Debatable, this one. Telefunken was one of the big German record companies; it put its first records out in 1932 and lasted until 1983, when it was replaced by Teldec. It had a close relationship with Decca in the UK, and from 1963 its LP sleeves referred to it as a division of Decca. Its output here throughout the 1960s consisted mainly of Classical albums, with MOR instrumentals taking pride of place in the '70s. Certain Telefunken albums were issued on Decca in the UK, as was the occasional single - the vast majority of Telefunken's singles were in the German language, naturally, but a few which were recorded in English came out here. Su Kramer's 'You've Got The Power (Parts 1 and 2)' (FR-13640), from April 1976, had the Telefunken logo added to its Decca label (1), which on its own wouldn't be enough to qualify Telefunken for this site. The sole UK-manufactured single on the Telefunken label, 'Power To All Our Friends' b/w 'You Are Always On My Mind' by The Sixties (2), came out in 1981 after the purchase of Decca by Polygram, and is again outside the scope of this site. The single which gave me a reason to include Telefunken here is the second one shown above, 'Erzherzog Johann - Jodler' by Maria Hellwig, which is listed in the John Humphries 'Music Master British Pop Singles 1975-84' as being available through Selecta. The entry gives the single's title as 'The Yodelling Song' but the catalogue number, 6.12 490, is the same and there's no sign online of a British pressing or of a copy with the English title. Selecta was the official importer and distributor for German Teldisc records, so I would guess that for some reason there was sufficient interest in that particular single for it to be imported and made available here - no other Telefunken single seems to have been given that treatment. The '1965' on the labels refers to the year when the tracks first came out; the UK reissue date in 'MM' was October 1979. For the sake of completeness it should be said that Maria Hellwig was joined by Margot Hellwig on the 'B' side, 'Karwendellied'.
Copyright 2024 Robert Lyons.