A small independent company from Llanelly / Llanelli, in Breconshire. Welsh Recordings seems to have operated from the mid '60s until at least 1977. It appears to have been a custom recording concern, as the few examples of its products that I have seen pictured have had 'Private Recording' or 'Private Record' on the labels. Catalogue / matrix numbers seem to have started off at WRLP-500, and they got as high as WRLP-900 (in early 1977), but Googling brings up only a handful of Welsh Recordings records - presumably they were manufactured in very small numbers. LPs, both 10" and 12", appear to have predominated, but there were some 7" records made. The example shown above is an acetate, probably from around 1967, but there was at least one EP from the 1970s. It was numbered WREP-778 / 779 and it featured two groups of school children. On the 'A' side the Children of Birchgrove Junior School, Swansea, provided 'Kumbaya', 'Hei Ho, Hei Di Ho', 'Big Rock Candy Mountain' and 'Strawberry Fair', while on the 'B' (WREP-779) a Cyngerdd Gan Blant Ysgol Gynradd Y Gellifedw, Abertawe, added 'Dod Ar Fy Mhen', 'Amazing Grace' and 'Oklahoma'. Comparison with nearby catalogue numbers suggests that the EP was made around 1972.
The first type of label was rather old-fashioned in appearance and wouldn't have looked out of place on a 78rpm record. Around the start of the '70s a different and much plainer label design was adopted. The logo and the motto were dropped and the label name - in a much smaller and simpler font - became 'Recordiau Cymraeg', though 'Welsh Recordings, Llanelli' was added below it. Llanelly was renamed Llanelli by public demand in 1966 but the old spelling continued to be used on the old-style labels until at least 1969. The colour of the labels from around 1968 to around 1971 was yellow with black printing, in both designs. Details of other 7" Welsh Recordings / Recordiau Cymraeg discs would be welcome, as indeed would a scan from the '70s.
Copyright 2024 Robert Lyons.