which announced that the label was to be launched here that month, via EMI; it had started up in the States in January. The launch duly took place. Five singles and seven albums were issued in four months, but then came the news that Mogull had joined MCA as vice president for creative services, 'Bringing his year-old Signpost label with him' ('Billboard', 9th December 1972). That was pretty well the end for Signpost. It put out a single from a 1972 album by Skip Battin in December 1973, and five months later gave a second chance to Danny O'Keefe's, 'Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues' b/w 'The Valentine Pieces' (this time as SGP-757; 5/74), which had been a hit in the USA, but neither they nor any of its other releases made any impression in the UK. Signpost signed a couple of British acts, Uncle Dog and Kajanus / Pickett, which fared no better than the American ones, though the latter went on to enjoy considerable success as the nucleus of hitmakers Sailor. Over here, manufacture, marketing and distribution were by EMI, and Signpost singles appeared in an SGP-750 catalogue series.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.